Book II - Chapter VIII: Powers That Be

[CautionCat]

Vincent nodded, and would take a seat. "Aegise. Traveled here with my mentor. He has friends here and wanted me to come along... It's been a very long journey."

[redcoat]

Well, that was an interesting- if unsurprising, development and with it Cerys would find a more secure hidey hole- preferably farther away from the winged thing that would likely try to gobble her.


It wouldn't succeed in eating her, but it'd raise a lot of questions if she was all of a sudden an elf again.

((Edit: 8))

[opius]

Jinn leaned one arm around the back of his chair rest, looking as thought he was taking in the sights of the room. In truth, he was looking to see if he couldn't find Cerys.

(Is it possible to roll perception again to see if I pick up on anything I missed previously? Or is Jinn close enough now to notice that that weird ass bird isn't a weird ass bird?)

(Perception: 21 holy shit yess)

"Find a lotta interestin' people on the road. Seems like Wachovia attracts me, too. Come to find out we weren't the only ones lookin' for shelter from the road. What's the deal with all these Elturians, huh?"

((A little buddy-buddy misdirection to put these guys off their game. Deception: 16))

[Kyt]

Rey grunted as she picked up her hand. "Bad business, no kidding. Barely able to go an hour without runnin' into some problem, and we just got here. I'n already getting pissed; can't figure how ya'll've handled it even longer. Not without lot's of drink, anyways."


((Insight: 12, both for their tells, and for their reactions to Crystal's badmouthing Vanthampur)

[uberwulfx]

"Right?" She scoffed softly, motioning her head to their target, the man with the weird bird. "Most everywhere they go, there's always someone in a dark corner plotting or planning. Look at him, probably recruiting someone for that cult, promising them money. Shameful, doing that in a casino-- gotta make your money the old fashion way, fleecing--"

Crystal coughed.

"--winning with skill and sportsmanship," she said with a smile.

((22 Charisma))

[Ancelas]

Cerys turned away from the table and hustled under the couch and toward the hull to sneak away. With a THUMP, however, she found her path blocked by the winged, spined devil creature as it dropped down in front of her, its beaked face breaking into a toothy grin. It rose up on its digitigrade legs, wings half-spread, clawed hands grasping its pitchfork as it eyed its latest meal.

The nobleman, meanwhile, finished his note and held it up, motioning one of the nearby guards over. "Here - run this over to the tanner's. Let them know it's from me and they'll make sure it gets to the right person."



"Aegise!" marveled Durian as the cards were dealt. "Quite far indeed. By ship or caravan?" The cards were dealt across the table. Jinn picked up a nervous tick from Jon and was sure he could bluff his way to victory, but Durian seemed confident and Vincent inscrutable.

"Hold," Durian said a moment later. "Fold," Jon grumbled. "Some kind of disaster," he added, answering Jinn's question. "City's flooded with 'em these days."

While Jon spoke, Jinn caught movement across the room, spotting the winged thing - that was definitely not a bird - drop from the couch to the floor, cornering something small…



At the other table, Rey caught sight of the talkative winner swapping one of his cards with another up his sleeve, although the grouchy dealer did not seem to notice. The grouch seemed vaguely pleased with his hand, but it was Crystal who seemed the most confident. His face paled, though, when Crystal commented about the man in back.

"Hush girl," he hissed, leaning forward so his voice didn't carry. "That's Amrik Vanthampur - son of Duchess Vanthampur. One disapproving look from him and they'll be fishing your fish-gnawed bones from the bottom of the bay. Er, hold."

"Deal," said the other man, exchanging a card - not the one he had slipped through his sleeve, though. "Sven's right, if a bit over dramatic. Be careful Amrik doesn't hear you, friend. Our businesses might be suffering, but his is booming."

[CautionCat]

(dirty 20 charisma)

Vincent chuckled. "Both. Had to sail from there to get to the continent." Play up a friendly distraction...

"Not sure what happened?" He looked to Jon.

[redcoat]

Ohno Ohno. The best she could do was run. Moving quickly to disengage with the creature, she'd dart towards Jinn as fast as she could- at least he could possibly claim she was a pet, and thus keep their cover.

[opius]

Jinn found himself quite suddenly put into a situation. Hold, fold, that ain't a bird. He placed his cards on the table, face down, "Imma hold but ya gotta tell me-" He leaned from his chair to swing a leg out, planted a foot, stood and turned to face the back of the room. Both hands on his conveniently spread and bent knees, Jinn exclaimed with all the touristy touristyness he could muster, "What kinda bird is that? I ain't never seen such a cool lookin' thing! Is she trained? Does she do treats?"
With any luck, Cerys could slip between the legs and either scamper up the back of the pant leg, or get the hell behind him and out of sight.

[Kyt]

Rey was watching the talker carefully, debating on how or if she wanted to address his cheating, but was rather well distracted by the cascade of reactions. Just as she was processing the talk about Vanthampur, Jinn suddenly started exclaiming from the other side. She gave a bit of a sigh, but it wasn't a terrible play.

Now having a reason to face that direction, she didn't quite gawk, but she took the opportunity to watch the nobleman's reaction to the attention on his....pet.

[Ancelas]

The creature grinned as Cerys darted past it and turned, tracking the mouse's movements with its beady, burning black eyes. It hopped forward and pitched itself low, arching its tail up and over its back, unleashing a pair of spines that trailed faint wisps of smoke as they flew through the air to impale the tasty little morsel that was fleeing from it.

((First attack: 18 to hit, 6 piercing, 1 fire damage. Second attack: Dirty 20, 3 piercing, 3 fire.))

Just as Cerys reached Jinn and leapt for his pant leg, the needles would strike...

[uberwulfx]

"Amrik Vanthampur, huh?" Crystal looked between her cards and the back of the others', a brow lifted. "If I may be so bold, what exactly is his business all ab--"

Jinn's voice carried through like an alarm, and Crystal frowned, simultaneously putting her cards face down while slipping them all into single file.  "Hold," she said absently as she watched the-- er, bird-- attack Cerys. She didn't have much at all to help the situation, so she hoped quietly that her pointing and mumbling while taking some curious steps forward to the creature attacking Cerys wouldn't seem too out of place.

"What an odd bird..."

With that, the creature would start to smell something very foul in its nostrils. Hopefully, the scent of hot, raw sewerage would disorient it enough to mask Cerys' scent and escape.

((Prestidigitation))

[redcoat]

((Reaction)) Cerys popped out of her mouse form and blinked, dazed, at the small demon creature

[Ancelas]

Creys emerged from a sudden swirl of dust and motes of green light directly underneath Jinn, as he desperately tried to direct attention to Amrik and his 'pet.' Most of the conversation died down as the creature attacked, and then went outright silent as Cerys emerged, every head turning toward Jinn, and beyond him to Amrik, who looked over at Cerys and Jinn as he finished handing the note to his 'assistant.'

The devil suddenly sneezed and began batting at his beak-like nose, making quiet noises at the sudden stench filling its nostrils.

"…You two," Amrik said, turning his hand from the man as the thug stepped back and started toward the stairs, motioning toward Cerys and Jinn. "Why don't you come and join me?" He motioned toward the couch across the table from him.



At Rey and Crystal's table, the nervous dealer Sven looked between Amrik and the newcomers, then at his cards, and made a face. "Er… right, dragon girl - holding or folding?"


At Jinn and Vincent's table, Durian looked extremely confused and shifted a little further away from Jinn. Jon cleared his throat and leaned toward Vincent. "You, uh… holding or folding…?

[CautionCat]

Oh. Well that all happened. Vincent blinked a few times, and looked to Jon. "Huh? Oh. Hold."

Now they had Amrik's attention. Was that a good, or a bad thing?