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Midge backs herself into a corner of the room, until her back is pressed against the wall. She opens her mouth to speak again and then realizes she's holding her side. She brings her bloody hand to her face and looks at it in confusion for a moment. Then she looks down at the side she was speared in. That Masym speared her in. She glances up at him accusingly.
A moment later her face softens. "Guess I deserved that." She let's out a groan of pain. "Ow! Not exactly the kind of thrusting I was hoping for, Masym." She tries to chuckle, but it turns into a grunt of pain.
Masym slowly walks into the room, a blank look upon his face as he slowly comes to the realization that his sister did not suffer any permanent damage. Shouldering his spear as he approaches Midge, he sweeps her up in a hug , his form towering over her. "I am glad I didn't...hurt you Midge. As for...well perhaps later, and I promise I will leave the spear behind."
Gently disengaging from the pretty halfling he glides quickly over to the cells. "Kioshi, see if there are any keys on his body. I have no wish to linger here."
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As the cleric falls down, his words seem to resonate inside Fifi's mind-the young paladin covers her mouth in horror as she realizes what she has done, tears welling up in her eyes. As the flame in her head is reduced to mere candlelight, before she has a chance to reply or feel sorry, she sees Kioshi shoot his crossbow through the man's heart.
Fifi's eyes widen and tears start rolling down her eyes, almost as if she had seen her very own mother die before her. She is unable to speak and unable to move, as her knees give out and she collapses to the floor sobbing.
As the group searches the cleric's body and inspects the area, Fifi just sits there, unable to move or reply.
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Marcus, rifling through the clerics robes, looks up as he sees the bolt appear to see Kioshi with his crossbow. He frowns, and speaks slowly. "She was beaten... we were no longer threatened aside from minor bouts of addled minds. Killing her in the heat of battle would have been justified... even applauded... but once she was neutralized, the burden of taking her life becomes that of the state. Should you run afoul of the local nobility I will not open my mouth to defend you. Save that wand of infernal healing for yourself... if that's what it turns you into I'll stick to more classical methods... myesss."
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Midge backs herself into a corner of the room, until her back is pressed against the wall. She opens her mouth to speak again and then realizes she's holding her side. She brings her bloody hand to her face and looks at it in confusion for a moment. Then she looks down at the side she was speared in. That Masym speared her in. She glances up at him accusingly.
A moment later her face softens. "Guess I deserved that." She let's out a groan of pain. "Ow! Not exactly the kind of thrusting I was hoping for, Masym." She tries to chuckle, but it turns into a grunt of pain.
Masym slowly walks into the room, a blank look upon his face as he slowly comes to the realization that his sister did not suffer any permanent damage. Shouldering his spear as he approaches Midge, he sweeps her up in a hug , his form towering over her. "I am glad I didn't...hurt you Midge. As for...well perhaps later, and I promise I will leave the spear behind."
Gently disengaging from the pretty halfling he glides quickly over to the cells. "Kioshi, see if there are any keys on his body. I have no wish to linger here."
As Midge literally gets swept up off her feet she lets out a quiet gasp of surprise. The shock passes quickly and after only a moment she wraps her arms around Masym's neck and returns the hug. "It's alright. I'm fine." she assures him. "It'll take more than that to get rid of me."
Londo gives a kind smile at Midge. It wasn't your fault - truth be told I kinda got you to go after me on purpose...it pains an old man's heart to see kids fight each other. Besides if Me sum gutted you who would I share my pastries and candies with. Londo fishes out the half a Danish he saved from breakfast and splits it once more to share with Midge.
Though ouch. You re pretty good with that morningstar ya know.
Midge lets out an exhalation of relief. As he talks she waves her wand at him, healing his wounds. Then she stows her wand and plucks her half of the danish out of Londo's outstretched hand. "Mmmf mmm ffffmmmft." Midge answers as she devours the danish.
=>
When it's done she hurries over to help with the newly-feed slaves.
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Marcus, rifling through the clerics robes, looks up as he sees the bolt appear to see Kioshi with his crossbow. He frowns, and speaks slowly. "She was beaten... we were no longer threatened aside from minor bouts of addled minds. Killing her in the heat of battle would have been justified... even applauded... but once she was neutralized, the burden of taking her life becomes that of the state. Should you run afoul of the local nobility I will not open my mouth to defend you. Save that wand of infernal healing for yourself... if that's what it turns you into I'll stick to more classical methods... myesss."
Kioshi is clearly intimidated by the accusations. In a distressed voice he speaks up.
”I ... I wanted to save us!“ he pauses for a moment.
”I am so sorry... but for me it really still was the heat of battle. I ... I only took the the most efficient path to end the fighting in our midst. I ... I am not evil... I just try leverage my resources and ... I ... I am sorry... “
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Fifi, still horrified, is only able to mutter a few words-"The poor man..."- she says as the continues to cry.
"Groetus...he whispers to the downtrodden, those in the verge of despair, and he drives them mad with his whispers. Clerics of Groetus don't pick their religion - the Harbinger drives them into the faith, through force and corruption of their minds."- as she closes the noble's eyes.
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As Midge hurries over to help the slaves out Masym notices the look of distress on both Fifi and Kioshi's faces. Glancing down at the priest's corpse it was not hard to determine the reason why.
"Look...I know you both did not wish this man's death...yet, trust me on this, he NEEDED to die. If you had only felt those whispers...in your mind...and unable to silence them except by one way..." He shudders briefly before falling silent.
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Midge opens the cell doors (if she can) and tries to urge the prisoners to come out.
"It's alright. He's dead now. You can come out. We'll have you out of here in a jiffy."
Once she gets them out of there she looks them over for injuries. "Are any of you hurt? Physically, I mean? I can heal your wounds."
Hearing Marcus giving Kioshi a scolding Midge smiles at the prisoners. "I'm sorry. One moment."
Then she turns and stalks over to Marcus and Kioshi with her hands on her hips. "That's enough out of you, Marcus! Kioshi just saved our lives! In addition to being a slaver and an evil cultist that jerk got into our heads. I would have literally beaten Londo to death if Kioshi hadn't have killed that man. Masym tried to skewer me! Can you imagine what that man has done to the people here? The victims?" She waggles her finger at Marcus. "What would have happened if we brought him in to the guard! Huh? You really want him to drive the constables into killing each other? Mind control the City Watch? He would have wormed his way free of prison and punishment within a day!"
She places a hand on Kioshi's arm -- his shoulder's a bit out reach. "You need to get your head out of your a**, Marcus, and give Kioshi a 'thank you!' He deserves it."
Then she looks up at Kioshi. "Don't listen to him. You did the right thing. I believe that. And I'll stand by you."
She gives Kioshi a nod and then wanders over to Fifi. She squats down beside her and puts and arm around her. "It's alright to be sad. But, there's a time and a place to let sadness rule you, and now's not it. Now is the time to be brave. To put on that bright smile of yours and help the people we came here to save." She gestures at them. "They're right there. Waiting for us to get them out of here and your moping over the man who tormented them. Frankly, it's selfish." She pats Fifi on the shoulder and stands up. "You can cry about it later, Fifi. But, now's the time to fight through your sadness and your self-pity and do the right thing. These people need you. Do you understand?"
With a gentle smile she adds, "Come on. We've got to clear this place out and get these people safety."
Then, whether or not Fifi has listened to her, Midge returns to the side of the people who really need her. The newly-freed citizens!
You do not find any keys, though turns out none are needed. The cell doors do not have locks, merely a wooden brace set on this side.
As you open the first door, the people inside seem terrified, all scrambling towards the back of the cell. Some of them even start crying.
You realize that all of them are injured in some way, though most of those wounds seem relatively minor, mostly bruises and scratches, some of which look self inflicted. All of them huddle at the back of the cell, arms covering their heads, or sobbing... as if waiting for something horrible to happen.
At the sound of comforting words, they start to look up, mostly in disbelief at first, though eventually relief!
"Oh gods. Thank you!" One will say.
"I thought we were going to start attacking each other again." Another sobs.
"Get us out of here!" say the rest!
The other two cells are much the same, about a dozen or so prisoners, all wearing the remnants of what was once probably formal dresswear, now torn and ragged from their ordeal.
In the second cell, one of the prisoners is in far worse shape than the others, laying unconscious on the floor by the door. He has clearly been severely beaten.
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"Attacking each other?" She smiles sadly. "No. Never again. The man who made you do that is dead." She points at Kioshi and Fifi. "And the people who put an end to him are those two right there. They're the ones who saved you." She beckons the people out of the cells. "Come on out. I'll try to tend to all of your wounds, but I need to start with the most wounded."
Midge heads over to the unconscious man and waves her healing wand over him.
The unconscious man comes around as Midge is healing him, and he immediately goes on the defensive, scrabbling away from her, eyes darting around for a place to run.
A moment later, he seems to calm down, as it becomes clear you're not more of his capturers.
"Who in blazes are you people." He coughs, still obviously hurting. "And where's Dalirio." He spits out that last name, with obvious spite.
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"In case you didn't notice, I was in fact made very familiar with his ability to bend minds, such the same as you were. I am most certainly able to... become a scoundrel as it were... when the need arises... but when the easy way out involves executing prisoners of war do not expect to find me among your supporters. How would we have delivered her to the city watch? I guess we'll never know now... because he was slain in our custody."
He gives Fifi a hand. "Well? Feel free to spread the word with these citizens. Less bloodthirst is appealing to me."
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She places a hand on Kioshi's arm -- his shoulder's a bit out reach. "You need to get your head out of your a**, Marcus, and give Kioshi a 'thank you!' He deserves it."
Then she looks up at Kioshi. "Don't listen to him. You did the right thing. I believe that. And I'll stand by you."
She gives Kioshi a nod and then wanders over to Fifi.
"You are ... very kind. Thank you for your words! I ... I am just glad that we are all alive ... you are really precious to me. I ... I usually don't have that many companions. So thanks ... " he says and also tries to help to free the slaves.
The man looks at Londo with surprise as the half-orc answers his question. "Pathfinders? Here." He tries to laugh, though it seems to hurt, and he mostly just winces.
"Did Hestia send you? By the gods, that woman's a wonder in small packaging!" He slowly pushes himself to his feet, favoring his sides. "My name's Cestis. Was hoping they'd find out about the attack at the auction, and send someone.... didn't really think you'd find us in time though. Think they were movin' us shortly." He frowns slightly, clearly not entirely certain. "Or someone was coming to pick us maybe?"
As he exits the cell, he glances over at the corpse in the middle of the room, and looks satisfied. "That bastard deserved far worse. Good on you all."
He snorts slightly, before adding sarcastically. "Damn Cataclysm cultist... probably thanked you."
As the prisoners file out, you notice all of them seem unwilling to get anywhere near the priest at all, dead or not, most of them milling about the cell doors, as if scared to leave.
"Where the hell are we, anyway?" Cestis asks. "Tried to get away when they moved us from the boat. They didn't take too kindly to my free spirited ways. Been mostly out of it since."
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Hearing Midge's words, Fifi seems to calm down, a bit overwhelmed by the turn of events. The halfling's words seems to resonate within her, reminding her of the first time they fought together. As she gathers her thoughts and tries to process what just happened, Marcus' aid is enough to spring her back into action, as she takes his hands and gets up.
"Thank you. I guess the tears will have to wait."-she says with a smile, as she leaves the prisoners to Midge and Masym and starts working on the body of the cultist.
Seeing as the amulet is crazy powerful, she decides to scoop it up with a sack, without touching it. "Better to give evil items to the church and let them purge them."
Whether or not she is able to pick it up, she gets up and says-"I think the course of action should be to get away quickly - we might be looking at reinforcements coming soon, and I don't think we are in the position to retaliate."
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Marcus mindlessly responds with subconscious sarcasm. "Better to give evil items to Nigel Blakros to see what kinda of mess he can make of them..."
Finally he snaps back to attention and addresses the captives. "Citizens of Taldor, your wrongful incarceration is at an end. My compatriots and I shall attend to your wounds if you so desire, and you are all free to leave. Should any of you wish to render aid to our ongoing investigation, any details you can spare of your captors, their customers, and any other contacts will help us bring the culprits to..." He swallows his anger at the last few minutes and continues. "...justice... myesss."
He tosses his wand to Fifi. "Magical curatives are freely available, see Sister Vanaash for assistance."
With the formalities out of the way he addresses Cestis. "We're in a basement of a warehouse near the shipyards. As for their response to your free spirited ways..." He looks him up and down. "...I'm sure you gave as good as you got. Glad to see you are in... hrmmm... reasonable shape all things considered. Manage to get any info on those who nabbed you? We've got several of them to the city watch but given the size of this operation... I suspect there is a lot more to it than a nihilist cultist and his lackeys."
He turns and calls over to Fifi. "Oh, and let me know how many takers there are. I do my best to keep track of how much that wand has left in it. Wouldn't want to find myself short in the heat of a fight."
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Masym's face grows troubled as he hears the presence of a possible artifact, as he remembers his own brush with a powerful artifact early in his career which nearly led to his death.
"Are you sure you can handle that...thing Fifi?" He gives the ifrit a dubious look, "Not sure we shouldn't just throw that into the harbor! Still I think it is time to get out of here NOW!"
Fifi will easily be able to tell that the strange amulet is not evil.
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Londo gives a smirk as he hears Masym suggest tossing the amulet. No no.. It's best to have a good accounting of artifacts like that until they can be properly destroyed. These things have a habit of turning up at the most inopportune times if you don't. Trust me on this one. Let's play this Marcus's way for now.
Londo approaches the dead man, then kneels beside him for a moment, concentrating. Almost as if he's saying a prayer. A moment later, he pulls his hand away, and returns to his feet.
As Londo approaches the dead priest, he will feel the incessant whispers of madness pick up, just a little, causing Zarisha to make a few portents of incoming doom, but otherwise, easily ignored.
He focuses, his mind, and lays one hand on the body.
A moment later, the man's eyes suddenly open, staring straight towards the ceiling, and he sees vague shadows and silhouettes of dozens of others gathered around him, all of them whispering the same maddening sounds that tried to invade Londo's mind not long ago. The priest's entire head turns, not paying any mind to the shadow figures around him, and stares directly at Londo... though you're not sure he's actually looking at you, as much as through you.
"They took it all!" He suddenly says, his voice insistent, with a hint of desperation and hate. "All of it! At the end of everything, He will take it all too... as I was to take it all from them. That's why He gave it to me! Me! So I could take it all from them."
The words kind of break down for a moment, random words that don't really seem to connect to anything, as the whispers get louder and louder, until Londo can not make out anything the dead man is saying anymore... at least that is until the very last one...
The word 'cataclysm' seems to carry above the roaring whispers, before all if it fades to nothing.
Londo finds himself still kneeling there, with his hand on the dead man, still exactly as it was before he started, no one else in the room having seen any of it.
The faint whispers are still there too, though they fade even more as he moves his hand away again.
Beside him, Fifi hesitates for a moment, not at all sure about the blackened silver skull hanging around the dead priest's neck. Even as her hand nears it, she feels the whispers in her head getting louder, almost as if encouraging her. She pulls her hand back, then grabs a sack of what appear to be apples from the pile nearby, empties out the fruit, then goes back. She takes a couple of calming breaths, then uses the sack to scoop up the amulet, trying not to touch it with her bare hand.
The whispers immediately fade back to the dull almost unnoticeable feeling in the back of her mind that they were only moments before.
Her whole body is quivering from effort she did not realize she was expending, a dull sheen of sweat across her brow.
She had expected evil... been prepared for evil... but what this thing was, was pure, unbridled chaos. She had never had to face that before, and it takes her a while to center herself afterwards!
The others see her grab at the thing with the sack, only for the flame on her head to go from its usual fiery yellow blaze to almost dull grey coals, before she staggers back a couple of steps and tosses it aside, still inside the sack... at which point her hair flares up once more, and she is left standing there breathing hard, like she'd just finished running a mile.
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As Fifi tosses the sack aside, she shudders and hesitates for a bit, before she retells her feelings-"That...thing. It's pure chaos. Groetus himself must have touched it, or a very powerful cleric blessed it, one far beyond our capabilities."-she says as the recomposes herself.
Still a bit afraid, she whispers-"Still, we can't let it live on. My vote is we take advantage of the little time we have with Large Londo over here, and try to shatter it. We can try to put one of the plates from the cleric's armor underneath, and give it our best shot."
"If it proves too tough and ends up smashing through the floorboards, we might have to call for backup and leave it here...and hope reinforcements don't come."-she says as she tries to untie the knots from the cleric's breastplate.
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Londo recoils at the sheer madness of Dalirio. Not quite as taken aback as Fifi but still pretty surprised.
Londo obliges and attempts to destroy the amulet. He produces his formless tool and shapes it into a Sledge before trying to break it.
I think he may have stolen this... Londo comments trying to pry the sense from the nonsense in the vision he just had.
At fifis suggestion to destroy it....he suddenly thinks this might be prudent. Lets give this a try
[Ooc] This has been an episode of learning the Occult book with Londo
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Midge stays back with the victims, soothing their worries and preparing them to leave this place. She spares a glance at Londo, curious if he managed to break the amulet...
"Does anyone have a bag of holding or something? Perhaps it's madness will fade if its in an extra-dimensional space. Or... Can Zarisha hold it without pain?" She thinks for another moment, tapping a finger to her lip. "I'm small... What if I carry it, and then you guys tie me up or something? I should be easy to control even if it makes me try to... do things." She scrunches her nose in distaste, clearly not liking that last suggestion. "It'll suck, but I would be able to get the amulet out of here and prevent this jerk's allies from scooping it up. We can take it to the nearest church and let them destroy the artifact. Once it's gone I should be fine. Right?" She sounds unsure.
Midge frowns. "Masym's right. We can't wait any longer. We need to get these people out of here."
Midge looks at her morningstar, dripping with Londo's blood and discarded on the floor where she had dropped it. She hesitates a moment, then approaches it. She stands over the bloody weapon, staring at it nervously. She looks almost afraid.
She a deep breath she picks it up, gives it a magical cleaning, and hooks it onto her belt. Then she turns and rejoins the victims. She stands ready to lead them up and out of this building as soon as everyone's ready.
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Marcus facepalms as Londo tries to break it. "Really? Find a scary trinket and your first instinct is destruction? Executing prisoners, destroying that which offends... I mean I'm well aware that the Pathfinder Society finds itself in dubious circumstances from time to time but I'm pretty sure Rovagug's ways were right out."
Fifi and Londo immediately decide that trying to destroy the silver skull is the only appropriate course of action, neither of them eager to get too close to it again.
The paladin ponders using the cleric's own breastplate for a backstop... but eventually both realize the hard stone floor should be good enough. Of course, you can't see the artifact inside the sack... but a few quick prods reveals a small round object inside, and without further preamble, Londo lines it up with his sledge, and brings it down as hard as he can!
No one is quite sure what to expect... but a soft squishing sound and the hammer striking stone is not exactly it. As he pulls his hammer back, a stain of moisture on the edge of the sack is a total surprise. Examining the bag further, there do not appear to be any further objects inside it though, and eventually, someone tips it out...
All that falls out is a number of crushed pieces of apple.
No sign at all of the blackened silver skull.
A short while later, you realize you no longer feel the voices whispering to you on the edge of your consciousness... though whether because they're gone... or just moved on, you don't know.
Unsure what exactly happened to the skull... and not sure you want to stick around to find out, you quickly martial the captives you've freed out of the room, and away from the site of their recent ordeal!
It takes a little convincing to get them to start for the stairs, even their captor, a motionless corpse on the floor, making many of them nervous. But eventually they do move... and once they hit the stairs, and somewhere to go away from their tormentor, hurry up the stairs to the room above.
All three of the unconscious cultist are still here, laying supine and bound on the floor.
The prisoners give them a wide berth as well, and eventually, all of you are back up in the barrel-filled warehouse above.
As you start to make your way through the darkened evening streets of the Royal Shipyards, you see almost no one... just the occasional figures, alone or in pairs, who all stand aside, eyeing you curiously as you pass, not used to seeing such large groups of people about at night.
As you go, Marcus talks to those rescuees that are willing to, trying to learn more about the people that captured you all, and you are able to piece together a bit of what happened to them over the previous few days.
Most of them were at the auction you were told about, either as guests, security, or employees, when the place was attacked. From there, they were dragged to a second building, that Cestis confirms was the the tavern you visited earlier in the day.
"That's my place!" One of the prisoners, claims, scowling. "Bastards said they was lookin' to buy... then show up and slap me in irons!"
"They had quite the operation going, for sure. More'n just this." Cestis interjects with a frown, before recounting what he remembers from there.
"They split us up into two groups then. I was dragged off with all these folks to that warehouse. No idea where they took the others" He sighs. "Not really that sure what happened after that. Knew if we got where we were going, my chances were pretty much sunk, so made some efforts to get away." He winces. "Didn't work out so well. Was mostly out of it after that."
The other prisoners add in bits and pieces from there. The cult, which apparently is known as the Cult of Nature's Cataclysm, were using the warehouse as a base of operations, and Dalirio Teppish ... the priest ... was in charge there. He referred to the place as The Rat's Nest, though none of them know for sure why.
There were more prisoners there when they first arrived, but most of them were moved somewhere else shortly after they were brought in. Teppish frequently had strange visitors... small dark-skinned humanoids with enormous grey eyes, would often come to negotiate the purchase of some of the captives, who were then lead off to places unknown. None of them are sure how many came or how many were taken away during the time they were there. By then, they were afraid to get anywhere near the cell windows, for fear of Dalirio infecting their minds and driving them mad.
Both Masym and Kioshi agree that their description of these visitors sounds a lot like creatures known as derro, that are quite common in the Darklands.
Eventually you see the guard post up ahead, the same one you stopped at earlier, with the folks you rescued from the Prancing Prince. The whole place is lit up, lanterns and torches making it look like its in full swing, rather than the late night sleepy post you saw when you approached previously.
Already you see someone pointing towards you as you approach. A nervous-looking guard exits the building, and meets you part way there, along wit ha couple of civilians trailing along behind him, curiously.
Half of your rescued prisoners descend on him almost immediately, all talking about the horrors they have had to endure, and the terrible atrocities committed on their persons, right under the guards' noses!
The lone guard's cautious look turns to one of surprise and shock, and panic.
"M...more? But..." He glances back towards the guardhouse, then at the dozens of people, and swallows.
"Please! If you'd all make your way to the guardhouse, we'll get this all sorted!" He calls out, trying to be heard over the sea of voices. "The others are out investigating another scene, but should be back shortly."
You do not see any other guards, though know there were more there earlier, and can only assume most of them have gone to investigate the ship where the previously rescued prisoners were being held.
Seeing the Pathfinders, the guards frowns slightly, then points at Marcus. "You. You there! They say you found these people? And that other group earlier?"
He looks oddly at the milling folks and Pathfinders alike, not sure who's who.
"Is one of you named..." He stops, looking at a sheaf of papers in his hand. "Uh... Fifi? The Captain will have some questions for her."
He can't follow up the query though, as the press of bodies moving to the guardhouse throws things in disarray for a moment, and he is forced to try to get everyone to be more orderly, with the help of his somewhat reluctant civilian volunteers.
"Don't go anywhere! There are questions!" He calls back to you, though seems a little overwhelmed at the moment.
Cestis chuckles. "Bet he didn't expect this when he left for work today."
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"Ah, F'fee? The orange-haired avengers? Yes yes, let me go get her!"
Marcus slips out for a moment and comes back a couple minutes later with his armor removed and in Kitsune form. In an awful Varisian accent and poor excuse for feminine tone he says, "Were you looking for me?"
He elbows Fifi and whispers, "Armors around the corner... grab it please."