Aleissa's pained expression still fresh in his mind, Tanith nods. "By Kord I could use a stiff drink. Maybe I'll get lucky and there'll be a good brawl going when we get there."
As if the day couldn't get any worse...
Sure, charming the mayor sounded like a good idea at the time. If nothing else, it'd give her more time to pay his latest taxation fees. The man was worse than a vampire when it came to money. In hindsight, charming a wizard's brother (especially when the wizard in question is regarded as the best mage in town) was perhaps not as attractive an idea as she previously thought. Now things threatened to spiral out of control.
She heard the rumours of using magic to steal just enough money from her customers that no one would notice a difference. Hells, Smenk and his gang were perhaps the worst offenders, though that Dourstone was right up there with him, the penny-pinching, stone-addled fool. Thanks to them, business at the Emporium was beginning to slow down enough to concern her greatly.
Then, old Tom Shingle came in and told her of the band of so-called 'adventurers' that went into Dourstone's mine and came back with one of their number dead. And of COURSE it had to be Miss Viera; fate had a black sense of humour, for certain. The one other woman in this s**thole of a town who could perhaps understand how lonely a fiend-born lady's life can be, that she (at least) tried to reach out to, and was rebuffed every time.
Standing outside the Emporium, Zalamandra folds her arms as she watches the Kordite and his friends walk by. She is dressed in her normal attire: a dark violet dress with a low neckline, her hands folded into her sleeves.
"Ah, Tanith. I had not thought to see you back so soon." She steps forward, looking behind him for the rest.
Tanith heard her before he saw her - Another sign that the big Kordite was in the worst kind of funk. It wasn't often that a beautiful woman like her went unnoticed by him.
The sway of her hips and the way she pursed her lips were dizzying but he recognized a familiar pain in her voice. Had she lost someone too?
"We're taking a breather", the hulking Suel explains. "I-We lost Carina and we're just trying to figure things out. Were you two friends? You seemed worried about her last time we talked."
Zalamandra's lips turn into a thin line. She says nothing for a long moment.
Perceptive of him, for once.
"I did. Perhaps I wouldn't call us 'friends', in the strictest sense, but I wished to know how she was, and... well, now I know the answer."
She turns back to the Emporium, her hips swaying as she walks. She looks back over her shoulder.
"Would you like a drink?"
The big man's brawny frame relaxes in a way that would suggest he was dying of thirst.
"You read my mind", he answers as he follows those swaying hips.
"The last time Red and I spoke it sounded like she didn't think too highly of you."
Zalamandra sighs. "I suppose, in hindsight, I can't blame her too much for that." She steps through the door of the Emporium, then looks back over her shoulder.
"The offer of drinks goes to the rest of you as well." She briefly glances at Spiny before looking to Cuetzpalli. "Although I would appreciate it very much if your *ahem* companion would remain outside. I'm afraid some of the patrons may take exception to his presence."
Gods know I can't afford any more trouble now, of all times.
"Isn't that what they do here, though? Look at strange animals?" Astraden winks at the bouncer. "Spiny is very well-behaved."
But she follows inside.
"We can bring you out a drink Cuetzpalli", Tanith offers.
Zalamandra shrugs. "Certainly, but they typically pay for it. And it's not just strange-looking animals that people look at, either."
She walks up the stairs past the 'Gallery of Science' to the Emporium's taproom. The room is less busy than usual.
Cuetzpalli nods and crouches down in the dirt with Spiny. "I don't need any alcohol, but some water would be nice. I will wait out here for you all."
Zalamandra gives a quick nod to the attendant at the entrance to the Emporium as she heads upstairs. The attendant fingers his moustache, but ushers the team through. The large bouncer shifts from foot to foot when Astraden winks at him.
She takes a seat at the bar, leaning against it while keeping her left arm on it. "So, what will you be having today?" She asks the party, the bartender looking between her and the others.
"Some good mead would be nice", the big man muses as he straddles a too-small stool. "I'd imagine you've got the best stuff in here."
"Sure thing, Cuetzpalli."
In the taproom, Astraden takes a seat. "Mead for me as well. And a jug of water."
When the bartender passes over her order, Astraden thanks him. "Be right back, guys."
She takes the water out to Cuetzpalli and Spiny. Leaning against the wall, she takes a hearty swallow of her slightly flat mead. "Any particular aversion to drink, or is it just too early in the day?"
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Eben curses a little to himself as he finds himself performing for his life. Well, no, nothing that dramatic, but certainly for whatever sense of propriety remains to him after six months in Diamond Lake. Well, no, he never really had much of a sense of propriety to begin with, but at the very least he finds himself giving a performance designed to allow him to not feel too nauseated to eat breakfast in the morning.
It had been just a normal day. A little slow, but that's not so bad either; small audiences were easier to keep entralled. Fewer potential hecklers. And then she walked in. Fifty years if she was a day, bristly whiskers poking out from strategic location among her chins—yes, chins, multiple, thank you—and with a gleam in her eye that Eben knew all too well. The "I want to make the magician's clothes do a disappearing act" gleam. And sure enough, during a break, she'd sidled on up, slipped a gold coin in his back trouser pocket and inquired if he'd be available to "teach her a few tricks" later. And while he'd found himself involved with more than one unsavory patron during his time here, and usually could handle it (after a few drinks), tonight he just could. not. deal. And he'd beggared off, explaining that he had a job to do and absolutely could not leave in the middle of a performance. Which meant, as far as he was concerned, that he'd be performing from sundown to sunrise in this very room if that's what it took.
Eben fans a splay of cards out in his hand, then, with a flourish, collapses them into one deck. He waves his hand across the pack, and when the pass was finished, the cards were gone, replaced by a cooing dove. A faint smattering of applause 'rewards' him. Cretins, if any of you knew the first thing about magic, you'd realize that was entirely a mundane trick, and it was bloody hard. He always wondered if it would be more rewarding to perform entirely for a house of actual spellcasters with detect magic active. At least they'd appreciate the effort. He glances around. His admirer was still present. And entering the room now... oh, crap. Zal herself. Kind of early tonight. If his loathsome admirer inquired as to the dashing young man's availability directly to the proprietress... fortunately the boss seemed to be entertaining her own crew, for the moment.
Zalamandra watches Astraden take her order & Cuetzpalli's before turning back to Tanith as his order is served to him.
"So, may I inquire as to what happened to Carina? From what I've heard, you went into the Dourstone mines with her, and from the looks of things, a mining accident wasn't what happened."
She glances over at Eben, noting the panic on his face. The Greyhawk guards had no reason to come to Diamond Lake, and from the sounds of things the patrons haven't been complaining about him, so what--?
Ah. Persephone. A lady with looks that would make an orc recoil in disgust, to hear him tell it. And, truth be told, it wasn't as much of an exaggeration as she thought. She turns back to Tanith, pretending not to notice the lady's (entirely unsubtle) advances on one of her best employees. Eben could handle himself for now...
"Sure thing, Cuetzpalli."
In the taproom, Astraden takes a seat. "Mead for me as well. And a jug of water."
When the bartender passes over her order, Astraden thanks him. "Be right back, guys."
She takes the water out to Cuetzpalli and Spiny. Leaning against the wall, she takes a hearty swallow of her slightly flat mead. "Any particular aversion to drink, or is it just too early in the day?"
"I prefer to keep a clear mind most of the time. My people ingest various plants that affect the mind, but they are hard to find here in the north, and have quite different effects from drink. Thank you once again, Astraden. Your kindness and courage have been a rock for me these past few days....Say, are you..." The savage olman begins to blush a bit, and he reaches up to adjust his headdress. "Are you involved with anyone?" he finally manages.
Tanith offers the beautiful madame a nod of thanks as he takes the tankard of mead from her. He takes a long draw, belches, and then clears his throat before telling the story of the party's efforts.
"We'd heard there was a cult working below the mines to summon or worship some kind of undead worm-thing. Knowing nobody was going to believe us, we took it on ourselves to check it out", the big Kordite explains as he looks around with a small amount of suspicion.
"It turned out the rumors were true. After we snuck past security - way more security than's necessary for a simple mine - we found some kind of temple to Hextor. The group we fought was part of an Ebon Triad, an alliance of evil gods or their worshipers at least."
Zalamandra simply listens to Tanith. Anyone taking a closer look at her can see the gears turning in her head.
So, Dourstone's got a doomsday cult operating out of his mine. I imagine he would not want this to be made public... but that still leaves the question of how he found out about it. He couldn't have found this out on his own... if I haven't heard of it myself, I doubt he could.
"And how, may I ask, did you learn of this... Ebon Triad?" She asks, interestedly leaning forward enough for Tanith to get a slightly better view of her assets. Her head rests in her left hand.
"Oh . . ." Astraden's face goes blank for a moment; then she shrugs. "No, no, I'm not." The corner of her mouth quirks a little. "Are you?"
Tanith's shamelessly eyes drift downward in response to the madame's strategic shift of posture. A grin slowly works its way across his features. He pauses to take another long draw of his mead.
"That's a tough question and it's a long story. It had to do with that Cairn we cleared out. Sort of."
Zalamandra's lips quirk into a small smile. "Well, go ahead. I'm listening."
Pausing again to scratch at his stubble-cover chin, Tanith assembles the details as best he can.
"Something we found in the Cairn lead us to a necromancer from out of town that was researching some kind of zombie-worm that he got from the mines. He said Smenk gave it to him."
The big man drains the last of his mead, savoring the honey-sweet spirits on his tongue. "It's not clear how many of the mine managers are involved but Smenk and Dourstone are for sure."
"Oh . . ." Astraden's face goes blank for a moment; then she shrugs. "No, no, I'm not." The corner of her mouth quirks a little. "Are you?"
"No, I'm not." Cuetzpalli says, smiling back. "Aside from Spiny, I've been alone for a long time." He pauses to take a long sip from the water Astraden brought him. "Well, I like you. Maybe we could get to know each other better once this madness clams down a bit?"
"That would be nice." She keeps smiling, but then looks down. "I'm not sure what I want in that area, though, so, perhaps not for a while."
She takes another swallow, then pushes herself up from the wall. "Are you sure you don't want to come in?"
Zalamandra pays close attention now.
Hmm... so Dourstone & Smenk are involved in this as well... Perfect. But I can't do this without some assistance...
She glances over at Eben. From the looks of things, he's rapidly running out of options for warding off Persephone. She briefly turns to Tanith.
"Would you be so kind as to excuse me for a bit?" She says before getting up from the bar and approaching Eben.
"Eben, I need to speak with you. In private." She adds with a pointed glance at Persephone.
Audience members paying careful attention (not likely many) might be able to hear the adible gulp Eben emits.
"Ladies and gents, I'm going to need to take a brief break, but the show will resume shortly..."I ferverently hope, he adds silently. With a bow, flourish, and silk scarf produced from thin air, he quickly wraps up and follows Zalamandra. "Yeah, boss?"
Zalamandra leads Eben into her office by the Veiled Corridor. In contrast to the lavish decorations of the rest of the Emporium, her office is alarmingly plain; either she's more inclined to spend money on the rest of her establishment than here, or she simply hasn't had time to redecorate yet.
She closes the door and beckons Eben to have a seat. The chairs are perhaps the only real luxury in the room: high-backed and made with soft leather. She sits behind her desk.
"Eben, how would you feel if I told you that you no longer needed to work here?" She asks, her arms folded into her sleeves. Unlike with customers, her posture is alert and serious instead of sensual and poised.
"You go ahead, I'll be fine out here. I'll see you in a little bit," the Olman responds, motioning Astraden inside.
The question is potentially loaded, Eben realizes, but it still leaves him feeling less wary than it might under other circumstances. Zal wasn't the type to play loyalty games with her employees.
"Well, it's not that I dislike working here, you know..." he says, guardedly, "But there's a lot to be said for being a free agent. I mean, not like I'm planning on a lifetime here as is, just haven't saved enough to buy out my contract yet..."
Zalamandra smiles before folding her hands on her desk.
"Well, Eben, I so happen to have a proposal for you."
Her demeanour turns serious again. "You have heard of the rumours surrounding me as of late, correct? How I use magic to steal money from paying customers, and how it's the only reason I've been so successful here?"
"Well, as it happens, most of those rumours stem from Balabar Smenk & Ragnolin Dourstone. Certainly, some of the hearsay about me comes from some of the other managers, but those two are, by far, the worst offenders." A small smile appears on her face... it's eerily similar to a cat's smile. "Which makes me think they have something to hide as well."
"As of late, you've doubtlessly heard of a group of people venturing into the Dourstone mine. According to one of their members, both Smenk and Dourstone are involved in some sort of doomsday cult beneath town." Her smile widens. It's... decidedly unpleasant to see. "I imagine they'd be desperate to keep such... alliances... as far from the public eye as possible."
"Here's my proposal: if you assist the group and I in dealing with this cult, and help me gather evidence of Smenk's and Dourstone's involvement, I am prepared to consider your debt to me paid. You will be a free man, so to speak." Her smile disappears. "I won't lie to you; it will be a dangerous undertaking. One of their members has already died. But I intend to make sure that such a tragedy does not go unanswered."
That, and perhaps this will give me a chance to mend fences with Miss Viera when she comes back.
Eben shifts somewhat uncomfortably in his seat.
"...Smenk?" he replies, having completely glossed over the 'doomsday cult underneath the town' part in lieu of what he regards as the truly scary part. Still... "You're directly involved in this, if things go bad, you run interference with him? Of course, if he does get pissy and I'm a free agent again, I can just head back to the Free City..." He muses out loud, one thought leading to another. "Alright, I'm on board. At the least, sounds more exciting than another night of pulling rabbits out of hats." And dealing with Miss Persephone...
Zalamandra has a warm smile on her face. "Glad to hear it, Eben. Don't worry so much about Smenk; odds are, he'll be more concerned about me than my employees. He won't care overmuch about you."
"And you'll certainly be away from Persephone for a day or two, at least." She adds with a little chuckle.
"Go get your things ready. I'll introduce you to the team once we're prepared." She gestures to the door.
Eben stands, gives a half-bow, and bustles to his quarters where he proceeds to run though a list of what one Does and Does Not need to bring when running a raid on subterranean, mine-dwelling apocalypse cults... "Top hat? No..."
Once Eben leaves, Zalamandra rises from behind her desk and walks over to an armoire in a corner of the room. She rests a hand on the door, biting her lip.
I thought I'd have to dig these out some other day... but, like I thought, fate has a black sense of humour.
She opens the door and begins gearing herself up. A long, elegantly carved quarterstaff made of darkwood, a masterfully enchanted light crossbow & bolts, a well-crafted backpack with all the accoutrements needed for extended trips, a sea-blue cloak embroidered with a smoky pattern, and a small, slender shaft of wood.
My enchanted gear, a cloak of resistance, and a wand of healing. Hopefully, this should be enough...
When Zalamandra emerges from her office and returns to Tanith, she's wearing all of her gear.
Even though he's still transfixed by her sensual form, Tanith isn't too distracted to notice the Madame's new equipment. He cocks an eyebrow and grins as she returns.
"What's all that for? I mean, the crossbow seems like overkill."
Astraden heads back upstairs and retakes her seat next to Farrukh. She's silent, drinking from her mug every half-minute, until Zalamandra comes out.
"Thinking of joining us?"
"Very astute. Yes, I intend to come along with you." Zalamandra takes a seat next to Tanith and waits. "I had hoped to at least begin to make amends with Carina before..." She sighs. "You know. And I don't intend to be dissuaded."
"As to what I can offer..." She snaps her fingers, and a small ball of light appears in her left hand. "...I happen to be able to work magic." She dismisses the ball of light and pulls out the slender wand she tucked into her belt.
"And I have this: a wand of healing. So, rest assured, I'm not coming to the table empty-handed." She looks back over her shoulder briefly. "Also, I have an associate of mine who wishes to join..."
Tanith was equal parts surprised and disappointed. His features quickly become serious again.
"You sure about this? It's going to be dangerous. These Ebon Triad types are deadly. I couldn't protect Carina..."
Zalamandra's features turn serious. "I'm aware of that. And I'm going."
"Suit yourself", the big Kordite says with a sad shake of his head. "I'm not going to tell a grown woman what to do."
"Either way we're not leaving until tomorrow. When we left the last time, we raised a bit of suspicion."
Day Nine: The 29th of Coldeven, Year 595
7:00 AM
The next morning, the group goes to the edge of town once more. They find Robin waiting for them. Bermintrude and his two dogs stand at his side. He's fully packed, and he looks sad.
"We...came to say goodbye."
Zalamandra, with her hood up, keeps her arms folded in her sleeves. She says nothing, but she can infer why Robin was leaving.
She bows her head.
Before leaving for the mines, Tanith works out, prays, and then struggles against the length of iron.
***
"What are you talking about? Aren't you going to help us with the Ebon Triad?"
Astraden finishes her drink and heads "home," where she begins laying the skeleton of the upper floor. It's cold and dark by the time she breaks to prepare spells, and she wraps herself tightly in cloak and bedroll.
The next morning, when the hills are still grey and the trees still dark shapes, she shoulders her pack and heads back into town, where she meets the going-away party. She glances at Tanith, but then looks the hunter in the eye. "We'll miss you, Robin."
Before leaving for the mines, Tanith works out, prays, and then struggles against the length of iron.
[dice=Strength plus Blessing]1d20+1+4
***
"What are you talking about? Aren't you going to help us with the Ebon Triad?"
"Like I helped Erip? And Carina? I was right there, old bean, when she fell. I couldn't even shoot down the man that did the deed." Robin lowers his head. "Sorry, Tanith, old boy. I'm just not sure this is exactly my vocation. I need to go back to my fishing spot...and think all this over."
Tanith's heart sinks when he hears Robin confess his guilt. It was a pain he felt too. The only difference was that he wasn't ready to give up.
"I... understand. Take care of yourself", the hulking Kordite says as he squeezes the fisherman in a big hug.
Robin gets on Bermintrude and rides off.