Opting to enter the battle market through its northern entrance, the party continues down the road. Along the way you come across an intact gatehouse (), where you encounter your first signs of life since entering the village - another patrol of four, spear-wielding gnolls. Lax and evidently bored to death, they never see you coming. The gnolls are slain in a matter of seconds, without so much as scratching you or raising an alarm. After depositing the corpses in a nearby ruin, you continue onward.
Soon, you reach the battle market's entrance, a huge set of wooden doors that tower over you. The entryway is certainly unguarded, but given its size, it is hardly discreet. Visible from the outside is a heavy iron lock, evidently the only thing keeping the door shut. True to her word, Undrella's key seems to be just the right size and shape for the lock...
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While they are discarding the corpses, Sarala spends some time whispering about the strange sound gnoll necks make when they snap and encouraging Julius that his javelins are, in fact, getting closer whether or not he might believe that fact.
Once they get back to the door, she puts the key in the lock and turns.
Thurrios whispers, "I look forward to this."
With a loud click the enormous doors unlock; from there, it takes very little effort to push them open enough to allow everyone to slip into the battle market. You find yourselves standing in the northern entry hall, surrounded by the din of activity; the sound of a dozen conversations going on at once; of glasses clinking together amidst raucous laughter; and of course, the sound of ongoing battle. Even at a glance, it is quite obvious that there are far fewer people in the market than it is designed to accommodate. Indeed, nobody seems to have even noticed that your group has entered.
To your right is a stairway that apparently leads to the second floor. The passage on your left, lit by sconces housing torches, winds around the length of the battle market. Just a little farther ahead is the apparent origin of the clinking glass sounds, and even farther is the battle arena itself.
Thurrios takes the initiative. He places his finger over his mouth indicating a desire for silence, and proceeds to move up the steps, hoping to gain a birds eye view of the battle market before being thrust into the throng.
Narkû tries to blend into whatever shadow he can find.
'Narkû should try to hide in shadows, not clatter in dark....' Ruika thinks with a jovial wryness, there's a bounce to her step at the impending combat with the gnolls. Whilst Lyssa is nipping at her heels to try and get in to look at what is happening in the market.
Slipping a cloaked leg forwards, Ruika pushes the fox back since there seems to be people drinking in front of them and gaining height maybe useful - although so might securing the exit.
Anapa will stay back so that his stealth, or lack there of, does not interfere with those skilled at the art
Thurrios, Sarala, and Narkû climb the stairway, reaching a second floor landing. Just across from them is another, identical staircase, leading back down to the ground floor.
At a glance, the entire second floor appears to be a balcony that encircles the battle arena down below. The battle going on below has its fair share of spectators, numerous individuals looking down from the balcony's wooden railing. Most of them appear to be human, though you do spot at least three gnoll guards among them.
Two of the spectators converse nearby, just off the landing. They pause briefly at the sound of Narkû's clanging footsteps, turning their heads to regard the new arrivals... but they just as quickly return to their conversation without incident. They are not exactly very quiet about it, either.
"Nobody's been making any money off bets for weeks," one of them remarks with amusement.
"Yeah," the other agrees with a chuckle. "She just keeps winning. No point in betting on anyone else. But she's bound to slip up sooner or later, with the way she shows off. If that happens, then someone's in for a windfall."
"So battle arena ahead, free slaves & kill gnolls?" Ruika whispers to Anapa & Julius, whom remain on the ground floor as part of her very rudimentary plan.
Quietly she moves 15 foot south into the area surrounding the battle arena, where it seems like the spectators are having fun.
Thurrios, ever mindful of a desire to learn more about a possible opponent decided to engage the speakers. "I hope you will forgive me, but before I get into a betting mood, I figure I should learn a bit about the various opponents. Regarding the one that seems to always win. That would seem a sure bet, but if it was, then wouldn't everyone bet on her, and the bookies go broke? Who exactly is "she" and what does she do to always win? Is there a tactic of hers that seems particularly effective, or does she have special defenses the others cannot pierce?"
The two men turn to look at Thurrios again, this time with a look of puzzlement on their faces. They are both distinctly Keleshite, given their facial features and style of dress. Their garments might have once been tan, but they are now dirty and ragged from disuse. A moment passes before a realization comes over one of them.
"Oh, right, you lot must be new arrivals," he says, nodding to himself. "Haleen's the undisputed champion, at the moment. She knocked an ogre on his ass her first day here, and hasn't lost a match since." He gestures down at the battle stage. "Take a look and see yourself."
Despite her defensive fighting style, it is quite clear that she holds all of the cards.
"She always riles them up by fighting on the defensive. Never lets the suckers land a hit on her. Then, when she sees an opening, she sticks 'em deep. Rinse and repeat."
The other man shakes his head, as though to express his disappointment. "It's a tired old trick, but it always seems to work. None of the idiots here really know how to fight. Still, one might get lucky..."
Anapa is still at the back, but seeing that his companions are not in any trouble, and seem to have started a conversation, he approaches. Trying to keep himself from looking like trouble. Which is hard for his type, and his training
Narkû watches the fight as best he can from his position. As the fight continues, his curiosity gets the best of him as he unconsciously inches forward to keep the fight in view.
Ruika moves forwards to lean against the barrier of the balcony; "So you bet on her?" She glowers at the combatants and lets out a harsh bark of laughter.
"Good fight, where do you bet? Owner?" she growls in her low accented tones, the dark thin cloak leaning against the lines of her body and knife tucked into the sash at her waist. 'We kill owner and other gnoll scum that use such a torrid arena. Undoubtedly they'll eat losers of fight.' she thinks with disgust.
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"Haleen, huh? If she's such a tough fighter, maybe you could beat her up for glory, huh?" says Sarala to Narkû, stepping out of the shadow upon realizing it's pointless. She looks down at the fight. "I bet her weapon is dull." She gives a thumbs down and a bit of a laugh at that, neither knowing nor caring who this person is.
To the patrons, she says, "Oh, yeah, we're new arrivals. Fresh off the metaphorical boat to fortune and debauchery or whatever it is. Filled to the brim with vim!"
As he continues to watch the fight play out, "Narkû has spared with her many times in the past. While Narkû does seek his glory, Narkû will not find it defeating her. Narkû did not expect to find her here."
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"Think they are ever coming back, Anapa?" Julius whispers as he cleans his nails with a dagger. It would seem that he and the Anubian paladin have been forgotten outside the door they unlocked while the others go stealthing.
Julius squints at the doorway and the stairs as the roar of the crowd gets louder for the gladiatorial fight currently underway.
Frowning, he glances at the Ifrit. "I imagine the buyers for the musket slives Narkû was going on about are seeing their product for the first time. Such cheering!" he quips.
"Nah. We usually bet among ourselves," the man says to Ruika, gesturing at the numerous other spectators standing around the pit. "Makes it hard to win any real coin. Kardswann doesn't bother with any of it - I think he just likes watching everyone gut one another."
Down on the battle stage, Haleen's opponent is just about to launch another reckless swing, only to inexplicably hesitate at the last second. The swashbuckler does not miss the opening. In the blink of an eye she steps up to the man and plunges her rapier into the base of his throat. The hulking man stands there for a moment - blood pouring out from his wound and mouth - before dropping to the ground. Some human attendants quickly run onto the stage to drag him off. Another attendant - this one a gnoll - tosses Haleen a small satchel.
a booming voice says from up above, on the third floor balcony. There are a few halfhearted cheers throughout the battle market, but it is clear that the speaker holds all of the enthusiasm.
The woman snorts as she steps off the battle stage, walking in the direction of Anapa and the others - apparently bound for the pub.
Anapa will give her way. After a fight, one does tend to get thirsty, he will not hinder her approach to quench that thirst
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As Anapa's patience with Julius' useless banter finally reaches its limit, the paladin rolls his eyes and strides through the door.
"Hey, wh—?" is all the arcanist can get out.
"Fine," he says throwing up his hands. He stows his equipped items so he doesn't look suspiciously like the danger they actually were. He walks in looking around and is so distracted by all the activity and dangerous looking folks Julius walks into a wall! The wall is shaped exactly like an Ifrit paladin coincidentally enough.
"Ow!" Julius bursts out rubbing his cheek. "Why did you st—" Julius trails off as Anapa steps aside for a woman covered in still dripping blood.
"M-my apologies, your ladyship, Julius mutters in consternation and maybe the teeny tiniest bit of fear while ducking his head and moving out of the way.
Narkû follows after Julius keeping his mouth closed for the moment.
When Haleen turns to Julius, he gives a quick wave of hello and then motions with a finger twirling around Narkû's ear while nodding at Julius.
"I wonder what that's all about?"
"Kardswann?" she asks the spectator and pointing upto the third floor balcony from whence the fighting purse dropped. "Gnoll? Third Floor?" There's politeness to her curt questions as deep within her the fiery hatred of the slavers burns deep. Lyssa placating, rubs against her ankles beneath her robes as a cautionary influence to the orc's emotional nature.
The swashbuckler turns to Julius, her expression at first one of bewilderment, but quickly settling into a soft smile. Haleen is a lovely woman of Keleshite descent, having dark hair and tanned skin. Despite her apparent profession, small amounts of makeup accent her face, and she carries with her the scent of desert sage. She wears green, loose-fitting clothing typical of a desert wanderer, as well as a green headdress printed with floral patterns.
"'Your ladyship?'" Haleen repeats with amusement, letting out a low chuckle. She looks Julius up and down, sizing him up, and then does the same to the ifrit paladin. Having apparently come to some kind of conclusion, she takes a step back and rests a hand on her hip. "This is not exactly the place that I thought I'd find a well-mannered gentleman. Which of course, means that you probably aren't supposed to be here."
Finally, she looks over at the half-orc with a smirk. "You, on the other hand, fit right in. Narkû. How long has it been? And why am I not surprised to see you here?"
"Here, let me buy you all some drinks. Try to look like you belong here. The gnolls won't bite... well, unless Kardswann tells them to."
"Nah. I thought he'd be a gnoll too when I first came here, but he's actually some huge bald guy. He usually stays up on the third level; good thing, 'cause man does he scare me."
The man pushes himself off the railing and lets out a sigh.
"Well, next fight won't be for a while. I'd better get back to my shop. The name's Zep, by the way. My friend here is Kamaal, but I just call him Camel. You should stop by and take a look at our wares when you get the chance."
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Gorum's steel ass! Julius mentally curses. He looks away from the pretty woman while rubbing the back of his head. "Ah—well, that is...I belong here...um, I'm just not here to fi—"
He trails off as Haleen greets Narkû with such familiarity. Then suddenly he's swept up nearly off his feet as Anapa and Narkû follow Haleen to the bar.
Suddenly he has a potent spirit in a small cup in his left hand and a tankard with a warm, heavy brew smelling strongly of hops in his right.
"A toast!" Haleen announces.
Ah, I have a feeling this may go poorly for me, he thinks nervously.
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"Betting sounds like it'd be fun to do, but..." Sarala just shrugs, having sworn an oath not to gamble. "Have fun selling your wares. Maybe I'll have to check 'em out. I'm itching to get myself some new wares."
Once they are gone, she looks towards her companions, "Let's get back to the others with this." She looks down at the rail down the stairs, opting to slide down it if there is no traffic going up, but just walking down otherwise, hands in her pockets.
When you enter the pub, you get a better look at the battle stage, a massive, circular wooden platform elevated two feet off the ground. At a glance, its surface is smeared with blood, both dry and fresh. Two rows of terraced benches surround the stage, which is bathed in natural light from a large open circular hatch in the citadel's roof far above.
The small tavern sits on a slightly elevated platform that has an open view of the battle stage. It is dominated by a long bar stocked with dozens of varicolored glass bottles, containing all kinds of cheap wine, ale, and beer. A one-eyed gnoll wearing an apron tends to the bar. He is rather scrawny for a gnoll, and mutters incessantly as he wipes the dust off some glasses. The scent of cooking meat also seems to waft from behind the bar.
Seated at the only other table in the tavern are four burly goblinoids with thick fur and floppy ears. They size you up when you first enter, but are quick to return to their quiet conversation when they see that Haleen is with you.
"You need to loosen up," the swashbuckler remarks with a grin as she sets her tankard back down. "It's not a bad thing, not belonging here. It's a pretty s!~#ty place, after all. I'm just wondering what the hell your lot is doing here."
With two mugs of watered down warm ale in this hands, he begins, "Narkû has been looking for you. Narkû was concerned when Narkû couldn't find you for a few months..." He pauses a moment to down one mug before continuing, "so followed some leads that brought Narkû out in the desert in this direction. Meet up with a couple of wanders and Narkû ended up here." He finishes his answer by gulping down the second mug.
<Beeeeeeellllllccccccchhhhhh!>
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The shot of whatever moonshine the gnoll had given them burned and sucked all the air out of Julius' lungs. He quickly took a gulp of the chaser beer but the quick transition had him sputtering and coughing soon after.
"Erk," he managed in reply to Haleen's encouragement not to belong. Uncertain how she would take their mission, Julius politicks instead.
"The ever verbose cavalier here," he stops to cough again, "convinced us his quest for his friend was worthwhile. So here we are."
He shifts uncomfortably.
Narkû cocks his head a bit and squints his eye, not exactly sure what he just heard.
"What did you just call Narkû?"
"Narkû convinced you?" Haleen replies, eyeing the cavalier with a look of astonishment. "I have to admit, I half-expected you to barge in here on your own at some point. I never thought that you'd bring friends with you."
She leans back in her chair, letting out a dramatic sigh.
"I didn't mean to disappear on you so suddenly. Some of my old friends in Katapesh decided to call in an old debt. With exponential interest, of course. Told me I could either pay it with my body or with gold... I'm sure you can guess which route I decided to take. I didn't have the money, of course. But they weren't about to give me an extension, and I wasn't about to sell my heirlooms..." She gestures at her rapier and buckler, both rather ornate considering their purpose. "...so I decided to skip town.
"When I first heard of this battle market, I thought it might be a good place to lay low and earn some coin to pay them off with. Get in, win a few fights, and then get out. Only problem being that the man in charge isn't so keen on letting anyone leave. Oh, and I managed to piss off an ogre. Fun times."
Thurrios responds to the two men, "I go by Thurrios, it is a pleasure."
He follows Sarala back down to meet with the group.
"So how much more money you need to win. If Narkû can find you here, then others can also. Then Narkû would have to hurt them if they came here..."
Narkû stops talking suddenly, as a grin comes across his face. He reaches for his coin pouch and makes sure it is snitched close.
"Maybe we should tell them where you are, and then let them come here?" He says as he retrieves his whetstone.
Anapa gives a courteous bow at Haleen.
"I am Anapa. It is a pleasure to meet you. It seems you handle yourself well. It is good to watch. But it did strike me odd to see a lady as yourself in...." he stops himself as he looks around. His eyes furrow at the gnolls
"such a place as this. I do hope you settle your debt quickly. Also. I have to commend you on choosing the latter. And not the former of the choices you had."
-Posted with Wayfinder
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Sarala peeks into the bar before walking in and heading towards her companions and Haleen, having overheard something that Julius said, "I thought verbose was when you do a lot of verbs. Like a man or woman of action or something," she suggests, punching the air a couple times, "Punch, punch, verbosity!" She digs her hands back into her pockets, pushes a chair back with her foot and sits down on it, eyeing Haleen for a few moments.
"Haleen, is it? I'm Sarala. A friend of Narks is a friend of mine. He's lent me his whetstone more times than I can count," says the Vanaran, holding out a hand to show the number of digits she has, "So this man in charge, this Kardy guy, what's the news on him? Why won't he let you go?"
Haleen raises a brow. "Why would I want to do that? As certain as I am that they'd be willing to cross the desert just to kill me, it would take them at least a week to get here. As for how much money I owe..." She waves the question away as one would a fly. "...don't worry about. You know me, I can handle my own problems. Well, most of them."
The swashbuckler eyes the newcomers as they join the table. Haleen waves at the bartender to bring more drinks.
"So Narkû brought more friends than I thought," she remarks, looking to everyone that was upstairs. If she is surprised by Sarala's appearance, she doesn't show it. "Beats the hell out of me. But I doubt he conquered a gnoll tribe just to start a lucrative business career. Ugruk still howls every damned night, so I think it's safe to say that Kardswann is loyal to the Carrion King. Pretty damned strange, all things considered."
Grabbing another mug of ale, he nods at the watered down swill before saying, "Narkû has many friends ... apparently."
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Julius shuts his eyes while his mouth compresses into a thin line. With a slight shake of his head, he mutters, "It's like he doesn't know how to not say things that draw attention to us."
He eyes the muscle-y gnolls with a sidelong glass to see if they are paying them any more than normal attention.
Haleen lets out a chuckle. "He's always been like that. Though in his defense, you're all bound to draw attention sooner or later. Speaking of..." The swashbuckler leans back in her chair again, arms folded. "You all just arrived here today. But you weren't addressed by Kardswann as all newcomers are. Which means that you found another way in.
"Most of the idiot gnolls here probably won't pick up on that. But if Kardswann or Ugruk or Undrella catch wind of you, well, you might be in for a bad time." With a smirk, Haleen eyes Julius pointedly. "Well, since you've found me, I hope your quest was worthwhile."
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"Another way in?" says Sarala, "Well... I guess. We just came through the door, but I don't like a lot of fanfare in my comings and goings, so just as well that we weren't announced!"
She looks to the right while her tail points to the left, and then looks to the left while her tail points to the right, asking quieter, "And, well, let's just make sure Kardy and Ugruk don't catch wind. I'm not so worried about the other, personally, but who knows. Life can be crazy. So where does this Ugruk guy hang out anyhow?"