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Seeing the light ahead, Quioxti immediately negates the magic illumination of his wayfinder. Adjusting his grip on his sword, he moves to the side of the tunnel and carefully advances to get a better view of what lays beyond the doorway. His lips begin to move silently, as if the swordsman were talking to himself.
Quioxti wipes the ichor clinging to his blade on the carcass at his feet, but does not return it to its sheath. "Better get used to it. This place is probably crawling with vermin like this. No pun intended." By the light of his wayfinder, Quioxti moves a few paces down the tunnel. He looks about carefully before turning to face the rest of the party, "Hopefully there aren't too many other things we have to put down before we get to the rats though."
Seeing that the fetid waters of the sewer, or anything else for that matter, hadn't swollowed Thaddeus whole upon entry Quioxti stepped up to the rope. He double checked the buckles and latches that secured his equipment, grabbed the rope, and carefully lowered himself - quite literally - into the bowels of the city.
With a clumbsy splash, he managed to reach the bottom. Quioxti released the breath he hadn't realized he was holding and immediate regretted it. Choking back the vomit that rose in his throat, the swordsman reached for the wayfinder hanging about his neck. With a single word, the compass began to shed a pale light that accompanied Domitian's lantern. Quioxti drew his Aldori dueling blade from its sheath and peered into the darkness beyond.
"Indeed, our passage here afforded us plenty of time for relaxation, m'lady. I for one am anxious to get to work and it seems my companions would be in agreement with that notion. If you will excuse us, we will being our investigation of this terrible incident most immediately." With a flurish, Quioxti bows again as he backs towards the door.
Quioxti takes the map from the Venture-Captain and studies it as she continues to speak. As she finishes, he rolls the map back up and absently hands it to the person on his right. Standing a bit taller, he addresses the Captain, "Obtaining this artifact will not be a problem. We are Pathfinders afterall - it's what we do. As a fellow Taldan, freeing my imprisoned brethren goes without saying." With a flurish, he removes his hat and bows deeply before Hestia, "And it will be a personal pleasure to see the Countess's death avenged for you, Captain." Looking about at his compainion, Quioxti asks, "What say you, men? Any last questions before we put some vile derro to the sword?
Quioxti breathed deep the air of Cassimir. He looked about, taking note of obvious changes to the cityscape since his last visit. It took him a moment to remember the boy standing in from of his group was addressed them. By the time he did, the party was already moving away from the ship. He hurried to catch up. "Perhaps it's best wait and receive the latest news from Venture-Captain Themis herself. You never know whose ears are lurking nearby."
Quioxti looked up from the parchment and passed it to Thaddeus. "Kidnapping? Hamshanks didn't say anything about kidnapping. Perhaps this little mission of Themis's is worth looking into after all. The intregue is bound to be ripe when kidnapping is involved." The swordsman drained his glass in a single pull, an ear-to-ear grin splitting his face as he put the vessel down. "Finish up lads, we don't want to miss that boat!"
Quioxti starred at the door for several moments after Damian had left the room. Wheels were clearing turning in his head. Snapping himself back to the immediate situation, he turned to face his fellow Taldorans, "As splendid as that sounds, I'm afraid I'll have to take a rain check. I'm afraid there's a bit of business I must conclude before our ship sets sail. Never fear though, I'm sure we'll have the opportunity for a drink or three once we've reached the docks of Cassimir." He nods acknowledgements to Soloman and, with a flourish, bows to their Venture-Captain before making for the door.
The lithe Taldoran swordman smiles at the mention of Cassimir. The expression quickly fades, however, when Venture-Captain Hamshanks starts talking about rats. Quioxti's thoughts drifted briefly to his receint excursion into Absolom's Puddles District. It would be another month still before he would be able to contact in supplier Cheliax to replace the pair of fine silk stocking that were ruined by the district's abundance of fouled water. "Rats, sir? Quioxti asked as the Vaneture-Captain caught his breath, "I'm quite sure the appropraite guild in Cassimir is capable of skewering a few mangy rats."
Indeed, I had sent you my chronicle sheets. If need be, I should be able to re-send them to you.
Quioxti looks down at the dwarf and sighed, "At least you waited until he told us where to find the book. I didn't want to spend the rest of the night poking around this tower." The swordsman starts to walk away and then stops. He looks back at Nessian, bends down and rifles through his clothing. Satisfied he's found everything the thug was carrying, he glances at his companions, "Shall we go get that book and finish this, then? I have a Chronicle to appear in."
As the life flees from the last Warhounder, Quioxti whirls to face Nessian. A smile plays across his lips as he watches the hazy image of their foe land a telling blow across Gregor's backside, "Two can play at this game. Ruet kreits." Finally, with an ever widening grin, the swordsman stalks towards his quarry.
"Diac phassl!" Quioxti steps from behind his rock, an orb of green energy already materializing in his hand. With a side-armed toss, he hurls it at the guard. "I suppose taking them both by surprise would have been too easy for you?" he teases the dwarf as he moves towards the front door of the tower.
After several minutes of surveying their objective, Quioxti frowned. A moment later he shrugs and grins, "Seems like they'll see us coming from whichever direction we approach. We might as well take them head on. If you guys want to clean out the lower structure first, then lets get to it." The swordsman turn his head to look at Butters, "I think our dear Silana is itching to have some of her fun." As he draws his dueling sword, Quioxti shoots the warrior woman a wink.
"Everything except for that one last box," Quioxti explains, "Unfortunately, my companions and I aren't as musically talented as is required to open it." His face contorts into an expression of concern as he looks at one of the broker's goons, "You'd don't happen to play the harp, do you?"
"Anyways, these are the trinkets we were able to recover. A fair bit more than you had asked of us I do believe. Now how about that information?"
Quioxti stares at where Gregor tossed the last box, "Hmmm, I had a brother who used to play the piccolo. Who'd have thought such a talent would ever be useful in picking a lock." Turning back to the scene before him, swordsman walks over to one of the open containers and withdraws the scroll of protection from evil. "I suppose this can be our fee for opening the extra chest," he remarks, stuffing it into his backpack, "It might come in handy, saving the city from the undead and all that." Kicking the music box as he passes it, he follows Silana back to the broker.
Quioxti looks the chests over for a moment. As Gregor and Torillan begin examining the unmarked chest, he approaches the rectangular chest with the perforated lid. Passing his hand over the stylized writing, he begins quietly muttering syllables and half words to himself in several different tongues.
As Yargos chokes on his own words, Quioxti steps forward. Removing his hat, he gives a flurrished bow, "Grandmaster Torch, surely your keen ears heard every word of his story? Our opponent threatens the city and all those residing within it-" Quioxti gives the Grandmasster a hard stare, "-including yourself." As quickly as the sharp remark thrust upon their host, Quioxti follows through with a broad smile,"Besides, you must recognize that such an aged bookkeep as Yargos here cannot afford such a weighty sum of coin. What profit is there to be made trying to draw blood from a stone?"
"Lets not wait around to discuss this, old man," Quioxti offers. "Get us to where we need to go so we can recover this damned code book. The sooner it's in our possession, the sooner I can be reading my name in print." The swordsman looked around at his companions, "After mucking about in the slums and saving the city from this near-disaster, we better get our names into the chronicles."
Sliding his sword back in its scabard, Quioxti walks over to the collection of lethal vials. Nudging one with the toe of his boot he says, "These guys are pretty serious about taking the city. If this is being orchistrated by those signals, we need to find the source of those lights." He bends down and begins gathering the vials. "Lets just take them with us for now. They can be disposed of after this trechery is ended. Besides," he smirks, "we may get the oppertunity to return these to their owners." |
