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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Amazingly enough, with Cassith's staggering help, Alexandro was able to stay upright and even walk. They had some great trouble getting over the pebbles, but once they reached the more uniform ground, they made it back to the inn fairly easily.

Nal'unah sat by the bar drinking lazily a beer. "Ah there you are, I was sooo bored alone here", she said to the couple of drunken guys that had just entered the Inn, not noticing right away they were drunk. "Er... why're you hugging each other?" she asked, thinking she had missed a lot for staying there.

"It was a matter of life and death... or rather, face and floor" Cassith retorted, now looking for a seat as he broke away from Alexandro, their task now accomplished. " Sorry to have kept you waiting. It's too bad you had not joined us." Letting a small smile appear on his lips after speaking.

"Indeed, looks like you had fun", said Unah to the halfbreed and shot a side glance to Alexandro, noticing just the two of them had returned. "What happened to Tabaxi and Geeileq? Weren't they with you?" she asked.

Alexandro happily sat himself down on a stool next to Unah. "Ah, misses Unah, so lovely to meet you here. And so much pleasant to hear your voice instead of that horrid Hauken's. I believe Tabaxi is getting herself lost in the streets of Decima. The Hauken is chasing after her, and keeping out of our way, so for now, I'm content."
He called out to the barman. "Good sir! Something non-alcoholic please!"

"Coffee, water or milk?" asked the bartender, rolling his eyes a bit at the people who were drunk at this time of day.

"Coffee, my good man." Alexandro said, trying to look at least moderately decent and flashy. He took out 5 gold pieces, and laid them down on the table, guessing the price of coffee.

"Well I hope they'll be returning soon, then", Unah said. She looked at the coins Alexandro left on the table. "You didn't spent all the money the noble gave us in drinking, did you?" she asked raising a eyebrow. If that was the case, they would need to handle the issue of the Dah'kin at the nobleman's mine faster than expected to get the rest of the payment.

The bartender brought a pot of coffee and cups to the warriors' table and took off with the five gold. "There you go."

Geeileq entered and immediately said to the bartender: "Fine!" He then turned toward Alexandro, Cassith and Nal'unah. "The little kitty bailed. Said she wouldn't handle underground tunnels or something. An' I honestly don't care if that was just the alcohol speaking." He eyed around himself for a second and said: "Stay." He then went upstairs and came quickly back, carrying a slightly different assortment of equipment. "I'm goin' back shopping. Ya three better be here tomorrow morning, or I'll finish the job without you. An' if ya see that half-breed smoker, tell her the same. Bye." With that, he left again.

Alexandro watched the Hauken leave, and he turned back to the bar, casually proposing: "What if we were to go to this mine a little sooner... mayhaps even today?"

Unah watched Geeileq shout orders like he owned the place and leave, which made her start to like him less than what she already did. "What? and dissobey our dear hauken's orders?" she asked and laughed loudly. "I like your thinking", she told Alexandro, leaning closer to the guys. "Though there's only three of us and two are still drunk. Do you think we could handle it?"

"Och, what else is there? A smoking grumpy Dah'kin woman, and an unpleasant Hauken. I fear our little feline companion shan't come back. A true shame as I liked her company. Furthermore, I shall be the first to admit that I am indeed slightly intoxicated still, but I assure you I shall be sober when we hit the mine!" Alexandro replied, thinking he would be the first to admit it, but certainly not the first to point it out. "Perhaps we can pick up some adventurers on the way. Otherwise, we'll just have to be extra careful. What say ye, fine lady?"

"Know what? That's not a bad idea, not at all", said Unah giving it some thought. If Tabaxi wasn't coming back, they would need a replacement anyway, and who knew what the Dah'kin girl was doing, since she had lost track of her quite a while ago. She drank the rest of the beer she had left and placed the empty glass on the bar. "Haha! Let's get our gear and get out of here", she said standing up. Then suddenly a realization hit her. "Ow, I think Geeileq had the map to the mine. Do you think he could have left it in his room?"

A while after he had taken out the 5 GP for the bartender, Alexandro noticed that all wasn't quite right with his money situation. He seemed to be missing more than he should!

Alexandro was startled by his discovery, and cursed. "Sean be damned, I seem to have been mugged! I know I had more money than this! Bah! This is the part I hate about cities. No feeling of honour, all these people trying to make a living with unfair means..."
He kept mumbling a bit while checking if maybe his purse had been slit open. (check/spot/search/fancy-X-ray-eyes)

Still fairly drunk, Alexandro couldn't really deduce anything about what might have happened to his money. For all he knew, he could have spent it himself. His purse did not seem to be broken in the least.

Alexandro pondered over this bad account of accountancy, and then decided he had no clue what was going on. Seeing he wasn't quite able to conjure up the money he thought he lost, especially not in the state he was in, he figured he would let it rest for now, and forget about it in the morning. "Well, the map then. I don't know if our birdman has left it in his room or not, but we could always have a look. Do you know where it is?"

"Hmm..." said Unah and closed her eyes, trying to visualize Geeileq entering a room. She remembered again when they had come into the Inn, he had offered keys to rooms... what key had he taken? (knowledge?)

Nal'unah remembered rather detailedly that the number attached to the key she had only barely seen in Geeileq's hand was 206.

"Hah!" said Unah as she remembered the number. "Yes. It's room 206. Let's go check it", she told Alexandro, but before turning to go upstairs, she noticed the man seemed to be looking for something. "Is something wrong?"

"I seem to have misplaced some cash." Alexandro replied. "Which is strange, as I don't usually do that. Nevertheless, let's go forth and see what dear screechy has in his appartement."

"Oh. Well, okay", said Unah. "I guess he can wait for us here", she said about the very drunken Cassith and headed upstairs. Once there, she looked for room 206 and tried to open the door. Maybe Geeileq hadn't locked it.

The door to room 206 was firmly locked.

Cassith didn't feel like being left alone in his current condition, and watched the others move to a different location. He got up, and decided to follow them, after a while winding up at what seemed to be a locked door. "having some trouble here?" Cassith inquired, before whistling slightly calling forth his companion Staz. "Allow me...er... him." The lemurian went to work, and attempted to pick the lock.(lockpick)

"You thaught it to pick locks?", said Unah as she watched the lemur work with interest. It was a cute animal, she thought, and could certainly make a good thief - maybe it had taken Alexandro's lost money? She decided to be careful about it.

Staz clawed the lock for a moment, but got quickly frustrated at the complex lock and gave up, instead starting to swing on the door handle.

"Never trust a monkey." Alexandro mumbled. "I'll go check doorstairs if they have a key."
He went to the counter, and rang the bell (in case there be any, and there be nobody behind the counter). Then he waited for somebody to help him. Meanwhile, he also looked around if he could see the place where they stored the room keys (spot).

"Okay... well... maybe we can enter through the window, somehow?", said Unah after the monkey failed at opening the door. She leaned against the wall crossing her arms, and hoped Alexandro would have some better luck.

The bartender had been at the counter most of the time and he had also seemed to be listening to the small group of people, for a good enough reason. "Yeah, how can I help? Do you need more coffee?"
Alexandro didn't see any keys anywhere, save for the few the bartender had attached to his belt. There were a few closed and/or locked closets though, as well as two doors in the back.

"No, I've had my fill of coffee, thank you." Alexandro said to the man in a friendly manner. "I'd like to have a room please, with a good bed to take a nap in. My friends said that they already had a room upstairs, but they seem to have misplaced their keys." Alexandro chuckled. "Fancy that, ey? Anyways, I am feeling like laying down for a while, do you think you could help?" (Bluff)

"Misplaced WHAT keys?" said the bartender, more concernedly than hostilely. "If you've lost your keys, you'll need to pay for the replacement of the damn lock!" he said loud enough for everyone to hear.

"Well, that's more or less the point. All their money is inside, or so they tell me. So they can't really pay up until they get into the room, which they can't." Alexandro spoke, while making a hang desture to emphasize its hopelessness. Then he leaned a bit closer to the bartender, saying softly: "Erm... I do believe they are rather ashamed of it, so don't expect them to come to you and say it. In fact, I think it might be best if you go up there now and perhaps open up for them, before they break the lock. Because they are trying to get in, y'know." (Bluff)

The bartender shook his head, thinking why he was even listening to the drunk whose story couldn't hold even large rocks. However, missing keys were a big nuisance and he wanted to clear it up. "Well, fine! What's the name of this 'friend' of yours and what room number?"

"Geeileq something. Room 206." Alexandro said. "I'll walk along with you." 'And do the proper introductions...' he thought, hoping the others would have the mind to play along.

Alexandro, bluff: 7+15=22
Bartender, Detect lies: DC 31 -> failed

The bartender almost looked like he was going to turn and go somewhere, but he then turned back at Alexandro. "The birdman? You mean the guy who was just here moments ago and seemed to quite casually go up to his room and came back carrying lots of different stuff? And he lost his key while you were wondering where to pour your coffee?" The bartender was obviously amused and laughed. "Okay seriously. From now on you adventurer types will HAND IN your keys whenever you leave."

"A... a... a birdman?" Alexandro quickly improvised. "You say a birdman went quite casually up our room, and came back carrying lots of different stuff? That's not Geeileq, you fool! That's Geeileq!" He pointed at Unah, loud enough for her to hear, and then proclaimed: "That birdman must've stolen our key! What did the bastard take?" (Bluff)

Alexandro, bluff: 7+12=19
Bartender, Detect lies: DC 20 -> failed

The bartender looked really weird at the adventurers and especially Alexandro, pretty sure that he couldn't have gotten them that mixed up. He shook his head and said: "Oh, is that really so? Who do you think the birdman was then? Because he certainly is an acquaintance of yours, I saw that much. And if you allowed him to 'store' your own things in his room, well, that's your loss." His tone of voice indicated that had he been even slightly less bored, he might not have even bothered to continue the discussion.

Alexandro was at a loss. This wasn't really working out quite in his favour. 'Next inn we're staying, I want female bartenders! There's simply no way of negotiating with these ugly male specimens.' he grumpily thought to himself. He coughed, slightly, and tried to look dignified. "Ahem. Well, fine then. I certainly won't be advertising this place to any of my friends then." He didn't even really mean it, as he thought the place was rather adequate, and served fine coffee, but still Alexandro felt he had to say something to save his pride. "I'll be going then. Thanks for the cof... nevermind."
He walked up the stairs, and spoke to his companions, in a softer voice so the bartender, or any other members of the staff who might be nearby at the moment, couldn't overhear him. "Alright, I tried bluffing our way in, didn't work. You don't suppose the bird has a window in his room that isn't facing the streets, right?"

"Too bad", said Unah, who had been listening to Alexandro's efforts amusedly. "You did good, though. That mouth of yours would have convinced me I was Geeileq", she said with a chuckle. "Nevermind. If we climb through the window we could easily be seen. Maybe we could enter one of the neighbour rooms and cross through the balcony. If there is one, that is", the terran said lowering her voice as well. "Or maybe we should just go back to the noble and simply say we lost the map".

"No, that bastard wouldn't believe a silly excuse as that. He'd also ask where the birdman is. And that's what I was asking. If our mutual 'friend' has a window which isn't facing the street, we could get in via a neighbouring window without getting seen, but no such luck, I suppose." Alexandro replied, mentally making a picture to consider such a thing. (Knowledge)
"Perhaps we should just mug the bastard when he shows up again... And we're outside of the city. Otherwise we'd get in trouble with the guards. And you don't want to be in trouble with the Decima City Guard."
Alexandro rolled his shoulder, because he had to do something. "Well then, that leaves us the rest of the afternoon and evening to entertain ourselves. Hmmm... You don't happen to have a private room, do you, my dear?" Alexandro asked, flashing a charming smile and a wink at Unah.

It wasn't too hard to figure out that since the door on the corridor faced away from the street and the rooms seemed to be right next each other, the window of Geeileq's room would be facing the street.

Unah crossed her arms over her chest, frustrated. "This is the most sorry attempt of stealing something I've ever participated in", she said, as they were giving up on the task. Hells, they didn't even know if the map was in the room at all. "I think I'll go get drunk or something while the birdie arrives - I don't think he'll get any happier if he finds us standing at his door when he returns", she started saying, then blinked at Alexandro's proposal a bit surprised. "My, my, I'll have to take note of the effect alcohol has on you", she said. "My room is that way", she said taking her key out of some pocket. "I don't know how many windows we'd have to jump to get to 206, but maybe..." she added a second later with a frown, looking at the key.

"I wasn't planning to go window hopping, love." Alexandro chuckled, a bit entertained by Unah's practical interpretation of his suggestion. "We'll get the map tomorrow. Who knows, maybe the bird will be good as a pack mule. For now, let's not concern ourselves with these bitter issues. Let's focus on something else instead, like wine and music!"
He took his guitar from his back, and hit the snares a few times, ending in a grand and passionate stance with outstretched arms and his legs wide apart.

"I know", said Unah with a wink. She wasn't quite sure if agreeing to Alexandro's suggestion was a wise thing to do, but she didn't want to make the effort of thinking about it, really. She watched him perform on the hall, amused, clapping her hands. "Perhaps you could show me how you perform in... other scenarios", she said. "After all, we've a whole day with nothing to do..."

"I perform well in any scenario, my dear." Alexandro said, answering her wink with a kind smile. "But as you say, we have got all day. What say we get in the mood first? Perhaps I can delight m'lady with a fine wine and a song almost as beautiful as herself?"
Alexandro knew he was laying it on pretty thick, but the alcohol hadn't completly worn off yet, and somehow he thought that maybe Unah would be one to appreciate it.

Unah looked at the actor. He was rather different to the men she was used to hang out with – most mercenaries she had known were big, muscular and violent. Alexandro’s strength was much more in his tongue rather than the rest of his body, she thought, although that only made him more interesting. "Wine and music sounds lovely", she said looking at him with her big green eyes, while reducing the distance between them slightly. "I trust you can get a bottle downstairs?", she asked, maintaining the eye contact while twirling the key to her room between her fingers.

"If the man doesn't refuse me for insulting him just moments ago, that should not be a problem." Alexandro grinned. "I shall return, my lovely!"
He stepped down the stairs to the bar, and like nothing happened, he beckoned for the bartender. "My good man, I'd like a bottle of your wine please. And two glasses, if you please."

"I'll be waiting!" said Unah before Alexandro left, seeing how his previous alcoholic behavior could be a problem for the bartender. She hoped the man would come anyways if the bottle was denied. With a sigh, Unah walked towards her room and opened the door. She eyed Cassith, who apparently had passed out in the hall with his monkey, but payed no more attention to him and entered the room leaving the door slightly open.

The bartender glared at Alexandro for a bit, but then lifted a few wine bottles to see. "Getting even more drunk now, eh? How much do you want to pay for your hangover? Five, eight or twelve gold?" he asked, pointing at each of the three bottles in turn.

"I promise you I... we won't be bothering anybody this time." Alexandro assured the bartender. Alexandro was thinking about what he should do with Cassith, or how he could assure the half-breed wouldn't bother either the bartender, the guests, or him, but then he reckoned Cassith didn't seem like he was going anywhere, and he seemed to be out of the way. So Alexandro thought he'd best not mention it, and just pay for the wine. "And I'll make sure my companion drinks the most of it, as you are quite right, I've had my most of my share for today. I'll be paying twelve gold, if you think that is your best wine."

The bartender scoffed amusedly and grinned at Alexandro. "I've got better wine, but it's quite a lot more expensive and I'm fairly sure you'll be quite pleased with this. Try not to break the glasses," he said, giving two glasses to him as well.

"We shall try, and I shall pay the damage might we accidently break something. I thank you." Alexandro said, taking the wine in one hand and the two glasses in the other, and then going up the stairs to what he assumed to be Unah's room. Knocking on the door (with his foot, as his hands were full), he pushed it open (again, with his foot) and said: "Look what I brought! The finest wine our dear bartender was willing to offer. Shall we?"

"The finest, hm?" Unah's voice came from inside the room. "Aye, come in", she said, grabbing Alexandro by the arm and pulling him softly into the room, closing the door behind them.

Wandering aimlessly around the first floor of the inn, Cassith wondered why he was now on his own. he spaced out for only a little while, or what had seemed like it, and the next thing he knew it had ended up like this. he wondered what those to were up too, and then wondered what they would have done in his place. Barely knowing them of course, the only thing that popped into his head was Alexandro going on a drinking binge again. Summing up his current funds, Cassith pulled out 50 gold, sat down at the bar and looked at the bar tender before placing the money on the table. "gimme something hard, and keep it coming till the money is gone, if you could be so kind, heh." Cassith would wait for the others for as long as it took, he figured, and in the mean time have some fun doing it.

The bartender looked at Cassith and went: "Riiight... Well, it's your money!" He then gave Cassith a nice mug of very alcoholic stuff. The half-breed lost count of the mugfuls soon after. Also, more people started coming to the inn as the day grew a bit later.

Wolfgang the raven had perched himself on a high place, where he waited until Alexandro appeared. Meanwhile, he kept an eye on Cassith and his monkey.

cassith at this point was face down on the table in front of him, empty glass in hand, muttering nonsense to himself. "'N...'N dats when i show'd it too 'er, hehahah...ugh..." his head rolled onto it's side to stare at the glass, not really remembering why he had been drinking in the first place. "was i... waiting for something? I musta been...was i? maybe another drink will help me remember..."he mumbled too himself, with a stupid grin on his face.

Day turned to night and Cassith drank himself under the table. Other drunk people occasionally rolled and shoved him around, but he was smooth-mannered enough even when drunk to dissipate any brewing fights. Once he was also surrounded by a bunch of giggling women, and they were surrounded by the women's glaring boyfriends—and yet he managed to squirm out of it without getting even hit.

Geeileq came back at around 20 and inspected the place for signs of disaster. Cassith was disastrouly under a table and the bartender told him that Alexandro and Nal'unah had went upstairs. Having rolled his eyes excessively, Geeileq proceeded to pick Cassith up and hauled him next to the counter. "This one needs a room."

"No doubt. But hear this, he actually behaved himself while he was drinking! Haven't seen much of that." He took out a key and held it before Geeileq. "Now, you both need to give your keys BACK when you leave. That other friend of yours had the nerve to crack jokes about losing them. I can't have that."

Geeileq looked annoyed, but took the key and said: "Fine." He then went the stairs up to where the rooms were and dumped Cassith in the room the bartender had given, didn't bother to lock it, and went to his own room.

---

In the morning, Geeileq got up first like the early bird he was. He had breakfast, was done at about 6:30 and studied the map of the mine in secret, yelling at the barmaid when she got too close to peek at it.

Cassith mumbled in his sleep as he rolled over, and woke up abruptly as he met the floor. His head was throbbing, in between a random feeling of nausea and an urge to go back to bed. Of course that's when he clued in to something odd. "Bed?... how did I end up in a bed... I didn't meet someone and... did I?!" Quickly Cassith looked around, trying to find any traces of another person within the room, but the signs seemed to point to nothing. Slowly standing, he pondered where the others had gotten to. After a few moments of collecting himself, and his things, he left the room and tried to find the way downstairs at a sluggish pace, hung over and still slightly paranoid.

"Ah, good morning, ya sponge!" said Geeileq annoyingly cheerfully. "Regrettin' yet? Are ya able to travel?"

The barmaid was a little friendlier, and said: "Morning... We have breakfast, would you like some?"

The cross-breed looked over to the bird with a glare. "I regret nothing! Though I do wonder why I was asleep in a bed... Either way I'll be fine." Cassith's somewhat dreary expression turned to a cheery smile as he looked to the barmaid about her offer. "Why I'd love some, my dear. Perhaps a mug or two of water as well, if you could be so kind?" while he spoke his head felt like it was splitting, so quickly grabbed the nearest seat and prayed for it to die down soon.

"Oh, I hauled yer ass there. Better check that you still have all yer money. Ye were totally trashed." Geeileq then continued glaring at his map, shaking his head a little.

The barmaid came back a few minutes later with water, warm bread, vegetables and a few pieces of meat and put it all on Cassith's table, smiling.

"Taking advantage of a young beautiful thing such as myself, really! you have no morals it seems." Cassith teased, as he quickly checked his possessions to see if anything was missing as his food was brought to him. "Thank you M'lady. And might I say, with a smile as lovely as yours, your presence alone must bring more than its fair share of people here." He commented with a soft smile, before digging into the meal before him, and making an attempt to ignore to hangover looming over his shoulder. (search)

The barmaid giggled a bit and mumbled something incomprehensible, though a part of it sounded a bit like "you're welcome". She then grabbed a broom and started slowly wiping the floor with it, though it was clean already.
Having checked his stuff, Cassith was sure that he was missing over fifty gold pieces.

Geeileq lifted his eyes and stared at Cassith for a moment. "Good idea. I have to remember that the next time. Do ya like spankin'? Or dirty talk? I hear ya're good at that."

A slight curse under his breath from the loss of money, Cassith sighed and took another bite of his breakfast. Washing the food down with the water, Cassith's eyes headed towards Geeileq. "That so? I'm sure you'll hear a lot more in time, though that's all you'll get, heh. I don't give second chances easily." A joking tone held within his reply.

Now Geeileq just grimaced in disgust, half spontaneously and half purposefully. He then quickly shook his head as if trying to get rid of the thoughts, and continued with the map, though it started looking pretty boring already.

A chuckle came to himself at Geeileq's reaction, as he finished off the last of his food merrily, fighting back the nausea as best he could with the occasional sip of water. Sitting back in his chair, Cassith looked in the barmaid's direction and called out to her. "Excuse me M'lady, could I trouble you for just a moment? would you happen to know where our two companions could be found? I haven't heard from them in quite a while."

"Ohh... I heard they both went to some room, but I don't know which one," said the barmaid, and added with another smile: "But I could check!"

"Oh, could you? I'd hate to trouble such a beauty as yourself, but I would be indebted to you for your help. I'm just a little worried about those two." Cassith speaking gently with yet another pleasant smile of his own worn, for her. Meanwhile his thoughts questioned the "same room" remark, which may make things a little more interesting around here.

Still smiling, the barmaid went behind the counter for a moment and did something Cassith didn't see. She then came back and said: "They should be in room 209."

"Ask them if we can expect some half-breed babies within a year," mumbled Geeileq.

"Thank you M'lady. I really appreciate it" Cassith winked at the Barmaid, before looking at Geeileq. "oh, i'll do more then that, hehe." Cassith headed upstairs and searched for room 209. Upon coming across the door, he coughed slightly as he closed his eyes. He tried to lower his voice and change it to sound at least different from his usual higher tone, as he knocked three times roughly on the door. "Open up! this is the City Guard! We're here on the complaint of suspicious activity from the owner! Come out now!"(bluff)

Cassith could hear a muffld voice and some rummaging, and some feet dragging themselves to the door. The door opened, and revealed a wild-haired, slightly smiling Alexandro, wearing only his pants. "Oh, hey there, I thought it was you. Too early for those guys of the city guard, y'know. How's the head?"
Grinning, he tapped on Cassith's head a few times, though he made sure to block the doorway somewhat, as to unable Cassith to look straight in. "We'll be right down. Give us a few minutes."
He closed the door behind him, after he noticed Wolfgang hopping in through his feet. "Silly bird."

Cassith scowled at the tapping of his head, as he turned and began to head back downstairs. He shrugged at his joke not being as funny as he hoped, but at least he knew that one of them was conscious. It was good enough knowing they could probably head out not to long from now. "Silly drunks,heh." he muttered to himself with a smile, as he headed back for his earlier seat.

A good fifteen minutes later, Alexandro stepped out of the room, Wolfgang perched on his shoulder. Closing the door behind him again, so that Unah still had some privacy. Wearing only his wide pants and sleeveless vest, he came down the stairs and joined Cassith and Geeileq. "Goodmorning again, Cassith. 'Morning Feathers."
He sat down in a chair opposite to Geeileq, and asked: "Say, is that the map? Mind if I had a look before now that we still have time to look stuff over? I'd like to see what the general structure of the place is."

"Eh!" Geeileq snatched the map off the table and to himself. "Let's wait until Nal'unah is here too." He showed a rather sullen face and continued: "While you three hedonists were screwin' and drinkin', I again did all the useful things. We'll pick up a new member on the way."

"Hey now... I was only drinking 'cus those two vanished, and I was waiting for 'em. not my fault they were at it like rabbits for 24 hours...heh." Cassith shrugged to himself, not really caring but making a note of it to annoy the bird. "So who's this new member then?"

"Morning", said just then Unah, coming down the stairs. She was wearing all her clothes, unlike Alexandro, and had her hair tied up in a long, black ponytail. She grabbed a chair and sat by the group with a smile stamped on her face. "So, what's the plan for today? A new member, you said?" she asked, as if nothing had happened.

"So ya're sayin' ya're even stupider than I thought ya were? Way to go!" retorted Geeileq to Cassith. He the glared at Na'Unah a bit and replied her and Cassith's question: "A friend of mine. We'll get there when we leave." He then opened and turned around the map he was holding, showing it to the others but not giving it to them. "Here's where we'll be going! And we should leave now!"



"Now?" Alexandro sighed, and then cussed between his teeth. "Alright. Gimme a minute."
He went over to the waitress, and told her: "If you'd please get me one plate of breakfast, to take with me. Put it in a paper bag or something. I'll be right down to pay for it."
Alexandro ran up to stairs, and into Unah's room, where he put on the rest of his clothes and strapped on his gear as fast as he could manage.
Virtually jumping down the stairs on his way back, holding his hat so that it wouldn't fall off, he rushed back to the bar, to see if how his breakfast was faring.

"I'm sure he doesn't mean now like 'NOW', you know", said Unah as Alexandro hurried away, but her words got lost on the way. She shrugged and took a quick glance at the map, thinking the mine was pretty much a labyrinth. "I'll get my stuff too, then, I guess, so we can leave", she said, as Alexandro was hopping down the stairs already. A moment later she returned carrying her voulge and axes strapped in place.

"If ya want to eat that badly, I can wait that long!" shouted Geeileq after the two and was amazed at how quickly they complied. They hadn't exactly been very obedient before, or at least he thought so. He leaned back in his chair, took out his cho ko nu and started aiming at Cassith's little pet after spotting it in the ceiling.

The barmaid made promptly two more breakfast portions, though both Nal'unah and Alexandro had already come down when they were finished. She then set them down on a table for them to eat.

"Well I don't mind leaving and getting this done with, we've been in this inn for too long", said Unah. "Not that I had a bad time", she said hurriedly, her eyes drifting towards Alexandro. "Actually it was wonderful", she added, blushing somewhat. "Er, yeah, so we going or not?", she said, and turned her sight towards the breakfast. She didn't need to eat anything, and they would soon be surrounded by enough earth for her, as they were getting into a tunnel, but humans never seemed to remember that.

"Oh you are truly amazing, thank you very much!" Alexandro thanked the waitress, and put 5 gold in her hand. He then took the plate and sat at the table again, immediatly beginning to stuff himself and work through his food at an almost unnatural speed. Within 5 minutes he had finished his meal and gulped down his drink, without even burping. Then he sat back for a minute, rubbing his stomach a bit. Wolfgang had hopped onto the table as soon as Alexandro's crazed eating frenzy had begun, and was stealing bits of bread and cheese whenever he could manage. Now the raven sat back on his shoulder, and only cowed once when Alexandro suddenly sat up again. He looked around, and excused himself.
"Sorry about that. Eating habits I took up in the army still linger a bit. And tonight has been exhausting." He grinned rather sheepishly, and then stood up. Stretching himself, he then noticed Unah hadn't taken her breakfast, and walked to the bar, stuffing the food in his own sack as rations, laying down another 5 gold. He looked at the group, gave Unah a wink, and asked: "We're ready to go now?"

Leaning back in his chair, Cassith gave a shrug, along with a care free look. "I'm ready whenever you are. I'm fine with whenever we leave, as long as we get the job done eventually." He spoke, petting Staz who had just happened to come out of hiding upon waking up and smelling the scent of something edible.

The barmaid thanked full-heartedly when Alexandro gave her money, and was too taken by all the handsome men running around the bar to say that the breakfast was free. She then swooned by herself behind the counter, without the passing out bit.

When Staz went to Cassith again, Geeileq stopped aiming at it quite promptly, but didn't exactly try to hide what he had been doing. Having seemed fairly patient this far, he jumped up now and just said: "Let's go." He then led the others out of the inn and to the streets again.

After about half an hour, Geeileq was still walking and leading them somewhat astray in the fairly tightly built part of the residential district.

Unah walked after the group and was pretty much the last in the line for most of the time. "Where is the mine?", she asked, as they crossed the residential district. Decima was a large city, and she knew it would take them time to get out of it, but still she wished they would get there soon.

"It's outside Decima. We're going to our employer's house first." Having said that, Geeileq suddenly led them straight to it.

They eventually came to the noble's house after Geeileq's more or less annoying detour. The house was the same as before, and two guards were standing at the door. Geeileq told the guards to let him in and the others to wait outside, politely for a change. During the five minutes that Geeileq was gone, the two guards looked fairly googly-eyed, apparently due to tiredness. When Geeileq came back, he had two people with him; a Ravillan man and a Hydran just as tall as he were.

It was a bit unlike him, but Geeileq went ahead and introduced the two people. He first waved at the Hydran, and then the Ravillan. "This is Lor'kyn, a friend of mine. An' this is ...um, what was it? Leo?"

Lor'kyn was kind enough to glance at the new faces, but didn't bother even to give them a nod of acknowledgment. Ey just crossed eir arms on eir chest and gazed at them. Any other person could have looked at a blank wall and looked more interested than ey was then!

"Nice to meet you" said Nal'unah kindly, looking at the pair of newcomers. The hydran seemed odd enough, but since her best childhood friend had been an hydran, she couldn't help but to look at Lor'kyn with favorable eyes. She looked then at Leon, and realized then she was the only girl in the group. Interesting, she decided, feeling just a bit uneasy. "I'm Unah, terran hunter and warrior", she said with a smile.

Leon nodded, his face hung low, hidden under the brim of his hat before looking up, a wide smile scrawled across his face, "Ay, the name's Leon Marcel, Rogue of Decima. Nice to meet you all," he said, his calm and cheerful voice crystalline in the air.

"Rogue of Decima, ey?" Alexandro said, grinning equally. "Never heard of you. That may be either because you are very good, or because you aren't so good at all. Either way, it's good to meet new people. I am Alexandro Miuchi, from Decima. Pleased to meet you both."
While saying that, he eyed the hydran, and decided it looked rather weird. Also, being a friend of Geeileq's didn't immediately place him (Alexandro decided it was a 'he') in Alexandro's 'good' book. But decided to let it rest for now, and possibly deal with it later.

"So, are we ready to go?", asked Unah, wondering if there was someone else to join them or if that was it. Maybe now they could finally get to the mine.

Looking back down, Leon said, "Decima is a big city," in a low, quiet tone of voice, barely more audible than a whisper, before giving a light nod and turning to the door, flaring out his cloak around him as he turned.

Lor'kyn brushed some imaginary dust off eir vest and said, "I think now that we're done with the introduction, we can move on. right Geeileq?"

Geeileq nodded quite unnoticeably and started leading the others out of the city.

---

[Veltzeh] (GM) – Geeileq Machaiktev
[Sturmi] – Nal'unah Obaraan
[Blood Raven] – Alexandro Miuchi
[raikou] – Cassith Hir'edaik
[Sunny Silverunicorn] – Lor'kyn Osphy
[Lepellier] – Leon Marcel

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