Cat replies, "There is no out, honey." This is all she says to Henrietta's offer, and she says it without emotion.
She maintains eye contact as she speaks about the ship. "Anyway, I get to meet the prince's harem. Nagaji slave girls. Dots and I get to train 'em, which'll give us at least a month offa johns. After tonight, a-course. Heh... when I said girl-talk, I didn't seriously think we'd talk about the girls.
"If that's your interest, sorry to say I'm with a client and my shift's an all-nighter. But he won't object if I give you this for free—"
She leans in as if to kiss Henrietta on the ear. "Mules," she whispers. "Diamonds smuggled in their bellies."
She leans back, sipping her drink. Her eyes show no fear or satisfaction at the passing of information. Her lips form a small smile.
"Sure there is. What if I kill the Prince tonight?"
Her eyes widen hearing the news, and she walks away, sitting back down beside Bulge and Manny.
"Can you flip the cube?" she asks, twitching incessantly. Once the Cubicle is set up, she shares the information.
"We're looking for Nagaji women, but the real value isn't the girls: they've swallowed jewels."
"A prince is a prince, Sugar," Cat replies. She looks like she wants to say more, but her eyes slowly widen as Henrietta's words sink in. The facade gone from her face, she says in a quivering whisper, "You're serious, Hon. Well, I ain't a nun, but I'll offer ya prayers and a vow of silence."
Cat orders two more drinks. If Henrietta doesn't want a second, the prostitute will gladly drink both.
Manny activates his cubicle. The brothers listen, then look at each other bewildered.
Ness says, "One thing don't add up. A prince doesn't need to hide gems inside people."
Bulge says, "He's not a real prince."
"But he's a rich @&$hole, so he can still carry gems with impunity."
Manny raises a hand to stifle his brothers, then says to Henrietta, "You're definitely onto something. If the Prince's got gems in his girls, there's a reason they're not in plain sight."
George and Dots are dancing up a storm to the Brass Balds' jazzy number! "You are sssss-mokin'!" the lady in red says to the man in the yellow hat.
A loud discordant toot ends the music abruptly. There is a wet, sickening splick-splack, and something dripping from Biff Wellington's seat. The four band members look like they're all about to vomit from the potent, rancid odor.
George sneers at the drunk, who isn't even reacting to the expulsion of his own bodily fluids. George says in an irritable tone, "I told ya never to come in here, Biff! You're an embarrassment to yourself and humanity!"
Biff says nothing.
His back arches. And the drunk, quivering and off balance, rises from his seat. His face is obscured by his hat as he stands, hunched over the table, snots and saliva oozing from under the brim.
George narrows his eyes. Then his brows pop up. A cuss word slips through his gritted teeth and he yells "Get back!" at Dots. The poor girl falls to the floor and scampers back a few feet as George throws back his yellow overcoat, revealing his holsted gun...!
Alistair was watching four-eyes for a bit, but it soon became apparent what his concern actually was.
but the sudden brandishing of a gun (holstered but probably an intent to draw)
not wanting a shoot out in this place, Alistair keeps his own gun holstered and tucked away under his own coat. instead he reaches into his pocket and pulls out a small device that looks a bit like a metal wand. with a twist it emits some swirling colors centered around furious George.
Alistair's "Drinking buddy" stands, deftly removing his cloak and hood to reveal...
As his simple disguise drops to the floor 'Cap' reaches over a shoulder and pulls forth a distinctive sheild. He eyes the slovenly fellow who's now risen to the fore.
"Looks like we've a new party starting..." Cap says off handedly to Alistair.
Henrietta's eyes swivel towards the threat, pulling on Hank to speed up his removal.
Furious George is apparently unfazed by the strange device. Despite his reputation, he doesn't turn on Alistair. Drawing his gun, he shouts, "Can't y'all see this FREAK—?!"
The rest of his words are drowned out by his own gunfire. Blood sprays from Biff's hat as a bullet penetrates the skull.
And the drunkard falls onto the table. Hard. With a strange hump at the center of his back, like that of a camel.
The hump—throbbing—starts to rise, bloodying the back of Wellington's coat from the inside. There is a sickening sound of flesh tearing, blood spattering to the floor—
Bits of flesh burst from Biff's corpse! A human-sized, somewhat-human-shaped creature rises—
—and as the creature pounces, tearing into Furious George, our heroes get a good look at the monster whose flesh is sinewy and wrapped in torn entrails.
On the table, Biff Wellington's only remains are bloody clothing and bits of flesh.
The fleshy monster that's pinning, beating and biting Goerge is Biff—turned inside out!
The band members drop their instruments and flee backstage, arms flailing! Dots runs into Cat's arms! The ladies upstairs scream! Little Lebowski almost tumbles down the stairs trying to flee! Narissa and the Nelsons ready themselves for action! Bart ducks behind his bar! And Jack grabs his papers and hastily stuffs them in his brief case...
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Fifika had heard mentioning’s of “demon seeds” within the bar, and though she could not say she knew any of the particulars she was certain of one thing. The Elegant Edge would need to make an appearance if there turned out to be any truth behind these rumors. The gossip queen herself had made her way up to the balcony to one of the side rooms changing into her secondary persona and not a moment too soon, just as she was exiting the side room and approaching the balcony’s edge she heard a gunshot and witnessed a horrific beast down below attacking a man laying helpless on the ground.
The masked swordswoman was quick to act, leaping over the railing and falling down toward the foul abomination. As she fell her silks flittered in the wind in long trails as she twisted the top of her cane and drew her sword. With grace and poise she landed on both feet and immediately transitioned into a fencing stance. Palm up, thumb out, and wrist in, she gripped her sword tightly before driving it into the back of the wicked creature with all her might. The tip of her elegant blade was angled to drive into the creature’s spine, if it had.
“That’s quite enough of that!” She said as if word alone would make the beast heel in the event that blades failed.
Thrown unceremoniously to the floor, Hank rapidly shifted and grew to full size, roughly that of a large dog or small pony, or even, more aptly, a cave spider.
He knew what was next. His daughter clambered aboard and he was to navigate, scuttle around people, tables, chairs, in as straight a shot as possible. Just like in his least favorite game; run fast and hit somebody.
<snipped>
The masked swordswoman was quick to act, leaping over the railing and falling down toward the foul abomination. As she fell her silks flittered in the wind in long trails as she twisted the top of her cane and drew her sword. With grace and poise she landed on both feet and immediately transitioned into a fencing stance. Palm up, thumb out, and wrist in, she gripped her sword tightly before driving it into the back of the wicked creature with all her might. The tip of her elegant blade was angled to drive into the creature’s spine, if it had.<snipped>
well that was rather unexpected. Alistair mumbled as he flung open his coat to reveal his own revolver. with a flourishing draw, Alistair takes aim at the creature.
As he pulls the hammer back, the barrel of his weapon glows blue and does the Cylinder.
He takes some cover and fires, a bolt of blue energy flies toward the creature.
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The doors to the saloon swing open as a gorgeous elven woman strides into the Fu Bar. Scantily clad in silks and scarves, her green eyes widen as she quickly takes in the scene. Her clothes billow about her as she leaps towards a man nearby and she chants the words to a spell. Holding her hand forth, a cascade of swirling colors washes over him.
"Sorry to cut in!" she declares in a musical tone. "I hope you've saved room on your dance card for me."
Capt blinks as the patron... changes...
"Ooookay... That sort of thing never happened in Galt... " He exlaims softly to himslef. Before looking about and working out the best place to physically 'Be' to put his skill set to best use.
As he deftly slides through the rather paniking crowd to place himself between them and... 'It'.
The creature is beaten to the brink of death, but somehow squirms aside of the finishing shot. It retaliates!
The Edge sidesteps the kick elegantly, but the monster manages to take a chunk out of Hank's (or Henrietta's?) middle finger.
George may or may not be alive, but on the upside, most of the blood of the gunman belongs to Biff—or the beast made of Biff's insides.
As for Four-Eyed Jack, his glasses and face are speckled with many colors. He gripes, "Rainbows aren't supposed to sting!" Attemptibg to flee blindly, Jack somehow trips over his own chair and falls flat on his face. His empty hands fumble about for the briefcase he dropped about two feet out of his reach.
The elven woman quickly steps over to the briefcase and picks it up. "You'll feel more than a sting if you aim to do harm to others. Stand down." She looms over the man in the glasses, poised to strike.
Cap takes a 'Five foot step' to stnd beside another hero and at least offer a helping bonus to AC against 'Gruesomes' further attacks...
Henrietta tries to angle Hank away from the attack, but fails. Luckily for her, they don't share true feeling anymore, just a sort of vague emotion based empathy, but she still winces as the creature bites her hand.
She circles him , flanking opposite another hero and stabbing forth with her lance as Hank reaches for the creature, trying to grapple and ensnare it.
Brandishing his sheild and a readied fist, Capt looks for an opening... Though to punch, block or other-wise is still an open choice.
Hank wraps himself around the creature, crushing, unaware that the monster is already dead from its wounds.
There is a disturbing sound as Biff Wellington passes gas one last time.
As Jack wipes the magical colors from his face, he gets a good look at his scantily clad captor. He isn't sure what to make of her, so he surrenders.
Henrietta shrugs off the wave of fart and silently instructs Hank to throw the dead body, which he does. On edge, she clambers down but without shrinking or returning Hank; he could only grow three times daily and she didn't much want to waste them. He teeters and totters about behind her, one large red eye bulging forth on his palm before closing and then blinking open on the back of his, well, hand, observing everything as he scutters about on his manicured claws.
She nods to the shield bearer in thanks and glances at Elegant Edge, curious, but it is the dead Biff Wellington that most draws her attention. "Ever seen something like this before?" she asks them both, getting a closer look.
Suddenly Capt feels the need to some where any where else but right her, right now!
Rather impolitely pushing through people to get to the alley at the back of the building.
"Dood! What did those guys eat?!" says the second-biggest muscle-man.
You do get a glimpse of the dockworkers, who are a few hundred feet away in an area fairly well lit by lamp posts emitting a green flame. (Magic? Or it could just be a normal flame surrounded by green glass?)
One worker is asleep, and is being reprimanded for his laziness by the foreman, who is also a loudmouth. "I could use some sleep meself, but ya don't see ME lyin' down on the job!" Kicking the lazy worker, he goes on, "The four-twenny-sixers gave us a taste o' the goods, so when our ship comes in, @&$holes and elbows!" He gives the sleeping man another kick in the ass.
"Ah'm tahred, boss," the sleepy worker moans. His slurred speech makes him sound more drunk than tired.
By the time the overheard conversations quiet down, the Captain's stomach has settled as well...
Using one of her scarves, the elven woman binds Jack's hands to make sure he won't cause any more trouble. She leans over him and shakes a finger. "Now, then, I was out for a lovely stroll when gunshots and monstrous transformations interrupted my evening. And here you were on the edge of it all, thoroughly nonplussed by the chaos. It seems to me you may have had a part in all of this hullabaloo. Mind telling me exactly what's happening here?"
When the creature emitted a cloud of noxious gas the Elegant Edge took several steps back, covering her mouth with a sleeve as she muttered, "Just when you think the beast couldn't be any fouler."
Taking a moment to scan the room and make sure that there were no other immediate threats she sheathed her blade, locking it in its place with a twist of the handle. The cane in hand deftly concealing her weapon of choice. The bottom of the cane tapped the floor loudly as she set it to rest in front of her giving a bow to the others in the room whilst her palm cupped the head of the cane or pommel of her sword, depending on ones perception of the situation.
"I do hope that no one is too insulted by my intrusion. It is not normally in my nature to...hm-hm, drop in uninvited, but given the situation, I thought it prudent to be a little more forward." She stated playfully, "With that said, allow me to introduce myself, I am the Elegant Edge, guardian, protector, and slayer of the foul-mouthed and foul-blooded alike."
In response to Henrietta's question she could only shake her head as she looked down at the thing's remains, "I can safely say I have not. I was hoping that one of you could enlighten me."
Jack doesn't try anything funny, unless unconvincingly feigning innocence counts:
"What would I know about a man farting himself inside-out?" he asks his captor. He tries to look confidently defiant, but winces at the thump of Biff's 200-pound corpse as it lands by the bottom stair, having been tossed effortlessly by a giant, one-eyed manicured hand.
The elf shrugs and turns to the others. "Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. I believe this man is complicit in the foul goings-on in this establishment. Would one of you care to 'persuade' him into being more forthcoming?"
In the meantime, she searches through his briefcase.
Anabel's outfit attracted a lot of male attention one scarf ago. Bart Ender the bar tender is more than happy to oblige the lady's request. But by the time he volleys over the bar and says, "Listen here," Furious George seems to be getting over his feelings of nausea. The bloodied gunslinger picks up his revolver, empties all but one chamber, presses it against Jack's groin and says, "Talk to the lady!"
*click*
"Well, protector of the foul-mouthed," Henrietta says to Edge, "I appreciate your timely assistance."
She and Hank join the crowd by the door. She makes no move to stop Georgie from blowing the man's balls off, but does instruct Hank to press a finger on the prone man's chest. "I'm Henrietta Howard. This here is my hand, Hank. Say hi, Hank."
Hank blinks a red eye open and pushes down on the prone man's sternum.
"Hi, Hank. Now I believe that pretty lady raised some rather cognizant points. Answer her questions, f!#*face."
Jack says, "Holy CRAP! I... I...!"
George shouts, "You better tell the lady what she wants to hear!"
Jack stammers as Hank holds him steady and makes no effort to dissuade Furious George from his method of questioning.
But at least the gunman, despite his reputation for "intolerance," seems to be giving Anabel time to look through Jack's briefcase.
There are papers with diagrams that are more drawing than word, and what is written is mostly abbreviations and numbers.
The first diagram is a diamond labeled "D.S." It looks like a perfectly clear diamond, cut to perfection as if for a diamond ring. There is a shaded area in the middle. Bart notes that it resembles the side view of a liquor bottle. "See how the outer part is clear, and uniform width around the shaded part in the middle?"
George replies, "Everything's about booze with you."
"I could use a drink," Jack says.
George replies, "Shut up, Jack."
The results of George's casual pulling of the trigger are not pretty, to put it mildly. The screaming is nearly as loud as the gunfire, but Bart Ender is quick to silence Jack by hitting him over the head with a full bottle of wine.
Jack lies unconscious, and if he never wakes up, maybe that's for the best.
Assuming the explosive... scene... does not distract Anabel from looking over the remaining diagrams, there is a second that depicts the anatomy of a man. Inside his belly is a shaded area, with the same crosshatch pattern as seen on the diagram of the diamond.
Cat and Dots peer at the diagram. Cat says, "What kind of a man is that?"
Dots says, "Maybe one in touch with his feminine side?" Pointing to the shaded area, she goes on, "It's like he's got a womb."
The third diagram has several numbered drawings. One shows a close up of heavy eyelids. Another, a close up of a bare bottom with wavy lines coming out of it. The third drawing depicts a naked man with his stomach open. And the fourth looks like the creature that Biff became.
Ignoring the whimpers of the new castrato, the dancer studies the diagrams, trying to make sense of them. She allows others to look at them as well if they are interested.
As our heroes examine the diagrams, the Nelson Brothers are speaking to Narissa. Ness is eyeing Anabel, Manny has his eyes on the Edge. Bulge points to the back door (where Captain Andoran exited, looking a bit pale) and gives Manny a questioning look. Manny nods.
The Little Lebowski, seeing Biff's corpse is blocking his exit, slowly backs away upstairs...
"Ah, I think I understand," the elf says. "There is some sort of corruption inside of the diamond. When ingested, it festers and grows, changing the victim into something else. Then it bursts forth from the husk of its former body as if being born into the world, in a gruesome display--I believe that's what we have witnessed here today. The diamonds were the cause of an ancient catastrophe... How did this man here acquire one of them, I wonder?"
She points to the drawing of the stinky butt. "I'm not sure what farting has to do with it, though. Perhaps it's indicating the foul stench the monster left behind upon its demise."
After a few moments, her green eyes widen and she turns to the others. "Oh! My apologies. In all the commotion, I've neglected to introduce myself. Anabel Imvara." She curtsies graciously, silky clothes shifting subtly with the movement.
"I'm Henrietta Howard, the jockey," is all she says in way of explanation. "The diamonds were doing that? I have it on good authority that some girls are being trafficked with diamonds inside them and I bet you 10 to 1 they're the same jewels. Somebody mind cutting ol' Biff open?"
Henrietta walks over to the Little Lebowski and grabs his wrist with her normal sized hand. "Hey, this is very forward, but did Maude do anything to your ass? And do you still have it up there? Because if you do and you don't tell me, you might turn into that," Hank flicks Biff's dead body with his middle finger.
Suddenly distracted by the sounds of more noise, screming and commotion Capt leaves the dock scene and re-enters the tavern.
Upon seeing the unconscious and bloodied Jack he sighs and moves to the bar-man. Offering him some coin he says,
"Here, this will pay for a spell. You should send a runner off promptly to get things started." Capt pays for an 'Infernal healing' spell to be placed on Jack.
Turning/moving to the other newly assembled group he offers a smile, though he keeps a wary distance between himself and the really big and ugly 'Dog' thing.
"So... did people learn anything?" He asks, then offers a hand to be shaken by way of greeting.
"When I'm working I find the nom de plume 'Captain Andoran' fits well enough. Or just 'Capt' for short."
Lebowski replies to Henrietta, "Hey, I may be lacking a woman's touch, but I do know what's supposed to enter where. Anyway, if Maude tried to shove a Demon Seed up my butt, I'd..." His voice trails off for a moment, then with a shrug the halfling says, "Have a Demon Seed up my butt. She's scary, but she's got nothing to do with this. And even if she did, what would be the point? Can't you see we're all gonna die!"
Henrietta notices that Lebowski's arm is trembling. He makes no attempt to escape her grip, seemingly accepting that resistance is futile.
Bart Ender is ready to accept some coin, but the Nelsons step in. "Captain Andoran is it?" the halfling asks before introducing himself, the half-orc, half-elf in that order: "I'm Manny Nelson, and these are my half-brothers Bulge and Ness.
"We're looking into this diamond situation, like Henrietta said. Let my benefactor see Jack healed, and if you want to help stop this shipment, I'm sure you will be rewarded. Funded, really."
Bulge adds, "It's not like we want hired guns. Brother Seamus would see a good man like you can afford to... well, keep offering your shield." Turning to the costumed ladies he adds, "Or your blade or your... scarf? Anyway, if you're willing to act for no reward, I suppose you won't mind if some rich guru pays you anyway."
As for Ness, he doesn't need to cut Biff open. The man's been turned inside out. Ness finds some bits of diamond and says, "This is gross. I can take these to Lyle later, if you need them appraised."
Ness casts Mage Hand to remove very tiny shards (of what could be milimeter-wide diamonds or bits of broken glass) from the inside of the torn intestines dangling from Biff's body.
He casts Prestidigitation to clean the collected shards.
Anabel nods. "Very well. I will help stop this scourge from spreading throughout the city."
Manny says, "Great! Glad to have you. And full disclosure—everything I see when I have this hat active, our benefactor sees it too." He goes on, assuring the newcomers the job should pay 1000g each.
As Little Lebowski stammers, and seems to have given up hope, the door to Maude's room is a crack open. Henrietta catches a glimpse of Maude (still leather-clad) sitting on her bed next to a young blonde-haired woman (wearing a robe with the sash undone).
"It's not you. Mine couldn't get it up either," Maude says in a consoling tone.
"At least your guy paid you, and was nice about it. Mine was a jerk."
"You mean aside from farting in his sleep?"
The blonde sighs, "I'm used to johns with strange odors. Even guys who try to cheat me outta pay, but this guy taunted me. Promising to overpay, showing me the money and then," she makes a mocking tone, "ye cahn't havvit, ye cahn't...
"Did he really say it in that weird voice?"
"Yeah. Shoved this big honkin' jewel in my face, then tossed it his mouth like it was funny."
Henrietta shoves the Little Lebowski towards Hank and says "This here's my hand, Hank. Hank is gonna take you to some people and I want you to tell them all you know about demon seeds. Make sure to hold his little finger, so's you don't get lost," before sending the little f%*% off towards Manny and Anabel.
She listens a little longer before knocking on the door with her one good hand.