[Nexus] The Black Dragon's Den IX

[Devixer]

Though the local NPC's may now be trying to be more helpful to her, Cass is only set more on edge by it. Why are these people offering her a drink? Were they trying to poison her or soften her up for a hit? Either way, best to be safe. She waves off any friendly patrons and heads to the bar.

[Reinholdt]

"Months ago, Raril stood there and I stood there and he told me I was special. That I should be that fair skinned loser. Said he'd help me change back. Haven't heard from him since though. And I figured out why at the meeting."

The demonic drow pauses, shooting Angie an extremely withering look. Ilpholin doesn't like eavesdroppers. She lowers her voice a little, but I don't know if it'll be enough.

"The point of all this... well. It intended to serve a few purposes. One, a nasty surprise for any cocky AMENites who thought to oppose me. I'm not so foolish as to believe that just cause I say not to hit Inside that they won't, so setting up a punishment for them before hand is only fitting. That admittedly worked out even better, now that those rogue elements will be returned to us."

"But mostly... mostly I really was trying to make Inside safe. For him." She glances at the empty spot. "Horrible things happen to him here. By pretending to want Inside, I've no doubt helped discredit the house that would use him. It also gave Council something to shoot down while actually considering useful options. I mean... come on, no idiot in their right mind would ever expect AMEN's leader to become leader of Inside through diplomatic talks." If that were ever the goal, she would have gone through Watchtower rather than approached as AMEN's leader.

"But... you know, maybe there can be an Inside where he doesn't have to worry about the Xar'chas or being used for his body or Zee dying. If I have to become the bad guy for that, fine." She already knows that more than likely, she's going to end up giving up her family name entirely and publicly. A part of her really looks forward to the idea.

Her eyes narrow. "Zee, though. Even while trying to help her, I realized it. It was that harlot. That seducer, Zee, who keeps Raril's attentions. She's the reason for his absence." Ilpholin says, returning to the beginning of her ramblings and tying it all together in a way.

[Gullara]

No need to trouble yourself maybe some other time. You actually remind me of the drowned who used to own this place. I wonder whatever happened to him.

Angie looks over at the new comer and almost reaches out to calm her but decides this being my the Black Dragon Den that might not be a good idea. So instead she reaches out to NPCs around her to make them more friendly and helpful. Heck she might even get a drink bought for her.

"Oh yeah? Who's that?" Kirk asks, a touch of curiosity entering his voice.

Kirk glances where Angie's attention seems to have gone. Ilpholin. He decides to not pay any attention to her for the time being.

[McBish]

Not her whole attention just a bit.

Raril is his name, I never really got to know him but he was well known in these parts. And he was a very skilled bard.

[Rebonack]

Speaking of Zee!

Zee doesn't arrive to ply her harlotry and keep Raril away from his daughter.

Instead Sadei arrives leading Aly by the hand! The little half-drow girl and the quarter-dragon share obvious family resemblance! Boy, it's like a Raril-daughter convention in here, isn't it?

"This is it," Sadei says in that diminutive voice of hers. "Father usually checks in here first when he comes back to the city after an adventure. I hide up there so I can pounce on him when he comes through the door."

She points at a patch of wall just above the door, perfect for pouncing on unsuspecting drow that walk into the tavern.

And upon glancing around the tavern she spots!

"That's Ilpholin," Sadei whispers. "She's our half-sister too, but I don't think she likes me very much."

[Artemis97]

Aly'ithra looks around at the bar and surpresses a grimace. Though Raril had rebuilt the whole place twice, some how the Black Dragon's Den still held on to its rundown, gritty feel. Maybe it was the clientelle, they didn't look like the nicest bunch of people either.

The quarter-dragon gives Ilpholin and look when Sadei points her out. She looked like a full drow. Maybe that's why she wasn't so nice to her half-sister? "Oh... that's... too bad." Aly says, frowning. "You're too sweet not to like." She grins at her little half-sister.

[Gullara]

"Ah, Raril. Unless something's happened in the last week, Raril still owns the place. Looks like he's just not in." Kirk says.

[McBish]

That doesn't suprise me. He always struck me as a survior, though I guess I am suprised he didn't wander off somewhere else to settle down. But I guess some people do call this home and wouldn't want to leave.

Angie glances over at the new comers as they enter before turning her attention back to Kirk. Though her empathic senses still sweep the room gently.

What about you, what do you do with your time?

[Rebonack]

It IS kind of grungy, isn't it?

Sadei doesn't seem to mind though!

The people who come here are different from the people who go to Trog's and that makes them interesting! And Sadei sure does enjoy interesting people!

At the complement she smiles and blushes a little.

"The one with the metal is Magtok. He and Mother are... umm... friends? Sort of?"

It's a complicated relationship.

"Are you hungry? Maybe we should ask for something to eat?" Sadei suggests, pointing at the counter.

[Gullara]

"This and that." The drow glances briefly toward Dipsnig. Hm, still alone. "I've been working with NO for a while now. It's mercenary work mostly."

[McBish]

Oh I know what NO is, I had a few dealings with them when I was at HALO, though not a lot. So you are a mercenary? A fighter or more of a spy/sneaky person?

As she mentions HALO she pays careful attention to see if he reacts in anyway. It has been sometime since she was last in town and she is curious what has been happening at her old home.

[Artemis97]

"That sounds like a good plan. Let's find a table." And hope no one slips something into their food. Aly crosses the room and takes a seat at an empty table.

[Gullara]

"Yes." Kirk replies, smiling wryly. There's not much of a reaction in regards to HALO. He has a fairly neutral opinion of the org, and knows little more than a few mostly slanderous rumours.

[McBish]

Ah of course how silly of me to assume you had to be one or the other. Though to be fair, you don't look much like a fighter. Aren't you worried about wrinkling your suit?

She smiles at him obviously joking. Though maybe she is teasing him to make him show off a bit. She even tries to give him a little nudge to show off some of his ablities with her empathy.

[Rebonack]

Woo, table!

The little half-drow girl will hop onto a chair, kicking her legs happily!

Whilst at the same time the chimera climbs into the same chair, sits down on her haunches, and threads her tail through the back. The end of said tail twitches back and forth expectantly!

Sadei isn't concentrating too much on looking normal at the moment. She's too excited! And as such her image is flickering back and forth between child and chimera as the brain flip-flops in a desperate attempt to resolve one of the two.

...it's really weird.

Someone might want to tell her that she's doing that.

"I'll have the mushroom soup!" she says gleefully. Mushrooms are tasty! "What are you going to have, Big Sis?"

[Artemis97]

"I'll.. have..." Aly trails off as she looks up at Sadei and her flip-flopping form. Now she was stuck staring while her brain tries to reconsile what exactly what she was seeing.

[Gullara]

Kirk chuckles. "Not overly concerned, no." The drow's hand is practically a blur as he reaches into hi suit and pulls out a throwing knife. Just as quickly he places it on the table. "The trick is to avoid getting close if you don't have to." Suddenly the knife is in his hand, then he sends it spinning across the room where it thuds into the center of a board for just that purpose. The small group that were using the board jump and whirl around to find out where the knife came from.

[Rebonack]

Sometimes it helps to focus on just one set of aspects.

Then the mind settles down and starts to ignore the alternate image.

Sort of like looking at that picture with both the young lady and the old woman in it.

Though when her sister trails off Sadei seems to realize what's going on!

"Oh! Sorry..."

And then her shape gradually settles down to human enough that one's senses can easily ignore the chimeric shape!

Yay!

"I tend to do that when I'm excited..."

[Artemis97]

Aly blinks. "Why do you do that? Like... what's going on there?"

[Rebonack]

That's a good question!

Sadei quirks her head off to the side a bit.

Why does she do that?

She's never really had to think about it before. Or at least never bothered to think about why it looks the way it does from a flatlander's perspective.

"Umm... well..."

Sadei scrunches her nose a little as she ponders.

"Oh! I know!" and then she closes her eyes and begins to sing! It's a lively, haunting melody and rises and falls beyond the range of human hearing. And as she sings an image resolves!

An image of a flat plane. A hologram, in fact. Of the very table they're sitting at. And the even they themselves!

With a little hum Sadei turns the image sideways so that her sister can see that it's two dimensional. "Imagine the world is like this. Everything is flat. But I..."

With another note the girl's chimera form shimmers into view in 3d, passing through the two dimensional plane! "Am like that. All of me doesn't fit into the world."

Another few notes and the image returns to the face-on view. Now with the chimera super-imposed over the girl. "So if I don't hold really still, other parts of me start to show through."

The image begins to jiggle, causing it to flip-flop between the girl and the chimera.

Some more humming as Sadei pushes the hologram toward her sister. If Aly tries to manipulate it Sadei's song will cause it to move and respond to Aly's movements! That way she can fiddle with it to try to get a better feel for what's going on!

"Does... that make any sense?"

[Artemis97]

"A little bit." Aly admits, moving the image around a bit. "It's like... a shadow on a wall. You only see the outline. If you turn a bit, you get a different shape?" She looks across at Sadei, making sure she had the right idea.

[McBish]

Angie smiles and nods at the display of knifemanship. Impressive. I have never been to good with a knife, though I carry one just in case. But then again I guess I have other defenses.

She does have a knife hidden in the small of her back, though anyone who knew what to look for could probably spot it.

[Rebonack]

Sadei nods!

Her sister gets it!

Yay!

"That's right. Just like a shadow. That's a good way to describe it, I'll have to remember it."

She wrinkles her nose at the illusion.

"A lot easier than singing a picture about it, too..."

Sure is an interesting trick!

It is, in a fashion, akin to a bard's magic. The girl must be quite talented if she can use magic like that at such a young age.

[Gullara]

"Decades of practice will get you a long way." The drow kicks his feet up on an empty chair and tilts his seat back. He idly cleans his fingernails... with the knife he'd just thrown. Inspecting the board will reveal it to be missing. "Other defenses?" He asks curiously.

[Lord Magtok]

Her eyes narrow. "Zee, though. Even while trying to help her, I realized it. It was that harlot. That seducer, Zee, who keeps Raril's attentions. She's the reason for his absence." Ilpholin says, returning to the beginning of her ramblings and tying it all together in a way.

You had Magtok's complete support and respect up until that bit about Zee, Ilpholin. He was behind every last word, and then you had to go and make him feel stupid for listening to you by saying that last paragraph of absolute bologna. He nods anyways though, pretending the last bit is just as sane and sensible as the rest, because that's the safe, polite thing to do in a situation like this.

"So that's the Xar'cha House and the city of Inside dealt with, or at least started upon. I imagine it won't be easy to try to get Zee away from him, though."

That's putting it mildly, cyborg.

[McBish]

I am a empath, so I can usually use that to keep trouble away. Or at least sense it coming. Though I will admit you are like a blank wall, you must have some impressive willpower.

[Reinholdt]

Ilpholin sighs in defeat, glancing down.

"Not going to try Magtok. Not going to try." That wasn't really the goal. She's here to say goodbye, not take Zee down.

"I would have told you sooner, but I wanted you to be as natural as possible in there."

[Artemis97]

"Did dad teach you to sing like that?" Aly asks Sadei. "It was very pretty."

[Rebonack]

Trying to explain her weird genetic memory would be convoluted and pointless.

So instead Sadei just nods in reply.

"Mhmm! I learned it from Father! Did he teach you anything?"

Ah!

There it is!

Time to get into some backstory!

See if we can't figure out why Raril left the dragon lady and their daughter all alone!

Though... it sounded like Aly didn't know either...

[Gullara]

Kirk smiles knowingly. "You could say that." He stows away his knife and it's as if it was never there. "I don't think I've ever encountered an empath before. Or at least I've never known if I have."