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In this misbegotten place there is sure to be a weak spot or three
Vag looks around the room for somewhere that a mistimed shove might cause an unusually large amount of collateral damage, or at least rain down dust and pigeon droppings on the table the two are talking at.
Alas, at least to her eye there is no obvious way to do that.
curses, this place is better built than I thought.
Enora persuades Paltus to inform her when a Kortos agent enters. About 15 minutes before noon, a man walks in and sits at a remote table, his back to a wall, but with eyes on multiple entrances. Paltus catches Enora's eye and taps the side of his nose.
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Enora winks to Pal and pays him with a golden piece, "thank you for the dinner, baby".
The halfling goes to the table where Huron and Radu are sitting, "excuse me, gentlemen, do you have a space here for a lady?", she smiles while takes a chair.
She catches a mug from one of them, drink whatever is inside it, gives a few laughs, and between a word and another, the arcanist whispers to them "our target is there", she points discreetly while passes her finger through the mug.
"We just need to wait for the another...", murmurs her.
Closer to noon, a woman comes in and sits down with the man Paltus indicated. She doesn't order anything, and waves Paltus away when he approaches.
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Radu watches the woman sit down with the man they had been watching.
He leans into the table and says just loud enough for the others to hear, My friends, we are going with the bar fight ruse, yes? I recommend we get the show on the road. How about I insult our Halfling friend here and, Huron, you valiantly jump to her defense and then we engage in fighting, except you are a big man, you try not to hurt me so much, agreed?
Radu looks from one comrade to the next, looking for a sign of yay or nay.
Mildret tries to crash open the door, but it's not nearly as theatrical of an entrance as he'd hoped.
Vag throws a (rat?!) pie.
Enora is the most convincing of any of you, although Huron puts on an excellent staged fight. It almost seems real, the way he shatters glasses and broke that stool ...
Paltus is beside himself with the shock of it all. He yells something to his assistant, who goes running off. Then he hurries up to the customers Enora is interrupting. "I be so very sorry, masters, so very sorry..."
Enora throws herself at the feet of a man she's never met, and bursts into quite believable tears.
Paltus tries to help her up, apologizing to his customers, but is brushed off.
"What in the nine hells is going on here?" demands a voice from the doorway? A guard sergeant, flanked by a couple of tough looking guardsmen, bellows across the room. The other patrons fall silent and back away from the spectacle, and try hard to pretend they aren't actually there.
Paltus stammers a bit, and mumbles something unintelligible.
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Mildret is serious and trying hard to sound convincing.
-Good day officer! There seems to be a case of rat-pies. Me, myself, I think rats are filthy but nutrisious animals. But I understand some customers didn't take this ingridient choice too well. Is it actually legal to substitute lamb with rat around here?
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"There are no pies in my rats!" screams Vagantem.
She marches forward, pie in hand and sticks it under the guards nose.
"This is a work of Art. You should be honored just to sniff the delicate aroma coming off it. Those cretins..." here she gestures vaguely towards the table with the agents at it
"don't appreciate a decent meal when they see one."
She stalks back toward the kitchen to pick up her bag.
"I cannot work in these conditions!" she shouts at the top of her voice.
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Radu struggles to his feet and staggers in the direction Enora and the two marks.
Hey, you, Halfling! What's going on here? I thought you were with this Ulfen giant. What are you crying to them for?
Radu then points at the two marks,You stay out of this. It does not concern you, understand, my friends?
The guardsmen are a bit confused. "Rat pies?! That's breaking several laws, I'm sure." They look to Vagantem. "I'm sorry, sir, but you'll have to come with us until this is all cleared up."
"Please put your weapons down, and back up slowly toward me."
"Do you have anything sharp that might stick me when I search you?"
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Vag backs away.
"I'm a girl, not a sir. And as I said, there are no rats involved. I don't know why anyone would think I'd cook rats. Horrible things."
At the mention of sharp things she looses her cool a bit.
"I'm a chef! Of course I have knives on me."
She backs toward the kitchen, drawing the guards past the table with the agents having a discussion.
"Ohh.. are those pearls real? They don't look real to me. Now that is something you guards should be worried about."
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"Masters?", thought Enora after heard Pal's assistant words. "Hmmm, it will be interesting..."
When the guardsmen arrive and Radu gets close to Enora...
"Ow, Gods, thank you! You heard my pray! This guy", she points to the agent of the Kortos Consortium, "was trying to abuse me, and this man", she points to Radu, "was trying to help me, while that big one", she points to Huron, "was looking for some rats, or pie, I don't know yet... But, I was just trying to escape from these two outlaws here", and she continues to "cry".
"You there, come out, unarmed, or we'll have to come in after you!" The guards call after Vagantem. They've drawn their swords.
"And what's this about pearls?"
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Radu speaks to the guards, his hands outstretched, My friends, there is no need to react rashly. You are right to be concerned and I know you are doing your duty. There is clearly something going on here. But you should be more careful, so as not to miss anything. perhaps you should even close this place down, temporarily, of course, to conduct a thorough inspection.
The guards look at each other, at Enora, then at the agents she's fingered. They're not yet decided on a course of action. They are somewhat more at ease from Radu's words, but aren't yet willing to let you go.
Radu studies the guards. Like most guards, they seem disinclined to actually *do* any thing but throw their weight around, but they *will* handle any wrongdoing they witness personally. Mostly, they seem to be resigned to making sure people don't beat on each other.
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While the guards are looking distracted at Vagantem's pie, Enora gets close to Pal and whispers, "look, I can solve this problem for you, and it will cost no coins for you. I heard your assistant calling them as 'masters', so they seems important to you. Just let the man get out from here by the backdoor, while I distract the guards and frees the woman from here without troubles. We got a deal?", she winks to the tavern owner.
The guards wave to the two thoroughly bewildered agents. "You don't seem to be a part of this. You two can go." They exit, gratefully and hurriedly, from separate doors.
The guards turn back to the lot of you. Responding to Radu's question, one says, "The elf who doesn't put rat in her pies said something about dodgy pearls. Did you have something to add, or was she just raving?"
"I'm afraid you will all have to come with us down to the guardhouse for further questioning. We can't have you causing such disturbances to our local businesses."
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"I'll come. But I'm taking my pie with me. You can inspect it for rat. Heck, I'll even eat it if you like. I know there are no rats in there. I'm not sure why you are taking me to the guard house because someone is slandering my pies though."
She looks around the room.
"Anyone have a complaint about my pies now the guard is here?" she asks loudly.