The Closed Eye (DM: Halford, Judge: garyh)

[KenHood]

"Did I mention that I know the exact location of the bad guys, that ***** Closed Eye cult?" says Palindrome, "Probably not. But then I probably didn't mention that I'm not going to say ***** if we hang around for ***** to show up and cut our throats with his newly acquired allies. Because--ooooh, let me make an educated guess--when a certain bozo, who is to be unnamed, took *****'s girlfriend to the healer, the aforementioned ***** showed up with a cadre of highly trained killers in tow. Am I right? And if I'm right, that means that ***** has been given the power to do us--and especially me--ill."

"Oh, no, Palindrome! We can't kill him. He might give us some money and tell us where the bad guys are located."

"***** idiots. Well, the shoe is on the other foot, *****, and that foot is mine, so if you want to take out your little cult, we do it my way, and that's without ***** Arnest."

During the entire diatribe, Palindrome's left hand makes muffled noises through the mitten.

 

[Atriden]

[sblock=OOC]
Atreus wants to wait aswell. At the moment I dont have any internet, but I have been promised that it will be up and running sunday afternoon.
[/sblock]

 

[KenHood]

Palindrome sneers at Atreus. "Oooooh, heaven forbid that you and your boyfriend disagree with one another. Well, I've got two words for all of you: ***** and 'you'. I'll leave you to figure out how they fit together. Have fun figuring out where the cult is located."

Palindrome turns and starts to exit the room.

The mittens covering his left hand catch aflame. Palindrome screams and swats at the fire. As he batters away the embers, his left hand wriggles free of the ropes and punches him--repeatedly--in the groin.

"Mother--"

Palindrome collapses into the fetal position.

"Fear not, gentlemen," says the Good Hand, "I will not permit this dastard to abscond without providing you with the information to destroy those evil cultists and make the world safe for innocents everywhere."

"Listen well: The mad wizard to whom I'm attached uncovered the following script, hidden in a mystical fugue on the Screamer:

"IF YOU TRULY SERVE THE UNSEEN LORD, SEEK YE HIS TRUE CHURCH AT THE WHITESIDE BARROWS. TARRY NOT, LEST YE BE JUDGED, FOR AT THE NEW MOON, WHAT WAS CLOSED SHALL BE OPENED."​

"Thus, the wicked ones are located at the Whiteside Barrows, a set of ancient tomb mounds atop one of the low cliffs to the north of Daunton Harbor."

"And do not fret, my friends, for I shall prevent this fiend from--"

*Whack!* *Whack!* *Whack!*

Palindrome beats the Good Hand against the stones.

The wizard rolls on his side, groaning. "No fair... That hurts me, too."

 

[Dunamin]

“Tough nipples, Pal.” Woe shrugs, getting far too used to brush off the mage’s rants.

“Whether you tell us or Little Boy Glasston tells us, we’ll have our destination to wipe out the Closed Eye cult anyway. I’d rather have him around when we hit the joint since he’s our best and near-exclusive source of information on what we’re going up against, and if push comes to shove he could turn into a handy bargaining chip.”

Woe empties the paycheck bag on the breakfast table and starts stacking coins so that the total sum is easy to survey. His face darkens and the shield hand slightly starts acting up again.

“Of course, Palindrone, no one’s stopping you from going ahead to blow up some more informants’ limbs, put bounties on our heads, or whatever else might come to that deranged mind. But after trying to cheat Tan-Man, Atreus, and me out of our fair cut, I’m feeling surrealistically comfortable keeping Noble Cuckoo and his Merry Mooks on hand.”

[sblock=Cough it up]Yep, getting paid is a merc’s pet peeve.

No, Woe doesn’t trust the Good Hand, either.[/sblock]

 

[covaithe]

As Palindrome lies writhing, Fritz reenters the room. "There's a man at the front door. Says 'e's got an happointment. Calls 'imself Harvest, or some such. Got some muscle wi' 'im."

 

[Dunamin]

“Thanks Fritz.”

Woe heads to the front door and peeks through the spyhole, checking if the cook got his facts straight. If so, he prepares any traps and countermeasures that may be in place for unwelcome visitors, and lets Arnest in without entourage.

 

[nerdytenor]

Tander's irritation with Palindrome's recent antics quickly gives way to pity as he witnesses his submission in the face of the Good Hand. Tander had his share of problems, and it didn't take a healer to see the hurt in his other companions, but Palindrome had something practically pulling his strings. Tander wanted to find out more, but knew that it was probably foolish to prod him about it now.

"There now friend, let me take a look at that," Tander says gently, trying to avoid provoking another outburst while checking Palindrome for any serious injury.

Tander helps Woe check the division of coin, less out of concern for getting cheated himself and more to make sure none of his more volatile companions get in a fight over compensation.

"I’d rather have him (Arnest) around when we hit the joint since he’s our best and near-exclusive source of information on what we’re going up against..."

"I'm inclined to agree," Tander interjects. "I have grown tired of mysteries. It appears I am somewhat more prone to trust Arnest than the rest of you, but whether my trust is well-placed or not, at least when the time of reckoning comes we may have some answers."

 

[covaithe]

To Woe's disappointment, Arnest makes no move to come in. He stands well back, flanked by a pair of burly half orcs. Farther down the street, a third half orc watches alertly, head scanning quickly back and forth over the sleepy arcane district. "Well? Are you lot coming?" Arnest asks coldly. "We have quite a bit of work to do if we are to find this cult and stop them."

 

[Dunamin]

"Well? Are you lot coming?" Arnest asks coldly. "We have quite a bit of work to do if we are to find this cult and stop them."

“You want our help, you hold your horses, snakes, and whatever else you may be trying to mount.” Woe snaps back through the door.

“We’ll be out in a moment, just need to deal with a small internal matter of…” He looks at the crumbled mage on the floor. “… compensation.”

[sblock=OOC]So, PvP is out of the question, but Woe will want his full payment out of Palindrome by any means possible. Given the context of temporary “incapacitation” would it be out of line simply to forcefully retrieve it?[/sblock]

 

[KenHood]

Palindrome winces as Tander treats him. The mage's hand is bloodied, and he's sore, but he doesn't have any meaningful injury.

On hearing Fritz, Palindrome laughs maniacally. "I told you! I told you! You just wait. Once we're weakened after the fight, he and his muscle will take out the lot of us."

He continues laughing, tears streaming down his cheeks, spittle on his chin. "You can't control him, can you? You've lost your leverage over him! I told you! I told you! Ha-ha-ha!"

"Here's your **** gold!" Palindrome screams, hurling handful after handful at Woe, "Enjoy it while you can! Your new buddy will end up taking it off your corpse!"