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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lazybones" data-source="post: 1278561" data-attributes="member: 143">Six days in Paris, three days in London.  Several of my wife's coworkers were going as a group, and they invited us to go with them.  I've been to Paris before (four day stopover on a European whirlwind trip after college), but not London.  If you have any suggestions for fun winter activities in either city, please post them!* * * * * Chapter 90“A representative of the Lord Mayor’s office will be in touch with you, probably tomorrow, if there’s anything else,” the guard sergeant said, in a tone that was friendly but with a manner that was all business. A few people were coming back out onto the street, curiosity overcoming their earlier terror.  It was remarkable that more people hadn’t been killed, Zenna remarked, as she surveyed the swath of destruction wrought by the umber hulk.  The only death had been the mercenary guard whose head had been shredded by the hulk like a melon dropped into a harvester.  Several of the other guards had been seriously injured, but the quick intervention of Zenna, drawing upon the power of Azuth, had saved their lives.  Fortunately no one had been inside either the warehouse or the moneychanger’s shop when the attack had come, or the death toll might have been higher. “Thank you, sergeant,” Dannel said.  The man nodded, and turned back toward the excavation that was ongoing in the rubble of the moneychanger’s shop.  About two dozen town guards were present, a mixture of the mostly-human veterans and the new half-orc mercenaries recently hired by the Mayor.  The latter had sullen, hard looks about them, and they watched the gathered pedestrians as if expecting any or all of them to initiate an assault.  There were also four gnomes in the investigation group, two men and two women clad in functional robes of blue trimmed with white, marked with the seal of the city.  Those four were obviously arcanists of some sort; Zenna had noticed several casting spells, mostly minor divinations as they scanned the scene for clues. Arun stood with his arms crossed before his chest, his face a thunderhead, his body covered in blood and the tattered remnants of his clothes.  He’d gotten an extra cloak from somewhere, obviously sized for a human, but paid it little heed as his dark eyes penetrated the scene. “I don’t like it,” he said.“What... the fact that a creature like this suddenly appeared in the middle of the city, or that we just happened to be here when it happened?” Dannel asked. “Please,” Zenna said.  “It’s not like anyone knew that we would be here today.  Paranoia’s all well and good, but let’s not get excessive here.”They turned as Mole suddenly appeared beside them, materializing out of the crowd along the street.  “The warehouse and moneychanger’s shop were both owned by a guy named Maavu,” she said.  “Merchant guy, very wealthy, wasn’t able to find out more, yet.”“Perhaps this guy Maavu made a few enemies,” Dannel suggested.“Perhaps,” Zenna replied.  “In any case, standing around here’s not going to yield any answers.  Let’s finish our errand, get Arun’s new armor, and head back to the Morkoth.  I think we could all use a break, after... this.”* * * * * “So, any word?” Zenna asked.  The common room of the Drunken Morkoth was starting to get busy, with patrons continuing to issue into the place through the main doors outside.  Outside the windows the city was cloaked in blackness, broken occasionally by the winking flames of streetlamps.  With the weather as cold as it was, few people remained out on the streets at this hour, and those that were moved quickly, intent on reaching a destination somewhere around a roaring fire. Zenna, Mole, and Arun occupied a semi-private booth in the rear of the common room, near one of the doors that led out onto the rear courtyard.  Zenna and Mole, who lived in one of the guest rooms over the long building that abutted the back of the inn, had taken semi-permanent claim over this spot, which offered a good view of the near-constant activity of the common room while lending them a modicum of privacy.  “Maavu’s involved in a number of business ventures throughout the city,” Mole reported.  “He owned half the buildings along that stretch of Magma Avenue, where the attack occurred.  And get this—it’s just a rumor, but I heard it from several unrelated sources: the word about the city is that he left town in a big hurry this evening, riding a horse that had clouds for hooves.”“Now, that’s pretty unusual,” Zenna noted. Mole nodded in agreement.  “I couldn’t find any specifics about why someone would want to sic a monster like that hulk on him.  But I have a few more names, and can maybe do a little more digging tomorrow.”Arun grunted something noncommittal.  The dwarf looked more at ease clad once again in steel plate; which was to say, he wasn’t all that much at ease at all.  His masterwork armor, enhanced by the arcane arts of the armorer that Skie the trader had recommended to them, now radiated a faint aura that Zenna, through her magical arts, could detect.   They looked up as Dannel entered the inn, quickly detecting them and cutting nimbly through the crowd to their booth. “I wasn’t sure you were going to make it,” Zenna said dryly. “Wouldn’t miss it!” the elf said with a grin.  “The reason for my delay was an encounter I had with a striking young woman, while I was leaving Esbar’s place.”Zenna’s look intensified a notch until it had an edge like a dagger. “I’m surprised that you’re here at all, then,” Arun said, as he tore another hunk off of the loaf of bread before them on the table, not bothering with the tub of butter before stuffing the bulk of it into his mouth.  Dannel shot the dwarf a look that clearly said, you’re not helping, before turning back to Zenna.  “It’s not like that.  She said that she wanted to arrange a business dinner with us, all of us, tomorrow evening at sundown.  Said it would be profitable.”  He tossed a small white card onto the table, which Mole grabbed before it had settled to a stop.  The card was covered with the precise lines of quality calligraphy. “Cusp of Sunrise/Obsidian Avenue Northwest,” Mole read.  “Hey, I know that place... lots of nobles and such hang out there.  Very swanky.”“You’d think we’d have had enough to do with nobles of late,” Zenna said, not shifting her impaling stare from Dannel.“I think there’s more to it than that,” Dannel said.  “It strains credulity to believe that what happened today and this invitation are unrelated.”“Maybe our reputation proceeds us,” Mole offered. “Perhaps,” the elf said.  “But I’ve got a strange feeling about this... and I’ve learned to trust my feelings.”Zenna rolled her eyes obviously.  “Well, at least it’s a free meal.”</blockquote>

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