Lysimachos, trying to hide his reluctance about discussing this topic, mentions that yes, he was in the legions, who his commander was, and that he had mustered out in the last year, striking out for the Benthali territories and then Sartorique.
"I imagine that this city changes quickly. What has happened lately?"
Laz wasn't expecting to be invited to share table, but he does accept. He senses the man has something to say but is waiting for an excuse, though he's not sure what could be the trigger.
"Good folk, have a good night. I will be on my way."
"So he thinks I want something. Well, I do, but... should I try? We said we went going to ask anything"
Lazverinus decides to let the thing go and stick to the plan. They'll come again another night and maybe knowing this man can open some doors.
Cornel picks up the last of his 10 gold pieces and looks around for Lazverinus and Lysimachos. Seeing that Lazverinus is still seated at a table with the fighter, he approaches Lysimachos and says, "Would you care to sit with me at a table outside? I want to be where I can see this priest of Gakoraki..."
Seeing who addresses him, Lysimachos turns and speaks:
"Certainly."
and follows Cornel to a table.
While Lazverinus talks to the local champion throughout the evening, Cornel and Lysimachos manage to wrangle a table outside, where the idle nobility of Sartorique smoke, argue, drink and whore.
Watching the target, both Lysimachos and Cornel get the immediate impression that he is dangerous. As trained fighters, both men can spot someone else who carries themselves as a trained fighter; unlike the posturing young men around them, it's pretty obvious that Terminus has what the more poetically inclined might call a "Predator's Aura".
As you take your seat, you get looks from some of the elites, and one of them stands to come and challenge you, but Terminus' voice rings out laughter, cutting through all of the noise on the patio. "Don't be a fool boy, that man would cut you in half and likely empty his bladder on what remained." His speech is followed by the sort of cruel laughter that one might hear from a Hyena. As he speaks, however, he is staring hard at Lysimachos, as one might a potential threat.
--------------
Lazverinus is being regaled by Hurian's time as a mercenary working for the forces of Erogalle, who apparently like to hire mercanaries to deal with external matters.
The waitress brings the bill, which winds up being about 10 gp.
Standing, Hurian says "Well, I've a long night of wenching ahead of me, but I wish you well, Lazverinus. Good luck with...whatever it is you're looking for."
"Okay, here we go." Lazverinus stands as well and shakes Hurian's hand. "Quintus Polibius is the name." He smiles lightly. "Contact me if you feel you know something important. And have a profitable evening!"
Alea iacta est.
Lysimachos recalls men like Terminus. Superb killers, though more often than not devoid of conscience or mercy.
Lysimachos does not seek the man's gaze, but neither does he flinch away. He focuses on making sure that his eyes move from person to person, not lingering overly long on anyone, but ensuring that Terminus is always in his field of vision.
Cornel watches Terminus carefully as the evening goes on.
Lysimachos will attempt to assist Cornel with his knowledge of the Intorians and general warcraft.
While you're neither surprised nor disappointed to learn that you can't really read Terminus' body language, it's clear that the others who stand up with him clearly look up to him, even if they don't necessarily share his fervor. You would expect to see something similar in the the affect of the followers of a particularly charismatic cult leader.
After an overly-intense moment where Lysimachos and Terminus stare each other down and Cornel gleans...something, Terminus smirks and waves his hands in the language of the Wildrunners, Handcant. He then turns and leaves without waiting for a response, followed by the people that were sitting at his immediate table.
"Two Tigers can't hunt on the same mountain."
Go ahead and give me a society roll.
Lazverinus steps out into the evening air just as Terminus departs.
Seeing that the situation has ended, the rest of the crowd heads back inside, leaving just the three of you on the patio for the moment.
Neither Lysimachos nor Cornel are sure what he meant, but Cornel gets the feeling that Terminus was indicating that he recognized Lysimachos as a fellow predator.
Quietly, Lysimachos speaks to Cornel:
"Any other leads of note?"
Laz comes out to meet the others. "Hello guys. Anything new?"
Speaking quietly, Cornel responds to both Lysimachos and Lazverinus: "I learned from an information broker that Terminus has made a practice of forcing unwilling beings into his cult, which has splintered from the church of Gakoraki. It is possible that our target has been caught up in this, but I have not seen any evidence pointing specifically to our target."
"I see. That may be our strongest lead thus far. Most of what I learned involved Hurian and duelling in general. It appears the topic of bloodshed keeps cropping up around me.", he adds with a grim bit of humour.
"Do either of you know where Terminus or his cultists might be found?"
Cornel fills in more of the details he learned from Mokwi:
"It would appear that the, for lack of a better term, rebel faction has set up a new shrine in Ward Ten . Like most port areas you know it's a dangerous place at night, unless you're looking to fight drunken sailors or get pressganged into ship service and even now his flock resides at the temple, where they initiate new members and conduct their rituals to Gakoraki. I have been told that the morning is the best time to attempt to visit, but even that would be problematic, as they are becoming increasingly territorial and aggressive, as one would expect an animal defending it's home to be."
"I would suggest that we all get a good night's sleep, and investigate the area in the morning."
Cornel has a sudden thought, and goes back inside. He approaches Mokwi and says, "If I should later change my mind about the centurion and his compatriots, or otherwise have reason to speak to you, how might I contact you?"
Once the answer to that question is received, Cornel returns to the others outside.
"I agree with that assessment. For entering enemy territory, we should prepare accordingly."
"This we will do" Laz agrees.
On their way back home, he can't help but ask Lysimachos. "And what have you learned about this Hurian?"
Mokwi smiles and says "You may find me here."
"He is undefeated, at least in here. He may not have killed anyone he has duelled in this place, as he focuses on defense. And the accumulated pot of winnings must be in the region of seven or eight thousand crowns. There is an unofficial rule that anyone new to the club must duel, which I believe we are lucky to have escaped."
Laz smiles. "Yeah, he seems quite a veteran. At first he looks like a thug, but he's more than meets the eye, and has a good quality magical sword."
He's not sure about what's next, but he dives into the pool. "He knows we - or I - am here for something. So I told him who we're looking for." Laz raises his hands. "I know we agreed not to say anything, but I've got the feeling he could give us nice information, and he's not involved. And if he is, we will know soon."
As the group is deciding what to do, the two men who Cornel noticed sitting on the veranda chewing Hunri's Blessing step out of the bar, followed by a pair of their friends/people egging them on.
Pointing at Lazverinus, one of them says "Your friend was rather rude to my woman. I'm going to rearrange his face for it!"
That declaration is, of course, utter BS. It's clear that he's spoiling for a fight, and has invented an excuse.
"Besides" says one of the hanger-on types "They didn't fight, and we can't have them escaping tradition!"
"That's true friend Ouron." said the other man who was chewing Hunri's Blessing, "Can't have them thinking that the rules don't apply to them."
While you still hear their speech, it becomes a distant sound when compared to the thundering in your ears and the red creeping into your eyes. You know that Hunri demands that you match them strength for strength.
Cornel looks askance at the accusation of rudeness toward a woman.
Fools. Jumped-up FOOLS!! BUT....they do not know.
Clearly getting tenser and tenser very rapidly, and through gritted teeth, Lysimachos replies, staring at the young bravos with wildness creeping onto his face.
"You lie. You. Lie! You think you will have a fight. What you would receive here instead...is death. Leave. NOW."
Lysimachos' entire body language is incredibly tense, as if about to fight for his life.
"Listen... my friend is quite... indisposed, today. You should come another day. It's late and we are in no condition to fight, really. I'm sorry if we did something wrong, it was unintentional."
Laz knows it will take them nowhere, but even so he wants to give the thugs the opportunity to go with an apology from him. Ah, if they hadn't such a big mouth and small brain...
The men seem unswayed by both Lysimacho's threats and Lazverinus' attempts at wordplay. Instead, they draw their blades and prepare to "duel" you all. The onlookers don't draw weapons, and it's clear that they are more interested in seeing a fight then participating in one.
The two men surge forward, both opting to attack Lysimachos.
One of them misses in his haste to deal damage, while the other's blow strikes true.
Not having brought his bow, Laz produces his knife and moves to the back of one of the attackers, trying to stab him and at the same time facilitate Lysimachos some advantage.
Through teeth that are starting to bleed, Lysimachos tries to say something further, but it emerges as a wordless howl of rage. His eyes are wild and bloodshot, and his muscles bulge and strain. Before, he was an impressively strong man. Now, he is more akin to a juggernaut.
The alchemical silver blade in his grasp swiftly and driven towards the heart of the man who dared strike him, as if to show the world the foolishness of this fight.
His flesh does not obviously change, but it does. Perhaps it a jest of Hunri's, as to not scare off the combatants and to stop outsiders interfering.
Rage: +2 to hit and damage
Power attack: -1 to hit, +2 damage
Flanking: +2 to hit
Shamed story feat: In a conflict that is being observed by others not involved in the conflict, you gain a +1 bonus on attack rolls and skill checks.
"You fools..."
Cornel grabs his light repeating crossbow as he moves a little to the side to get a clear line , pulls the lever to load the first bolt from the loaded case , and fires at the same man struck by Lazverinus.
Cornel draws, loads, and fires his crossbow with a practiced hand, but it's hard to draw a bead on a target in a chaotic melee, and so his bolt goes wide.
Lysimachos lets Hunri's roaring take over his body, and his consciousness fades to the background. His first swing goes wide as Hunri, using Lysimachos as a meat puppet, takes a moment to get adjusted to the fray. His blow misses the target, but leaves a 6 inch furrow in the ground where the blow landed and then Lysimachos pulled back his blade for another swing.
Lazverinus, realizing what is happening, wisely decides to take up a position in combat with an enemy between him and Lysimachos, only to stab the man he's trying to use as a shield.
Even if they don't consciously know that Lysimachos is, they do instinctively recognize him as the biggest threat and so both continue to attack him, only after a bit of shuffling to get into his flanks.
Both men then swing with coordination.
Both men land telling blows on Lysimachos, who just smiles at them through bloodied teeth.
As he pulls the lever again and takes his second shot, Cornel begins to wonder what will happen once the three of them bring down these two bravos, assuming they are successful...
Still grinning, and with eyes staring, Lysimachos slashes once again. And this time, it will not be the ground that is gouged.
It is almost as if the harder he is struck, the deadlier he becomes...
Lazverinus moves swiftly to take advantage of the low guard one of them must have after suffering such a terrible blow, and stabs.
Cornel again finds himself distracted, but this time by someone in the open door of the Tea Room yelling "Hey, Fight!" back inside. His bolt goes wide as a result.
Lysimachos dagger strikes true, and the man's eye is mangled as a result...yet he somehow still stands. Much like a version of Lysimachos himself, this warrior seems to stay on his feet long past when a normal person should have fallen down.
Lazverinus attempts to use the man's ruined eye to his advantage, but finds him prepared for such tricks, and the man's blade is there to parry Lazverinus' dagger.
A few more people come outside to see what all the commotion is about, and even at this stage, money appears to be changing hands, although it is between individuals, as opposed to the bookmakers from before.
While the uninjured man presses his attack on Lysimachos, the injured man turns and strikes at Lazverinus.
While the man attacking Lysimachos lands a rather large hit, the one who turned on Lazverinus can't seem to land a blow.
Lysimachos does not seem to notice the blows raining on him. Some dim part of his mind revels in the audience, that they will see him victorious!
The Intoran's focus however is upon carving apart his foe. Which he attends to with relish.
Ah, screw this.
Cornel moves his crossbow to his back again, then grabs a small glass jar and a handful of ingredients which he stuffs into the jar. He tosses it at the uninjured man attacking Lysimachos.
As the glass makes contact it shatters in a burst of flame...
Life seems to pass quickly before Lazverinus's eyes. They might find the end here tonight. And he hasn't even been injured yet!
"I shouldn't have left the bow at home" He grabs the handle of the knife firmly, and tries again at the thug who's bleeding from Lysimachos's strike. Maybe if they drop him the other will think twice...