Once the woman is cornered, Chalkou carefully lowers his claws, the smells of death mingling around him. Blood. Emptied bowels. Burnt flesh. And...something else. An after effect of magic, perhaps. he thinks, sniffing the air delicately. Sometimes his heightened senses were, well, not an asset.
Khavakra folds up her Dendar-Durük and stows it away in her cloak.
She kneels down and checks the two men she took down, looking to see if they are still alive.
There's no law here to turn these guys over to... guess it's up to the boss.
Khavakra looks back for the dwarf, Larur, or Saul Vancaskerkin. When she sees then, she asks,
"What now, boss? You want them alive?"
"That's it already?" With a wave of her hand the eagle vanishes in to thin air.
She then let's out a deep breath as she focuses on the pulses, or absence of pulses, from those on the floor.
The other guards blink as their sight returns, and the guests are becoming restless as they realize the danger is over and that their night was ruined.
Larur looks around before turning to Khavakra. "The Boss will want the woman alive. The other two I'd rather just question. They're not important enough to detain or worth killing, in my opinion. Saul?" He shrugged.
Saul returned from his office upstairs and called out from the second floor. "My friends, I must apologize for that impromptu entertainment! I must ask that you forgive us for having to cancel the rest of the evening's festivities!"
An uproar rose from those who remained, especially from those who were in the lower circles such as Cocytus, Caina, and the two in Nessus.
"However, to make it up to you all, we shall allow you to cash in your chips for a ten percent bonus! I know it is not the grand prize, but it is the best I can offer, considering."
Grumbling, the guests began to file up for their money. Saul signals Larur with his good hand - a thumbs down - before making eye contact with you five and motioning you to join him upstairs. His expression is unreadable as he leads you into his office. Within there is a fine desk, a plush chair behind it and two other chairs in front. Once everyone is inside the office he closes the door behind you and takes the chair behind the desk.
Placing his good hand and the large key together to form a steeple, he waits till everyone has either seated themselves or otherwise makes themselves comfortable.
Not getting a response from the woman Nessa turned her back on her and began to saunter towards the stairs when Saul motioned them to join him upstairs. She sauntered her way there, her body swaying with it's usual enticing motions, and when she entered the office she made her way to the desk Saul sat behind and sat on a corner on Saul's side, one leg folding up to tuck the foot under her other and one hand laying on the desk to help hold her up.
Felina points out the unconscious but living thugs to the staff at hand before following Saul upstairs.
Once the she takes one of the chairs. She sits there, back straight, legs crossed, hands in her lap. In her hands she holds the censer that hangs from her belt and that spewed forth an eagle just a short while ago.
Khavakra shrugs and follows Saul up to the office.
Once there she looks around and gets a feel for the place, while also looking for things hidden from ordinary sight (like secret doors, peepholes, etc.).
She takes a spot at the back and leans against the wall, crossing her arms.
Coming into the room just ahead of Elek, Chalkou pauses long enough to give the others a chance, the takes the remaining chair, turning it backwards and propping his arms on the backrest as he sits.
Saul looks at each of you before a grin lifts his face. "I wished to thank you all for your work down there. That could have gone much worse. Speaking of which, I'll take that chest from your chest, Nessie."
Once the transfigured chest is in his hands he examines it, flipping it around his fingers. "Clever bastards." He mutters before tossing it to the floor. "That spell shouldn't last much longer."
There is a knock on the door before it opens. Lixy walked in, her false horns in her hands nervously. "Boss, the guests aren't the only ones leaving. Most of the staff quit as well."
Saul sighed. "How many?"
"All but me, Larur, Hans and Beyar, and Bojask."
Saul's eyes bulged for a moment, his teeth clenched, before his sight darted to you all and his smile returns. "So, I seem to find myself in need of employees. I can promise what I offer all those who work for me: rooms here in the casino, food and drink, a steady income with tips and raises included, not to mention the rep you just earned tonight. You'd start at 25 silvers an hour, eight hours a day, five days a week, with free room and board. What do you all say?"
Nessa slipped her hand between her cleavage and pulled the cloth chest out. she leaned forward and held it out to Saul, "Here you go." She was about to flirt with him when the door opened and Lixy entered to tell Saul the employees left. Nessa frowned and then turned back to Saul when he began to talk again. She listened with interest as he made an offer to them to work for him and she found herself intrigued. She thought for a moment and then said, "I'm interested but I will speak with the First Sting before accepting. I don't think that she will have an issue with it though."
Chalkou's whiskers twitch involuntarily when Vancaskerkin offers them jobs. He pauses, gathering his thoughts. His tail sweeps slowly back and forth, once. Well, that's one way to get to the bottom of what's happening. He nods. "When do we start?"
Khavakra's eyebrows go up.
That's... that sounds incredible. Let's see... twenty-five silver per hour, times eight hours, times five days... that's a thousand silver a week! Plus, room and board, so I don't have to deal with that filthy half-orc and his flea-bag tenement any more!
Even if this fool goes bankrupt after the first week, I'll be better off than I've ever been since I left home!
"That's... yes. Good. Quite... fine indeed. Where do I sign?"
A Job? That was new. And interesting.
Felina stands up, extending a hand towards Saul. "Well thank you sir. That is most kind of you. I'll be sure not to disappoint." All the while she does her very best to ignore Nessa's antics.
When he accepts her hand she shakes it most vigorously.
His smile grows at the agreement. As if on cue, the chest is restored to its proper form, the sound of coins in sync with his expression. "Excellent! I'm going to start hiring for positions the day after today, as it is rather early. That should give you time to get your own business ordered." He directed that at Nessa. "I'll have the proper paperwork for you all to sign an hour after sunrise. That sh My boys are going to clean up here, if you'd like a bonus you can help out. Lixy, honey, could you tell them were things go?" He rises, shakes each of your hands, and then leads you all out of his office.
Lixy smiles at you all as she leads you back downstairs. "You'll like working here, its a simple job once you understand how we run this little gang of ours. Saul's a generous boss, as long as you follow orders."
"Now, some of you are familiar with some of us, but I'll introduce you all to all of us. I, of course, am Lixy Parmenter. The dwarf is Larur Feldin, the twins are Hans and Beyar, and the grim one over there is Bojask." She points to the dwarf, a pair of twins that -- other than a muscular build, tattoos, and a disregard for shirts -- didn't share much in common, and a dark-skinned man whose face seemed too tight for comfort and from whom a rather unpleasant smell emanated.
Larur nods to Khavakra before resuming sweeping. Hans and Beyar smile at Nessa, their faces flushing slightly. Bojask does not make eye contact with you. Rather, he acts as if you are not there.
"If yer done wit de tour, Lix," Bojask grumbles, "you can give the newbs brooms or someting. The pigs left a mess on deh way out."
"Of course they did." Lixy sighs, then faces each of you. "If you all want to help, there are brooms over there, most of the decorations were lent to us, so they need to be repackaged. Uh, other than that, stay as long as you want, I'll let the Boss know so you get paid for what you worked."
Khavakra shrugs and picks up a broom, nodding to Lixy. She begins sweeping the floor.
For 20 gold a day I can slop the hogs if they want.
Felina nods at the explanation and picks a broom, though her handling of it is rather awkward. She takes a moment to see how others use the thing and quickly adapts. The difference is still quite obvious though. Felina won't leave a spot alone until it's spotless but that does make her slower.
When Elek introduces himself she nods, "My name is Felina. I'm from Magnimar. This is all rather new to me."
Nessa nodded at what Saul said about having the papers ready and slid off of his desk to make her way to the door. She took his hand when offered and then followed Lixy down the stairs to the main floor. She listened as the woman spoke and then the introductions to each of the remaining employees. She enjoyed the reaction of the twins but was annoyed at Bojask's reaction to her. Still she was sure he'd warm up to her, eventually.
When the tour and introductions were done she turned to Lixy and said, "I'll be back with an answer in the morning, possibly before. I don't know that I'll stay here since I have accommodations at the temple." She winked at the twins and then laughed at their blushing as she flounced out the door and headed back to the House of the Silken Veil.
Within the lighting was dimmed, only a few scented candles giving a potent atmosphere. On her spacious bed Shorafa reclined on her side, propped up on an arm and wearing little more than extensive and expensive jewelry.
"My little Nessie, how was your night out? Was it as good for ol' Vancaskerkins as it was for you?" She crooked a finger at you, beckoning you to join her.
The clean-up took till just before noon, and those who stayed were shown where the staff housing was and which rooms were theirs. Saul called Larur up to his office, demanding contact information for recruiters. Lixy thanked you all for the help, promising that the bonus would be added to your first payment.
"Return tomorrow morning and we'll give you room keys, assign you jobs, all that good stuff. Till then, the day's yours."
Nessa considered then what else to day and almost forgot about the rest as she looked at teh First Sting's body before her. Then she remembered teh rest and continued, "When we finished speaking with Saul after the fact most of his employees quit and those that he had hired to help for the night and those who helped stop the robbery were offered continual employment with him." She looked at the high-priestess again and said, "The pay is fair but I told him I needed permission for the extended work for him before I could agree."
"I'm not sure how I'd feel about sharing you, my dear." You could smell the hunger from your Mistress. "However, growing attachments is something the Savored Sting does not encourage. Perhaps this is a good time for you to start making your way towards being queen of your own nest. You have my permission to work with Saul.
But," she takes hold of your chin and makes you look her in the eye. "Do not trust Saul any further than he can plow you. He may seem innocent enough now, but back in the day he gave all of us a run for our money. Mercifully bad luck struck him down from power, but he hasn't forgotten how to play the game. Be careful, my little bee."
Before you can say anything else, you both hear a split-second ringing in your ears before suddenly all of Shorafa's jewelry clinked together, as if magnetized. "What the ..." Shorafa began, before more metallic sounds came from throughout the room and outside.
Lixy's hands dart to her knife and a pocket close to her breast, as one of the twins suddenly grabs his jaw and cries out in pain.
Nessa met the First Sting's gaze and listened intently to what she was told. To be honest it left her very nervous about accepting the job but she knew that she could handle it if she was careful. Yet again she was about to respond when the Mistress' jewelry suddenly stuck together. Nessa was relieved she was wearing nothing as it looked awkward and she said, "I have no clue Mistress Pamodae, but I think we have this backwards. It's always been me that's restrained in here not yourself," She looked at the First Sting hungrily, "Of course there is a first time for everything."
After dropping his things at his new quarters, Chalkous prepares to head out and get a feel for the city. Just before he can, he hears a sudden and terrible ringing in his ears and his studded leather armor suddenly constricts, as though all the metal reinforcements were trying to come together and he just happens to be in the way. He looks around quickly, trying to understand what the source of this fell magic could be. Heart-Speaker protect me, what is going on?
Khavakra looks around in surprise. Fortunately for her she does not wear armor, and her Dendar-Durük is mostly made of wood.
"It's like all the metal became magnets! But that can't be... gold and silver are not affected by those... must be some kind of spell! If you wanted to disarm the guards, this would be a good spell for it. There may be more robbers on the way!"
"Fortunately, I am never without weapons."
Khavakra turns and watches the door, expecting another attack.
The censer hanging from her belt suddenly turns upwards, coiling itself in it's chain. At the same time it feels like her armor is tightening around her chest, not unlike what was happening to Chalkou.
She doesn't dare to speak, afraid the armor will tighten further if she lets any air out of her lungs. She does all she can, her hand grasping the odd, green holy symbol she carried with her. Luckily that one was made of stone.
All: The bizarre magnetism lasts for almost ten minutes, causing paranoia and near panic across Riddleport.
Right before the magnetism ends, it briefly increases in intensity before all metallic objects suddenly fall away from each other. A trickle of blood is dribbling from Beyar's mouth as Hans hands him a rag. Noise from outside increases as the people's outrage and fear become vocalized.
When the effect passes, Khavakra eases up, looking around.
"Well, that was passing strange," she remarks. "Does that sort of thing happen around here?"
Felina let's out a sigh of relief when her armor relaxes mere seconds after she felt it was finally really trying to kill her.
When she heard the locals talk she slightly turned her head to better catch what they said. "The locals think it's the Cyphergates. Though it was a stronger event than they are used to."
Lixy turned to Felina at her observation, her brow furrowed. "That damned structure always gave me the creeps, looming over us like a gateway to some alien world. It wouldn't surprise me if what just happened was its fault."
Larur stomped towards the door, two lists in hand. "Gonna have to move me feet today, got to start getting new hires in here and find materials to repair the stuff downstairs and in the kitchen. Torag's teeth, can this infernal venture of Saul's get any more jinxed?"
The red-faced dwarf turns to Khavakra, Felina, and Chalkou. "You three! Do us a favor and post these in the listed locations?" He hands you each a thick piece of paper folded three times and sealed with greenish wax imprinted with a key with fingers for teeth. The addresses are in three very different parts of the city, but nowhere unpleasant. "Would save me the walking. If anyone important asks, tell them Vancaskerkin's calling in his favors."
Approaching the grog shop you hear furious swearing and the sound of either angry cleaning or further breakage. You hear Zeldana's voice against Ionacu's, both sound fine if their raised voices were any indication.
When the dwarf hands out the letters, Chalkou takes one and shrugs. "Sure. Sounds easy enough."
Felina nods, "Vancaskerin. Ok, should be easy."
Then she turns to the others, "I'll walk along with you guys. I'm not quite sure where any of these places are. I just arrived in the city this morning."
Ionacu looked at the half-elf with concern. "Saul Vancaskerkin? I don't know if that's a good thing, Elek. I've heard stories about that man, not the good kind."
The Fly Nest is as run-down as the rest of the district, but it was probably the largest one. Though it seemed like it was built from four or five buildings placed together like a child's building blocks. A half-orc pushed past you on his way out, the reek of watered-down rum and burnt meat following him out.
Inside there were not many patrons, and a Shoanti man with half his head shaved stood behind the counter. He watches you as you enter, his eyebrowless brow crooked in mild interest. "What can Jagory do for you?" His voice was soft but raspy, as if it was hard to speak louder than a whisper.
Khavakra looks at the letters.
"I don't mind dropping these off, but I don't know the city that well. But if you guys know the way... we should go together to all these three spots. Riddleport is the kind of town where you don't want to walk alone if you can help it."
Khavakra looks Jagory up and down.
"We got a letter for you. We're supposed to say: 'Vancaskerkin's calling in his favors.' Uh... tell us if you want to send a reply."
With a night to remember with the First Sting behind her Nessa arrived at the Casino early. She had a long night but it was very much worth it as she entered the establishment and looked around for someone who could point her in Saul's direction.