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Jamiroquai says "I've got this" and he walks over to the innkeeper... "Hate to bother you good sir, but just wanted to chat a moment... oh, and order a drink... how about something nice and light... white wine perhaps? or mead if you've no ale... Anyway, I'm Jamiroquai. Nice to meet you. I noticed business doesn't look so great right now... Which means not a lot of income, right? I've a proposal for you. I'd like to play a little prank on a buddy of mine.... I'll give you 25 gold to close up the Overflowing Oyster until this evening, Say until 5pm? You can reopen after that, 25 gold richer and still get the night crowd in and spending money... All you'd have to do is close and lock up in the next 10 minutes, put up a sign saying closed for renovations. How does that sound?"
The innkeeper gives Jamiroquai a conspiratorial smile.
"Well... When you put it that way, the place could use a fresh coat of paint. Gregon! Turn off the stove! We're closing early."
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Adnan walks into the inn and settles down by a window, which he opens a little if possible.
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Draklor's human guise is relatively smooth and unmarred, like his normal self. He thusly takes a few minutes to add some impromptu scars and dirt to his visage. "The better to fit the part," he says happily. It's clear he has never done this before, but is letting a well of creativity and enthusiasm run wild on the task.
Shabah and Draklor look quite part as rough-and-ready bounty hunters, and the rest of the party stake out the inn from a nearby alley.
Roughly 15 minutes before the meeting is supposed to take place, a scruffy looking gentleman, perhaps more suited for a life as a highwayman, approaches the the Overflowing Oyster. He gives the closed sign and the "bounty hunters" a look before speaking in a slightly rude tone.
"What's the meaning of this? I'm to have a meeting here any minute now!"
The man almost comes with on outburst of indignation but thinks better of it and sulks off, muttering to himself.
"...The Reaper of Reputation must be working against me..."
Ten minutes later, a Keleshite woman with a bronze Aspis Consortium badge turns the corner and sees the "bounty hunters". She gives the whole situation an assessing glare before turning back the way she came.
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Shabah allows themself a quiet smile of satisfaction as the Consortium agents depart.
Ms. Delroya indicated that too aggressive a harassment campaign would likely be deleterious to our efforts. Since the Leper is likely aware of our efforts, at least in part, we should probably forego interfering with the ship in favor of completing our mission to secure the details of Whip's manufacture.
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Well Mr. Bangobi, the mission is not yet a failure. We have already acquired a sample of the drug, and even if the Leper has decided to quit his lair, there will likely be a period of time where he must pack up his laboratory, such as it is. No one who works in such squalor has excess means to begin afresh. He will want to reclaim as many of his workings as he can manage.
That is to say, I believe we should return to his laboratory. Either he will still be present, and we can accost him; he will not yet have returned, and we can await him; or he will have already returned and departed, in which case the time we spend there can be very little, and we can attempt to rediscover his trail in the remaining time allotted to us.
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"Sounds good, back to the sewers it is, then," Draklor agrees, flush with success. A puff of light later, he is back in his original form. "I really prefer this one, but I can change whenever the mission requires it, no problem. One of the rare tenets the Master of Masters shares with the Society, adaptability. Remember, if we meet the alchemist, don't shoot on sight, I want to try and make him more cooperative."
Returning to the sewer hideout, your luck continues as you see a sickly pale man inspecting the glass carnage left by Adnan during your last visit.
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Draklor sidles forward as quickly as possible. "Hello there, sir, would you mind, um, talking to us for a moment? We mean you no harm. In fact, we're your friends." The last part of the kitsune's statement comes out in a hollow tone, and his eyes glow like burning coals as he works to exert his mind over that of his target!
The man radiates anger at Draklor's failed attempt to cloud his mind and moves to attack.
Ylania nicks the alchemist, who in turn drinks the contents of a vial, steps behind the pipe and raps his knuckles on it.
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Adnan, already prepared for a fight, whispers to his Morningstar and bursts forward with surprising speed, closing on the alchemist in a matter of seconds.
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A beetle the size of a dog scuttles out of the pipe and snaps its mandibles at Adnan.
The cramped condition of what is escalating to a full-blown brawl causes Ylania to miss.
The alchemist takes a step back and downs another vial.
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"As it was in the Azvadeva Pujila, so the cycle continues," Draklor intones. "If under slightly different circumstances. But there lived many who would corrupt the innocent and put them under their thumbs, whom the Perfect Human made a point to meet, to offer a chance at redemption. Unfortunately, those wayward souls rarely accepted, forcing Irori to resort to the purifying power of his fists..."
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Adnan tries to knock the vial out of the alchemist's hand as he's about to drink it.
Then he swings again, this time at Laszlo's face
for
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Adnan misses both the vial and the alchemist himself, despite Draklor's inspiring words.
The beetle flashes brightly in response to all the violence.
Shabah's falchion cuts deeply into the beetles carapace, and it twitches slightly before going completely still.
Ylania strikes Laszo with an arrow once more, the tight confines of the sewer and her taget's alchemically boosted reflexes hindering her somewhat.
Laszo steps behind the rat statue and lobs a flask at the pipe, which explodes and engulfs Adnan and Shabah in flames.