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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Jon Potter" data-source="post: 668198" data-attributes="member: 2323">[PLAIN][Realms #206c] It Always Starts in a Tavern[/PLAIN]Hammond's Rest was far from restful. Fat Gurnie had insisted on taking Ixin to the tavern and showing her off to the locals. Once they were convinced that she wasn't some type of demon, they warmed to her rather quickly. They pawed her mercilessly of course, clutching at her magical cloak, running their hands over the fine scales on her cheeks, marveling at the small horns that were all but hidden in her hairline. It was much the same treatment she experienced from Drake Irthos and more than a few of the more aggressive Hands in the Dragon's Claw. Of course, the townsfolk lacked the lecherous smirks and lascivious glances that were so common to all of Skrazargul's underlings.And until she knew more about her surroundings, it would serve her better to be tolerant of the humans. More sensible to cultivate friendships than to make more enemies. She'd have enough of those if the Claw were able to track her down. Of course, with Drake Ulric's recent spectacular failure in Freeport, Ur-Skrazargul might have his talons too full to worry about a single errant drakeling.If only she could convince herself of that."Well! Bless my soul!" Fat Gurnie shouted across the tavern. "If it isn't my old friend, Mikal!"The man who was squeezing himself through the front door to Hammond's Rest made Fat Gurnie look slim. He was a mountain of a man precariously packed into finely-made but well-worn clothes: sausage-casing leather pants, a matching vest, and a red and white striped shirt open at the throat and bubbling over with the man's prodigious bearded jowls. His eyes were wary but not mean and his gaze traveled over the assemblage in the tavern before settling on Gurnie's smiling face. "This is not a social call, Gurnie," Mikal barked as he plodded across the tavern. "Your nonsense has cost my caravan a day's travel."Gurnie's face fell and his brows knit together. "Whatever do you mean?" he asked. "We conducted business last night."Mikal paused at the bar and snatched a tankard of Critwell Ale from Blodd, the barkeep. The big man drained half his mug, spilling a goodly amount of froth down into his beard as he did so. "Tis not your business that detains me, my friend," the big man explained. "Tis your talk of a woman who fell from the sky - a woman who claims to have the blood of dragons running through her veins."He walked to their table, his eyes falling on Ixin, appraising her in a glance as one might decide on the quality of a cut of meat at the butchers. "Such talk has vexed my wizard," the man went on after he drained his tankard. "He'll not go on but that he has a chance to speak with this dragon scion. And if he won't go on neither can my caravan.""I assume that you are she," said a thin man who stepped out then from behind Mikal. The man was oldish by human standards, clean shaven with sallow skin and unruly white curls peaking out from beneath his sweat-stained skullcap. He looked positively skeletal beside his boss and Fat Gurnie. He wore the quintessential robes of which human wizards were so fond; they were a grimy blue and decorated everywhere with strange arcane-looking (but meaningless) symbols stitched in silvery thread. He was festooned with countless chicken skulls, onyx pebbles, lizard scales, and other dubious talismans that rattled and clicked with each of his jerky movements..Ixin regarded him meaningfully and said nothing. With the exception of the wizard himself, she was the only person in the tavern who looked out of place. He met her eyes and then smiled uncomfortably; he cleared his throat before continuing."Of course you're she," he said. "I mean who else would you be? My name is Torren Gadge. I work for Goodman Tobrannon."He extended his thin hand to her and she looked at it and then back at the wizard's face without moving."What do you want of me, Goodman Gadge?" Ixin asked."Just to ask you a few questions. That's all," he said apologetically and dropped his hand to his side. "I mean 'blood of a dragon', and all... It's really quite unbelievable." Torren laughed nervously and began to look very uncomfortable in his robes."Not where I come from," she said flatly and the wizard licked his lips and tried to force a smile."Yes, well I'd like to talk to you about that too," he explained. "I mean it's not often that someone falls from the sky, now is it?""I wouldn't know," Ixin told him and Mikal Tobrannon cleared his throat and leaned forward so that his big ham fists rested on the tabletop."Look. Are you willing to talk to my wizard or no?" the man asked. There was no malice in his tone, but it was clear that he had grown tired of Torren's poor attempts to negotiate with Ixin. "If you're willing, I'll see that Blodd keeps you in food and ale for so long as you care to put up with Gage's prattling." He grinned at the wizard who crossed his arms in mock indignation.Torren Gage was a competent wizard after all. He was what Drake Thuulsias would have called an artificer - interested more in the creation of magical constructs than in dealing with the more ephemeral aspects of magery. The Claw would have easily found a place for his talents within the organization - not that he would have lasted very long. He had narrowed the focus of his magic too much and lacked the breadth of knowledge that one needed to survive in Highgate's underworld.He questioned her extensively on dragons and how she had come to fall into Fat Gurnie's barnyard. On the former, she spoke only in generalities; she had no wish to draw undue attention by naming names. On the subject of how she had come to drop in on Gurnie, she explained all that she could (which wasn't much). Torren became very excited by what she told him and he began delving into more esoteric applications of arcane theory that went right over Ixin's head. For someone who didn't even know how to power his spells by tapping a ley line, he certainly knew a great deal of magical minutia that seemed of little use to her. Ixin's magic flowed from her blood, not through the study of dusty old tomes."On the one hand, sub-etheric vibrations might account for the opening of portals between planes that otherwise don't share any linking commonality," the wizard was saying while Ixin stifled a yawn. He stopped in mid-sentence as the door to Hammond's Rest was banged open and a young man fell out of the night. He looked very haggard and the left sleeve of his tunic was soaked with blood."Slatter!" Mikal bellowed as he exploded up from the bench where he was sitting and smoking an after-dinner pipe with Fat Gurnie. He moved quickly for a man of his size and he was able to thunderously cross the tavern to the young man's side in two heartbeats. "What happened, boy?! Is it bandits again? Has the caravanserai been breached?"The young man looked up at Tobrannon and let out a sob. "Yes," he moaned. "But they didn't steal anything!"Mikal looked relieved at that, but then he looked at Slatter's bloody arm and concern crept into his voice again. "Then what happened to you?" he asked. "What did they want if not to rob us?""Nilia Lant," Slatter told him. "They came and took her away. Den and me, we tried to stop them but they came in and were out so quick I barely had time to catch my wits. They... they got away.""Is Den alright?" Tobrannon asked, giving Slatter a little shake that elicited another moan from the young man. "Tell me, boy!. Does he live?""Yes. But they musta had a wizard with them," Slatter coughed. "I found Den paralyzed outside Nilia's wagon and chased off one of the bandits before he could cut his throat. I don't understand, sir. Why would they take Nilia?"Fat Gurnie interrupted the exchange by hurrying up to the two men's sides. "I'll go fetch the Constable," he said but Mikal stopped him by grabbing the lesser man's flabby upper arm."And he'll do what?" Tobrannon growled. "He's been letting these bandits prey on my caravans for years! He's probably in league with the scum!""Now, Mikal, my friend, I don't think-" Gurnie started, but Tobrannon wouldn't hear it."No!" he shouted. "We'll not involve that incompetent Boralle in this! We need help we can rely on!" As he spoke, his appraising eyes fell uncomfortably on Ixin.</blockquote>

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