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Arkadi nods to the men as they arrive. "I see the women aren't tagging along for this one...probably for the best."
Osprey looks askance at the oddly-dressed man. "Hollow Moth was called off by a messenger. But three of the Maidens' Chosen should be more than equal to tracking down a single errant deadman."
"Doesn't matter why...considering the guy we're going to be tracking down...it's likely a good thing. He's err....how to I put this lightly... Not the nicest man..."
Osprey listens to Arkadi as the three men walk toward the alabaster gate, with its shining orichalcum guardians.
"He ran a rather...illegal prostitution ring." Arkadi clears his throat "You know how some cities forbid slavery, right?"
Osprey nods.
Arkadi scowls. "I'll be blunt, he ran one of the most ugly and brutal sex-slave rings I've ever heard of in my years of life. Tried running a branch in Lookshy...he's on the run now. Not big on the 'women's rights' deal, either..."
"Let us find him, then, and find what he knows," suggests Osprey.
"Thus the reason it's best the ladies aren't with us on this one...someone might end up doing something inopportune."
Osprey approaches the gate guardians. Arkadi nods to the guardians "Hey guys..."
Malic waves cheerily.
They grunt.
"The annoying thing about working for Fate? You can only kill the people that *need* killing. Not the ones that *deserve* killing," Malic opines.
The three Sidereals answer the questions posed by the three golden dogs who guard this gate, and present their credentials. After some sniffing, the dogs let them through.
"Yeah, well...don't worry," says Arkadi, "I've got a buddy in Lookshy who'll be gettign a letter when this is all over."
Osprey steps through the gate, and...
== An Eventful Night ==
The gate opens under a curtain of rushing water - it's set behind a waterfall of camouflage it. On this side, the rocks are slippery and green with algae, and there is a smell of cut grass. Osprey carefully picks his way over the slick rocks.
Beyond the waterfall is a river, and a second beside it, running oddly parallel. In the distance they diverge, one running to Kirighast and the other to the Bayou of Regret.
"Huh, pretty," Arkadi observes.
Osprey stands by the side of the waterfall, water droplets sparkling on his cloak and face in the evening light. "What is our destination?"
"Thataway." Arkadi points on the road to Kirighast.
"Then let us begone. Night will soon fall." Osprey sets off.
Eventually the three Exalted arrive at a traveller's inn. Night is fast approaching, so they purchase lodging and make themselves comfortable.
⚠ <b>CRASH!⚠ </b>
Arkadi jerks awake. Osprey smoothly turns and rises, grasping his staff.
The sound of breaking glass gives way to the sound of many small things falling into water...then a loud splash and a clash of metal. Something is going on in the coutyard.
Arkadi shakes the cobwebs out, grabs his blade from beside the bed and takes a quick peek out the window. Osprey follows suit.
One of the windows on the other side of the building has been almost ripped from its frame. There are several people fighting in the couryard; they can't be seen clearly from this floor. Arkadi blinks. "Holy shit..."
"Indeed," agrees Osprey.
Taking in the rest of the scene, you notice a third figure, crumpled in a corner. It looks injured or frightened.
"Aw shit..." Arkadi straps his blade to his waist.
Osprey pauses briefly, harmonizing his movements with the song of Essence sung by the moving figures. He smoothly vaults out of the open window, his cloak billowing out like a crow's wings as he falls to the courtyard below. He tucks and rolls, breaking the fall; his roll ends with him on his feet, already moving toward the combatants.
"Aw crap." Arkadi sighs and leaps out the window, behind Osprey, not having bothered putting on a cloak, just in a set of trousers and a sleeveless shirt. He lands solidly, not even budging an inch upon impact
"WHAT were you thinking?" A young lady seems to be attacking the innkeeper. Her deerhorn knives flash in the moonlight. The innkeeper is struggling to block her attacks with his staff, but he is alarmed and perhaps drunk; he is not doing well.
Arkadi interjects. "WOAH! Hold up there lady!"
The woman knocks the portly man's staff aside with a kick, and stabs at his face -- but her knife is stopped by Osprey's curved hunting blade. A single spark flashes from the impact. Arkadi comes up behind the lady, and tries to restrain her. "Ma'am, for Jylis' sake...calm down!":
Malic appears on the scene, firewand in hand and hat askew. Looking around frantically, he pauses and blinks at the odd sight before him. "What's going on?!"
The woman diverts one of her attacks to each of the Exalted as though she were expecting to be restrained, but they avoid these easily. She snarls and lowers her arms to her sides. Osprey catches and holds the young woman's eyes with a cold, almost contemptuous look. Dark hair casts his face into shadow; his mouth is hidden behind his cloak's collar.
"What the hell is going *on* here!?" demands Arkadi.
"That's what I asked!" says Malic.
"A good question." Osprey's eyes do not leave the woman's, as though daring her to try her skill against his.
"Ask HER." She jerks her head at the young woman hiding in the corner.
Arkadi exhales. Malic turns to look at the indicated woman, a confused expression on his sun-darkened face. Osprey does not move from between the innkeeper and the woman.
"Ma'am, look...there's a situation here, and there's ways to resolve it. Screamign and swinging knives aren't two of them. Now take a deep breath..." Arkadi says, "and from the top, explain."
"THAT man-" she indicates her husband, the innkeeper "-was entertaining THAT woman-" she doesn't look at her this time "-in MY bed, while I was AWAY buying FOOD for our CHILDREN who you've now SHAMED BEYOND ALL RECOVERY---"
The other woman is dressed in a dishevelled silk robe. The two of them look strikingly similar.
"Okay, okay... Now, could you please let go of the knives?"
She throws them at a tree, where they stick.
"...Thank you."
Malic looks at the knife-less woman and the innkeeper. "Is she telling the truth?" Malic is tempted to let his Essence show to scare them, but resists. He settles for drawing himself up to his full height and glaring menacingly at the innkeeper, muscular arms crossed over his chest.
"You're welcome. Now, will you get out of my way so I can KILL my husband, please?"
Osprey sheathes his knife.
"I can't do that ma'am, and you know that," says Arkadi. "Now then, sir...could you please tell us your side of the story?"
"Um...well...it was like this..." He trails off and the other woman interrupts. "He wanted me to look like his wife. He says she's...well, that's his business."
"I see. Who did that to the window...and how did you get injured, ma'am?"
The wife has taken several steps back. She is still seething, but has relaxed enough to lean comfortably on a tree. Osprey keeps an eye on her, arms loose at his sides, still ready to "dance" if need be.
"The window - Fei threw Tian out of it when she found us. I'm not injured. See?" She runs her hand over a gash on her arm, and it closes with a wet noise.
Osprey's eyes narrow. "What sorcery is this?"
Arkadi is also disconcerted. "...that's um...weird."
The woman's eyes glint dully for a moment, as though they were made of brass.
"Ma'am, I mean this with no disrespect...but what are you?" asks Arkadi.
She stares at Arkadi, blankly. "What ever do you mean?" The innkeeper looks frightened.
Osprey taps his staff on the ground impatiently.
"Sir...perhaps you can elaborate?" Arkadi suggests.
"...s-s-she can't tell you that."
"But can you?"
"Then perhaps you can speak for her," says Osprey. Malic nods.
"She's a..." He mouths the word 'demon'.
"Ah." Arkadi digests this.
"Do you regularly summon demons to sleep with while your wife is away? Or was this special?" a sneer of contempt is plain in Malic's voice.
Arkadi wishes he'd paused to put on his damn armour.
Fei is tapping her foot impatiently. "Who are you people anyway? It's not precisely...customary...for our guests to engage in domestic disputes."
"I'm a hard-bitten ex-cop...he's a former shaman, he's an annoying git...we fight crime."
"It is not customary for me to be woken from my night's sleep by the sound of a marital spat." Osprey glances at Arkadi. "Who we are is paying customers."
"That was a joke, by the way...and sadly Ozzie, I'm all-too used to it," says Arkadi.
Osprey continues. "Though had we known that you trucked with the infernal, I doubt we would have been that."
Malic shrugs. "I'm really just the sort that randomly sets fire to things. Regardless, I doubt we're much needed here...your wife seems ready to take care of it. Right after you tell us why she's here."
"I can't exactly condone murder, Malic."
Malic blinks. "Well, then come up with something else."
The innkeeper seems to be baffled that this is happening to him. He can't believe it.
Osprey eyes the wife, Fei.
"Okay, sir...I want a full explanation...NOW," demands Arkadi.
"I summoned this.....because...I needed something. I had to repay a favor. But then...I became fond of her company."
"And you were repaying the favor by sleeping with a demon?" asks Malic. "What kind of favor would that be?"
"Uh-huh...I don't suppose you're willing to fill in the blanks?" questions Arkadi.
Malic gives the man a look that indicates he better be willing.
Fei's tying something in complicated knots. Osprey looks closer. Malic idly glances at what she's tying. It appears to be some kind of folk demon ward.
Osprey flicks his staff out, lightly rapping Fei's knuckles. "Not yet."
The rest of the inn patrons have given up any hope of seeing a fight.
Arkadi rests his hand on the grip of his sword. "I'm waiting, sir."
They have all left by now, and the innkeeper suggests that everyone sit down...this story might go on for some time. Malic lets the innkeeper sit while he remains standing to loom over the smaller man.
"I have..a friend." He gives a name. "He has a certain influence over the daughters of the evening of our hometown. One could say that he employs them."
Arkadi arches an eyebrow "Go on."
"His patrons have been becoming more and more demanding of late. They ask things that he will not permit his women to do. I understand a little bit of the arts of summoning."
"So I can see."
"So, in exchange for this favor, I summoned....her....for my friend." He seems relieved to finally get all this off his chest.
"...he gave you a roll in the hay in exchange for her use as a demonic prostitute?"
"Who is your friend?" asks Malic. "And where can we find him?"
"He helped me build this inn, in fact."
"The hay was just a friendly bonus, then?" Fei is looking amused at this point. Apparently Tian's shame is worth his betrayal.
"What became of this pimp, then? Why is she," Osprey jerks his head at the demon, who is sitting demurely at the table, "in your bed, instead of servicing his customers' depraved lusts?"
"We have an arrangement." He explains that the inn isn't actually far from the town; it's just a bit off the main travel route, actually, as a result of some old and mysterious tradition.
"So when she gets a night off, you get her for free?" It is fairly clear that the dark Easterner has little but contempt for this weak man.
Arkadi mutters. "...when did prostitution get so weird? Never was like that back when I was on the force..."
The demoness has given up any pretense of being human. She is lounging on the ground, her joints carelessly dislocated and her skin shines metallically.
"Yeah, that's more or less what I do."
"...that's wrong on so many levels," sighs Arkadi. "Well, just one...but it's a really fucking BIG level."
"It is," agrees Malic. "But it's not our buisness. You just tell us who your "friend" is and where we can find him, we'll leave you, your demon-whore and your wife to your former activities."
He spills the details happily.
"Yeah, he WOULD be there," growls Arkadi. "...fucking jackass."
"Lets be leaving, shall we?" Malic glances at his two companions.
Arkadi looks at Fei "Ma'am, if I were you, I'd consider divorce. I'm pretty sure you'd get the inn, the kids, and a good chunk of the money."
Osprey tarries a bit. Seizing the innkeeper by his collar, he slams him up against the wall and glares wordlessly at him for a long moment, before letting him go. The man slumps to the floor pale-faced. Osprey glances at the silvery demon sprawled nearby, then gives the man a contemptuous look. His burning blue eyes leave little doubt what he thinks of the innkeeper, and his choice of bedmates. With a harsh noise of disgust, he turns and strides out of the room, the paper wards on his massive sword fluttering behind him.
Malic glances at the knives in the tree. "I'd go for those myself..demon-summoning dog-spawn." Malic spits and pauses only to gather his things from his room before leaving the inn
Arkadi pats the wife on the shoulder "I'd avoid the demon, and I don't suggest killing him...but feel free to kick his ass..." Arkadi heads upstairs to grab his gear before heading out
Malic looks at Osprey and Arkadi once they've all left. "And you were making faces at me for spending time with Bright Ember.."
"I was just saying you were thinking with your staff, Mal."
Fei wanders over to the demon and starts to talk. She looks like she has a plan, and as the three Chosen walk away, the two women seem very pleased by events.
Malic hmphs.
Arkadi lights up. "Hey, don't take me personally...last time I had a relationship that didn't self destuct was...never."
"I wonder why," Malic deadpans.
"You keep wondering, I know why. It's a shame...I really did like the goddess of lyres. Anyways, remind me to keep an eye on the wife and innkeeper when we get home...she kills him, I'm going to have to pay a visit."
"Why?"
"Murder is still murder. Nothing major, just to give her a bit of a talking-to."
"Some people are supposed to get murdered," observes Malic.
"Yes, this is true," agrees Arkadi. "Doesn't mean the murderer shouldn't pay."
"Sometimes it does."
"Dealing with the children of Malfeas is a crime against Heaven," states Osprey. "Whether by his wife's hand, or a pattern spider's touch on the web of fate, I doubt this man has much longer to live, if his tale is true."
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