Decima was everything that a city could be: most of all busy, noisy and showful. Here one could see, hear, buy, sell and even smoke anything. The Imperial Palace belonging to the Orator family stood in the center of this biggest city known to people. At the edges of the city there were more peaceful and thus even rather shady areas. Even then one had to stay away from the city entrances and slummish areas to avoid the endless business (or in the case of slums, thievery).

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Party Nº4P4 L01 – Gathering and briefingP4 L02 – Inn actionP4 L03 – Fights and dealsP4 L04 – Sewer and cellarP4 L05 – Night at the noble (!)P4 L06 – Down the drainP4 L07 – Sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll

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The party exited the cellar room and didn't have trouble finding its way out of the house it was in. The house was among a little patch of trees and it was fenced, probably to prevent people from going there. They crossed the fence and Geeileq led them closer to the edge, where they hid their loot in a place Geeileq reassured would be safe (indeed, only he was able to get there since it was at the top of a tree). They started heading back to the noble's house, with Nal'unah carrying the weapons and Geeileq the rest of the items.

"Now would be a fine time to come to a final decision about who of us will lie to the noble and what we'll lie anyway..." mumbled Geeileq, though he seemed nonchalant enough to risk improvising it.

"The performers weren't very helpful, so we beat them halfway to death, but then the Flame Bearer put the whole place ablaze." Sithra said. "They tried escaping, but we made sure the exits had been blocked beforehand, and we made sure they weren't able to move anymore. Then we went out through the sewers, after looting their stuff, and secured the entrance so nobody could follow us. As soon as it became too hot to stand at the sewer entrance anymore, we assumed they'd all be burned to cinders now, and we left. Good enough?"

"Sounds good" said Nal'unah. "I'm not good at lying. You should talk to the noble. Or maybe Faustus here, he looks like a guy who comes up with stories easily... though that's just my impression", she said, looking at the hunter and the priestess, waiting for their opinions.

Sithra gave the Planetarii a smirk. "Now that wasn't a very friendly thing of you to say to Faustus. Calling him a liar like that."

Smirking and lighting a smoke, Toxir hauled her things over her shoulder and began walking.

"Whatever we do, don't make me do it." Tabaxi says factfully, "Every time I even attempt to lie I botch it real good. Like one time, I tried to convince this guy I was from this one city- turned out, I was talking about his hometown, and I mispronounced the name."

Faustus smiled amusedly at Sithra and Nal'unah. "I really think you should be doing it, Sithra. Maybe I'll back you up if you look like you're messing it up."

"He knows what he is" answered Nal'unah, "but as I said, that was just my impression. Don't take it as an offense, hunter", she added with a smile, while talking to Faustus. Unah kept walking, hoping the whole thing with the noble would work.

The party arrived at the noble's house and were let in by the guards. They had to wait a little for the noble to get himself to meet them – anyone could guess he had been sleeping. He didn't even look quite as dashing as before, though that was fairly negligible. He and his clerk faced the party and went: "Well, well, it seems I could assume something from the differences between this and the last time I saw you. But please, tell me what happened."

Nal'unah struggled to keep her mouth shut and not answer the question directed to the group. She looked at Sithra and waited for the panther to speak.

Tabaxi was pretty much doing what Unah was doing - fidgeting and staring at Sithra, waiting on her to say something to the nobleman...

Sithra looked around the group, and took a few steps forward. Bluntly, she said: "We did the job. The performers are dead. All this junk is theirs, and we brought it to you, as you asked. There might be some scorchmarks on them, but otherwise they're in fine condition. Where's our pay?"
She was hoping the Noble'd underestimate their intellect, being mercenaries and all, so she tried to sound unsubtle. She figured he'd be more suspicious if she was sweettalking than when she demanded payment immediately, like ordinary mercs. (Bluff)

The noble looked expressionless; he didn't make his reactions too interpretable. He looked all of the party over, looking just a slight bit longer at Tabaxi. However, he did not seem to be thinking they were complete liars. "Is that all of it? Why is the equipment a bit ...burned?" he asked curiously, and after a pause, added: "And why exactly did you have to kill them?"

"Because they refused to simply come along." Sithra explained, as if she was telling a child, simple and to the point. "Then that flame bearer started making a fuss, and put the damn place on fire. We beated them - of course - took what we could, and made sure the fire disposed of the evidence."
Sithra tried to make it sound as if that was obvious. She wouldn't go into detail about the noble getting a city guard investigation about his involvement, for the same reason as before: making sure he wouldn't think they were making excuses. (Bluff)

The noble looked slightly disgruntled. The way Sithra spoke made him suspicious, but the facts matched, as far as he knew. "Well then. Pity they had to die." He paused for a moment and stared at the stuff they had brought. "Wait a minute... They set the building on fire? And it burned down? Didn't you even try to put it out?"

"Why would we do that?" Sithra asked, in all honesty. "We're paid to do your dirty jobs, not play the city's firefighters. Besides, by the time we had finished them off, the entire stage was ablaze. I don't really see how we could've stopped that, unless we'd let them escape. So we did our job. Now, where's our money?" She said, sounding annoyed. She wanted to make sure the nobleman felt they were getting impatient, and she hoped the others would let out a few grumbles, indicating they were eager to be paid as well. (Bluff)

There was no acting involved, Toxir was indeed becoming stir crazy. This nobleman asked too many questions - he clearly was shown what he had asked for. Anything beyond that was none of his damn business. Flicking the butt of her cigarette (no one had said anything about not smoking in the house) dangerously close to the nobleman, it landed in a small vase by the wall behind him. Clearing her throat and shifting her weight, Toxir fixed her black eyes on the tired nobleman and waited for the conversation to be over, which she sincerely hoped was soon.

The noble wasn't phased and instead arched an eyebrow at Sithra. "You didn't consider that the building might be expensive or that it might be better if it did not burn down?" He grinned and looked at the ceiling for a short moment. "I can certainly believe that you didn't", he mumbled and continued clearer: "Still, you could have tried to save the building, too. Unless they oiled the whole room, which I really doubt." The noble did see that the warriors were getting aggravated, so he instead went to the point. "Well, you did the job and you'll get paid. However, since you seemed to be rather... careless, shall we say, with the building, I feel like I ought to take 10 gold from the reward for each of you so I can help rebuild the building. Or repair in case it wasn't completely burned." The noble waved his hand and the clerk gave everyone in the party 110 gold. "You may sleep here tonight, I think it might be too suspicious if you went back to the inn right now. You should better mask it as some drunk party, don't you agree?"

Sithra took the money and pocketed it with a sneer. "You never said the building should remain intact. But hell, who cares? I can spare 10 gold." She hadn't figured out yet how staying with the noble was going to help them cover stuff up, and she wondered if the noble had 'drunken nights' with mercenaries all the time. Nothing suspicious about a nobleman frequently getting drunk with heavily armored warriors, right? Didn't think so. Sithra sniffed, and turned around to the rest of the group. "You heard the man. Grab the loot and stash it wherever the clerk wants you to stash it. Stay decent. You're in a nobleman's house, which I figure must be a rare privilege for the lot of you."

"Yeah, yeah", said Nal'unah, grabbed her money and mumbled something about ungrateful people and missing her voulge lots, it would be so much better to go get it rather that stay at this fancy place. Unah had a tendency to miss her weapons when they were away, which affected her mood. Then she just shut up and crossed her big arms around her big chest and stood there waiting for whatever they would be doing next.

Geeileq had mostly been rolling his eyes and yawning, but when the clerk gave him money, he placed the items he was carrying on the ground to bag his money, after which he didn't bother picking up the things he had set down. He disliked the way Sithra spoke, but due to lack of interest, he merely ignored what she said.

"WHEE! Party!" Tabaxi jumped gleefully, but winced when she landed- perhaps it would be smarter for her to rest up instead of "partying," whatever definition of that the nobleman had in mind. Mildly embarrassed, she laughed the pain off as she pocketed the 110 gold from the nobleman's clerk. 

Waiting in a seemingly indifferent manner to get her money, Toxir slipped it into some unknown pocket, detached. Her eyes made a brief venture towards Heaven - there was no need for Sithra to speak anymore. She was beginning to sorely miss her solitude in the woods the longer she stayed in the city. With a twitch of her elft eye, Toxir grimaced at Tabaxi's outburst. Having not been paying attention, Toxir was confused at the mention of a party. The thought of a party afterwards excited and drained her - a shin-dig with people she didn't know didn't exactly tickle her fancy but a good drunken buzz wouldn't rain on her parade.

"You may leave the items here, I'll have my goons take them", said the noble. "So, please follow my assistant. He'll take you to a room where you will find beds. I'll have a few drinks delivered there, drink if you like, party a little if you like or just sleep." The clerk walked the stairs up and opened a door on the left.

Unah dropped the stuff she had been carrying on the floor, so the noble's people could take the items. She didn't feel comfortable in that house with that secretive noble, but it seemed they had no choice and they would have to stay there. She followed the clerk up the stairs.

Depositing her stash along with Unah's, Tabaxi followed Unah and the clerk up the stairs. She was trying to skip cheerily and whistle, but her skip was stunted with pain and drying blood. She figured that at this point, she was just slaphappy. She was hyper and in the mood for partying, but near exhaustion – one or two warm drinks in her system and she'd be out cold for the night.

The guard from outside came in and closed the door behind him. He went to talk to the noble and spoke so that it wasn't that distinguishable. After a few exchanged words, the noble looked at Sithra. "He says there's a dah'kin at the door asking for you. Do you know anything about that? And if so, how did he know you were here?"

Geeileq eyed the noble and the guard for a moment, but after hearing what was said and noticing that it had nothing to do with him, he climbed the stairs up after Nal'unah and Tabaxi.

Sithra looked at the Noble. "I have my duties, other than being a hired force. I am probably needed elsewhere."
To the question how the necromancer knew she was here, she replied: "The Spire King knows the whereabouts of all his servants. You needn't worry about it, the city guard or anybody else has nothing to do with it. I guess this concludes our business deal. Goodbye." She wasn't planning on telling him just about anything about how the mage could have possibly known. She didn't know for sure herself. It probably helped the necromancer knew who he was searching for, and where to do so. Not concerning herself with the noble anymore, she went outside.

The noble looked at Sithra and found he didn't have too much to say to the issue, though he was inconvenienced by it. The guard moved out after Sithra to resume his duties.

Faustus climbed the stairs up as well.

Alexandro came in, and walked towards the nobleman. "Greetings, boss. I just came to say your little 'problem' has been taken care off, and you can expect the 'investment' to be delivered tomorrow, to further your 'establishment'. M'lord wanted me to say he hoped the little matter wouldn't damage your 'business relations' seeing you all get along so well. He invites you to come over and have dinner with 'his wife and lovely daughter' which he by coincidence mentioned to be unmarried."
Alexandro gave a chuckle. "Trust my word there's good reason for that, though. Little brat's only skills are with spending money. Other than that she's no good in or out of bed - or so I've heard, of course." He frowned, and pondered. "Yeah, that would be just about it. So, who're your guests?"

The noble grinned at Alexandro, obviously the Ravillan's way of speaking amused him. He put his hand on Alexandro's shoulder and said: "Well well, since you seem to be idle and they just lost one member from their team, why don't you join up with them?" He then let go of Alexandro and didn't seem to be about to explain anything more.

"Sure thing... They any fun?" Alexandro asked. Seeing the noble probably wasn't going to let go of any more information - or more likely, had no idea if they were any fun at all - Alexandro made his way upstairs to join the party. Barging in the door behind which he asumed the party to be, he threw open the door and jumped elegantly into the room, using a flick of his wrist to make his cloak wave around him in a grotesque manner. "Have no fear! Alexandro Miuchi, is here!"
After this entrance, during which he had assumed a heroic pose, he pondered over what he just said, and reckoned it was fairly unoriginal. Then again, he didn't have much time to think of anything else. So he assumed his normal stance, completed with a soft grin, and asked, as if nothing had happened and the people inside were entirely familiar to him: "So, what's up? You all having a good time, mind if I join?"
He really, really hoped they were having a good time.

"Who are you?", asked Unah roughly. She was still in an upset mood, since she had the odd certainty the noble was keeping them there unnecessarily. The terran looked at the room they had just entered and looked for somewhere to sit down.

"My name is Alexandro, member of the noble house Miuchi, although some know me better as Alexandro, 'the Red'." Alexandro swirled his red cloak around to emphasize his point. He continued. "Scourge of the Deciman nightlife and three times winner of the 'Bloody Boar's Drunken Duel'. Last time I checked in any case, I don't remember what happened last time I went there. I'm also an ex-member of the theatre troupe named The Order of the Rose, we had a superb performance of 'Emperor Titus and the Wolf', you may have heard of us. Them."
He decided to cut it off, and walked up to Unah. He made an elegant bow, and asked: "And what might your name be, m'lady?"

---

Outside, two men came walking up the front lawn. The left was human, Ravillan, and wearing a red stetson, with a red cloak around his shoulders. His clothing was black. He wore leather gloves, a sleeveless vest, wide pants fitted in leather boots. A long red sash kept his pants up, and long brown hair fell from under his hat. A raven was sitting on his shoulder, and croaked at the person walking next to them.
    Next to him walked a Dah'kin with white hair twice as long as the human's, dressed in a black robe, adorned with symbols. Around his waist was a belt of small skulls, and his face was adorned with a large tattoo.
    The human looked uncomfortable next to him, and was first to speak to the guards. "Hey lads, you know me, Alexandro Miuchi. I'm here to see the boss. Erm... he's not with me, I swear. He just popped up next to me when I was walking to the door. I don't know him."

"Halt..." went one guard as the two people approached and the other one pointed a sword at them. They recognized Alexandro, but the other guard kept on pointing at the robed person. "Right. So, who exactly are you, then?"

The robed Dah'kin looked at the guard with mild disgust and loathing, and spoke: "That is of no concern to you, human. I am here to speak to Spire Priestess Sithra Desneshi. Go and get her immediately. The Spire has no patience for fools like you."

Alexandro looked annoyed, and whispered to the other guard, behind his hand: "Not a very friendly fellow, ey? You get a lot of these guys at the door? I'd ask for acolyte assistance, if I were you."

The guard who had spoken eyed Alexandro slightly annoyedly and glanced at the dah'kin, seeming unsure. "No offense, but I really don't care about the Spire that much. I also haven't seen a Spire Priestess here. Why do you even think there's one here?" (Bluff)

The dah'kin leaned closer to the guard, looking straight at him with his pitchblack eyes, which didn't reflect any light. "The Spire knows many things. Where its priestesses reside is but one of them. Now go and get her, before the I find your mate and offspring." (Intimidate)

Dah'kin: intimidate 7, DC 15 -> failure

The guard didn't really look even uneasy, but instead also pointed eir weapon at the dah'kin. "Now now, don't get all threatening on us. If you ask nicely and promise to wait patiently, I MIGHT go in and ask whether there is a person called that inside."

"Fine!" The necromancer sneered, and then seemed to push the words out of his throat by brute force. "Would you, please go fetch Lady Sithra, I require to see her."

Alexandro looked impressed by the Dah'kin's ability to speak nice words, he didn't actually think the man would succeed in that.

"Fine", said the guard, lowering the weapon and continued at Alexandro: "You can probably wait a little. If the dah'kin tries something weird, well..." Having said that, the guard went in.

"Yeah, well... Sure thing." Alexandro replied, as if he totally understood. Truth was, he didn't know whether to cower in fear, run away, or grab a gun as fast as he could, might the Dah'kin try anything. But he pretended to know, and hoped everybody would settle with the idea he was completely okay and ready.

Sithra exited the building, made a short bow before the Dah'kin and greeted him in the Dah'kin tongue.

"Ah, Sithra, there you are. I have come for you. Great Nim'ael requires your services." The necromancer greeted her. "We must go immediately. Do you have anything to finish?"

"I merely need to get some of my equipment from the inn where we were staying, it's not far." Sithra replied.

"Well hello there, I never knew our common employer had such fine taste for employees. I am Alexandro, how come we haven't met?" Alexandro introduced himself to the female Catfolk as she finished speaking.

Sithra merely looked down upon the human, replying: "Don't even try."
She gestured to the necromancer she was finished, and together they left the front lawn and walked down the street, on their way to the inn.

Meanwhile, Alexandro, who wasn't entirely unfamiliar with getting the cold shoulder, tried to get the attention of the guard again. "So now that's over and done with, can I come in now?"

The guard returned after Sithra and watched the two walking away. He hadn't closed the door yet, so he just waved at it and said: "Yeah, help yourself."

Alexandro gently thanked the guard and went inside, closing the door behind him.

---

The clerk waited for Toxir to come, and after that he directed the party one floor down again, via the winding stairs found in the room they were currently in. In the final room, there were six decent beds (three on the other side, three on the other), a table, seven chairs, a door and a window. "I'll have some drinks and bread brought here in a moment."

Geeileq, having entered the room, took off his shoes and flopped down on the middle bed on one side of the room. His wings were spread on the two other beds.

"I'm Nal'unah", the terran answered after watching Alexandro's theatrical presentation somewhat amused. She observed the man with curiosity, trying to decide if he was worthy of some trust. "Actually with the question I made I just wanted to know why you are here. Are you a mercenary as well?" she asked. Unah grabbed one of the chairs by the table and sat down.

Alexandro smiled. "A pleasure to meet you, Nal'unah."
He grabbed a chair himself, swung it around so he would face Nal'unah, and sat down on it after putting his gear down on the ground. "A mercenary you say? Well, yes, I guess that would be an accurate description of my current means on earning some coin. I do the occasional theatrical or musical performance, but most of the time, I do those for free, or free drinks. Never earned me a lot of money. All the more fun though." He grinned, taking a guitar from his gear. "Yeah, we've been through a lot, this baby and me. It even survived the bloody war."

Something hurted inside Unah when Alexandro mentioned the war. It didn't show on her face though. The planetarii was amazed by the amount of talking this man did. She tried to remember if she had seen him perhaps in some tavern fight before, but she couldn't tell. "A musician and an actor, I see", she said. "That's excellent. It wouldn't be too much to ask a song from you to cheer this place up now, would it?" she said with a smile. Unah glanced out of the corner of the eye at Tabaxi, who had been so excited about partying before.

"Please don't", mumbled Geeileq with his high voice as a reply to Unah suggesting that Alexandro sang something. He effectively spoke into his pillow, but audibly enough for the others to hear.

Tabaxi, who had plopped on one of the beds and started to pass out immediately, was shaken awake by the Ravillan in red's dramatic entrance. For a long while she watched him with wide, curious eyes as he talked, until finally she sprang off of the bed and literally latched on to Alexandro. "Unaaaaaaaaah, you're hogging him!" She whined playfully at her companion, then started in on the twenty questions for Alexandro, "Hi, I'm Tabaxi Waughroon! It's nice to meetcha! Did the nobleman send you up here to sing for us? I hope you don't suck at it. Where'd you get that guitar? Was it expensive? This'll be like a real party, once the food and drinks get here. I... I..." She then stared blankly for a few seconds at Alexandro, her eyes watering suddenly. "Gosh I'm tired. Have you got any real bandages? I think I'm leaking again. Unah wrapped me up with bits of cloth I ripped from my tunic."

Glancing around through shrewd black slits, Toxir pushed open the door to excuse herself for a cigarette.

"Hey there, little cat." Alexandro chuckled when Tabaxi rushed up to him. He didn't really catch her name, Taba-something, he believed. So little cat it was. This one talked even more than him. "The nobleguy actually send me up so I could join you with whatever you were doing. And apparently you're doing erm... you're having a party! Of some kind." Pretending he hadn't heard Geeileq (one who was too rude to come from underneath his pillow was not entitled to a vote), he took up his guitar. "And I am willing to sing a song to you lovely ladies. Although I think a serenade is out of place right now. We'll do that later, when the sun is gone and the moon sheds her silvery light through the night sky." he added with a wink. "Don't have no bandages though."
Alexandro put his guitar on his lap and hit a few chords. Adjusting the strings a bit, he then did a popular song commonly sung in taverns, named "Oh Sally". (Perform)

Alexandro did a pretty great job at playing, and even Geeileq, who was about to cover his head with the pillow, didn't do that, instead seeming to rather enjoy the music.

Leaning against the wall a ways away from the door, Toxir sighed deeply and looked up to a tiny sliver of moon. Being such a reculse was starting to work against her moreso than she could ever have anticipated. She needed the money, that much she knew but as she reached for a cigarette Toxir started to have second thoughts about her money making endeavors. Fighting for show, hunting for those too incompetent...Toxir had never been so desperate for cash. When her fingers scraped against an empty pocket, she growled and retrieved her papers and leaf tobacco and set to rolling several more smokes - this group was going to be the death of her. The constant annoyance was driving her to smoke even more than she normally did; in fact she couldn't recall a moment since she'd joined forces that she'd not had a cigarette in hand. A whiff of sulfur sparked as she lit her fag. "I gotta get the fuck outta here."

Tabaxi sat and politely listened to Alexandro sing for a few moments, until her eyes began to water more and her delicate, oversized ears began to twitch spastically. Laying them back on her head, she retreated from the room expeditiously, popping outside to where Toxir was hiding. Whether it was just the tone of the guitar or his singing, it offended the Lynx's delicate hearing. Gasping loudly, she doubled over next to Toxir and said, "I think... I'm gonna barf."

The guard stationed outside didn't care about Toxir, but glared at Tabaxi. "Please don't. If you have to, go over there." The guard pointed at a small fenced corner in the garden that was used as a waste deposit.

Alexandro watched Tabaxi leave with great hurry. After finishing the tune, he looked at the others. "Is the little cat going to be okay?"
He didn't see the problem. As far as he heard, his guitar was tuned properly, and he always thought his voice wasn't all that bad.

"I don't know", said Nal'unah, who also watched surprised as Tabaxi run away. "Seems she won't be a fan of yours" she said with a giggle and stood up. "I think you did very good, anyway", she added. Unah doubted a minute about going out to check on the girl or staying there. With a sigh she headed towards the door. "I'll be right back", she said and went out. When she reached the women outside, she approached Tabaxi. "Are you okay? was there something wrong with Alexandro's singing?", she asked.

Faustus sat on a bed not occupied by Geeileq or his wings and ended up half lying on it. He seemed fairly exhausted.

Geeileq listened to the music and relaxed a bit. When Alexandro stopped and asked about Tabaxi, he said: "I sure hope her throat will be too sore for her to speak." He sounded half mean and half sarcastic, but spoke with an amused manner nevertheless. "Your playing wasn't half bad."

"Thanks," Alexandro said. "glad you liked it. But why are you so cross with the little cat? What she do to you? Big bird like you wouldn't be caught by a kitty like that, ey?"
He had taken up the guitar again, and hit a few notes. Now he'd gotten started with it, he felt like going on, but he wasn't sure if these people were party material at all, so he didn't get much further than an idle tune. So he decided to go on with a conversation. "So, what are you guys so worn out about anyway? You had to ship goods or something?"

Glancing down to the little Lynx, Toxir grinned a little and nodded her head. "I'm out here for a reason." She stated jokingly, indicating that she too could hear the music from inside. Though she only played for fun, Toxir knew what was in tune and what was not and it seemed to her that his guitar was playing slightly flat while the singer was singing sharp. Shockingly, Toxir did not mind the wee cat's company and eyed the guard sharply as he told Tabaxi to vomit elsewhere. Several long drags later, Toxir discarded the cigarette and inhaled deeply. The air was caught between the two norms Toxir knew - the dankness of the Spire Kingdom and the clarity of her woodland home.

Some kind of server-like Ravillan human came the stairs down, carrying a few bottles of wine and some bread. Setting the stuff on the table, the server went: "Try not to break the bottles..." and left again.

"She annoys the heck out of me", said Geeileq sullenly. "She's about as nice as a painful burr stuck inside yer pants." After the server had come and gone, Geeileq replied to Alexandro's last question: "I don't see how that's yer business." Having done that, Geeileq got up and drank a bit of wine.

The burr-in-the-pants, a.k.a Tabaxi straightened up suddenly, inhaling fresh, tabacco scented air sharply. She gasped, "I think I'm okay now. Yes. I dunno what was wrong- it made my ears tickle at first, then my head started spinning and my tummy did flip-flops and... I should probably get some rest." She then stared into the distance, scenting the air for a moment before turning to Toxir, "Wanna go back inside now? If you're worried about the smoke, don't be- I like the smell of your cigarettes."

Alexandro frowned. "I don't see how it's my business not to ask. Nothing keeps me from being curious." Guessing from the birdman's reaction, he judged it wasn't something to be proud of. He didn't care, that sort of business was common around this nobleman. He picked up his guitar and started playing Geeileq a happy song, hoping it'd cheer the guy up. (perform)

"I don't think everybody will like it, though", said Unah eyeing Toxir's cigarette. "Besides, we come from a fire, it would be weird if an accident happened in our room", she added with a shrug. "I'll wait for you there, then", the terran said and returned to the room. Once there she walked to one of the beds on the opposite side of where Geeileq was, since he was using all three beds over there, and sat down.

Alexandro kept his skills steady and played just as well as before.

Geeileq raised an eyebrow at Alexandro's statement. "Certainly ya can ask. Heck, it's better if ya DO ask, but I meant that the content of the answer isn't exactly yer business." The hauken grabbed a bit of bread, ate it and then drank a little more wine while listening to the human play. He thought Alexandro was pretty good at playing, but didn't express it beyond making a grin-like smile while he took off his extra equipment like shoes and cloak. Geeileq put his equipment right next to his bed.

"So, what's a Hauken doing all the way in Decima City? I thought you guys were in the middle of some kind of civil war?" Alexandro asked Geeileq, as the Hauken took off his stuff.

Geeileq glanced weirdly at Alexandro, wondering why the human was so interested. He didn't exactly feel like sharing his life story or pretty much anything else either. "I came here a long time ago. I haven't paid much attention to the war back home." Having said that, Geeileq lay down on the bed again, this time on his back despite his wings. The hauken didn't look uncomfortable lying like that, however. "How do YOU know about the war?"

Unah glanced at Alexandro, then at Geeileq and back at Alexandro, wondering what would he answer. As rare as hauken were in the continent, perhaps he had met one before. Seeing Gee had removed some of his equipment, she thought about doing the same. She unstrapped the axes she had been carrying and placed them under the bed. Then she removed her gloves and proceeded to take off her boots.

"I've been around you know." Alexandro replied. "I've met a lot of people during the War, and before that as well. You're not the first Hauken I've ever met. It's just that they're rare around these parts. So usually, the ones you do see around here have a reason to abandon their people."
He stood up from his seat, and graciously walked towards the bottle of wine. He pondered and looked through the room, humming a tune. "Hmmmhmhm... Well, no glasses as far as I can see. No problem."
He removed the cork of the bottle, and put it to his mouth. Putting it back on the table after a moment, he wiped a drop from is chin. "Hey everybody, guess what? It's not poisoned!"

"That's good news", Unah said, with her mind not really concerned about the wine. "I wonder if the noble wants us to do something else now", she said, and lied her large body over the bed, in a way she could still see the two men. "How long have you worked for this man?" she asked Alexandro.

"Half a year or so, I guess. Mostly same stuff though." Alexandro replied. "If you want interesting jobs, he ain't the guy you're looking for. But I haven't found a better employer so far, so I'm sticking around, if only for the money."
He drank some more wine, and walked away from the table, bottle still in his hand. "So, how long have you been around? Didn't find anything else either?"

"I see. It's still strange." Geeileq sounded excessively nonchalant. After hearing Alexandro's comments about the jobs being uninteresting, he felt like messing the human a bit and went: "Oh really? He doesn't trust ya enough to give ya anything interesting to do? What a shame." Geeileq grinned dryly.

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[Veltzeh] (GM) – Geeileq Machaiktev
[Roma] – Toxir Necis Brutus
[Sturmi] – Nal'unah Obaraan
[Blood Raven] – Alexandro Miuchi
[Magus Ferox] – Tabaxi Waughroon
NPC Caius "Faustus" Ezio

The previous versions of this party can be seen at Party Nº4 970 and Party Nº4 693.
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