Skyside 4

[Deathkeeper]

Goblin Market

Jim turns and takes a step closer to Sticks, standing at his side. At this rate he's likely to get himself flustered and get all of them in trouble, so he'd better stick close to his mentor.
Barnabas can watch their backs.

[Shadowcaller]

Goblin Market

Dena crosses her arms over her chest. The guy was as nervous as she recalled him. He must have mutilated more than his own body with all that metal gear. The guy was a living wreck.
Still she smiles. "No need to apologize, Sticks. We've met before. I just didn't have these back then." She pokes one of the snakes coming out from the top of her hood. "Nothing to be concerned about." She turns to Jim, offering her hand."Dena Xifhara. Pleasure meeting you here...?" She looks at the young man questioningly. The sun-glasses ruined the effect somewhat though.

[Morty]

[Tempest Row - MERC Safehouse]

After getting set up and informing Dena about the particulars of his dealings with Atilla, Dipsnig sends a message to the Hutt that it is now safe to send his contact there.

The MERC safehouse, it should be noted, is located in an old motel. Everyone sets up shady hideouts in warehouses. They're the first place anyone will look. Might as well be a litte more original.

[Murkus]

[Goblin Market]

Sticks gives himself a moment to blink and look confused. "It is you, Miss Xifhara!" He says the name with perfect inflection. His nature pushes him to ask after the nature of her condition, but the tall man's manners restrain his instinct. Speaking of manners... "Um, this is Jim, my young apprentice. Say hello to the lady Jim!"

[Deathkeeper]

Goblin Market

Jim gives a fanciful bow with a motion of his arm and a flick of his long ears.
"A pleasure, Miss. Jim Puck." he says, eyeing the satyr they just caught her kissing. He doesn't really see them too much, save for ones making a beeline for the Lotus Gardens.

[ThirdEmperor]

[Goblin Market]

Ratty creatures scuttle to and fro, hauling straw-packed crates out of the satyr's truck as he shoos them along with the odd kick of his hooves. Stone eggs, dull and lusterless, nest in the straw, the kobolds moving as carefully as if they were explosives. He glances up, once, a cigarette flaring under the shadow of his hat, then shrugs and moves on.

[Shadowcaller]

[Tempest Row - MERC Safehouse]

Dena is lounging around in the coach. "Hope he isn't making us wait. I hate waiting at a place like this." It didn't help that the TV only had three channels. "So who are we meeting exactly? Did she give us a description?" She looks at her boss.

[Goblin Market]

"Oh, a future master of the arcane, eh?" Dena remarks as she eyes Jim. "Archmage, Jim Puck. Has a nice ring to it doesn't it?" She tells Jim with a small smile before turning back to Sticks. "So you two are out buying arcane reagents? As you have hired MERC to keep your enterprise safe I'm obligated you that skyside is filled ruffians and conmen. So what makes you take the risk coming here?"

[Raindrop District]

The sorceress looks somewhat annoyed as they have to go through the rain. Normally she could easily have shielded the both of them from the rain. But considering what they were doing here, she could hardly use eldritch without drawing attention to herself. She questioned if professional criminals wouldn't notice them anyway in a city like this. "Her scent? Adir, I'm not exactly a seeker or a hunter. So I'm just going to follow your lead and protect you in case you get trouble. But I think I will attempt to not speak to anyone. I'm the one posing the greatest risk of exposing us after all."

[Murkus]

[The Raindrop District]

"So be it. I was just trying to see if any of that sounded dumb. Though really all I've got to go by is what that package smelled like... which might be better, depending. I can never tell with the smell of magic," Adir flashes her a grin and turns, ready to start off into the rain.

((Depending if Ad wants to run anything or what hints/clues she meant, I suppose they'll have a look around.))

[The Goblin Market]

A. Such a good bow. Jim was a worthy apprentice. The tall man beams at Dena from beneath the beak of his own hood, eyes glowing in the semi-dark. "Such was my thinking. I appreciate your... corporate mandated concern, Miss Xifhara, but a pair of archmages are hardly concerned with ruffians or their like." He gives Jim a smaller but more meaningful smile.

"...Would you perhaps like to accompany us?" Sticks asks hesitantly. "Not as protector, but merely companion. It could be... fun, yes?"

[Deathkeeper]

The Goblin Market

Jim's smile twitches, just a small, subtle twinge of annoyance.
"You flatter me, Miss. I'm sure you have business to attend to, so no pressure if you don't want to help me babysit the old man." he says with some slightly uncharacteristic sarcasm.

[Shadowcaller]

The Goblin Market

Dena is keeping her eyes on Jim, Sticks was like an open book but his apprentice could be of another breed. The younglings usually were.
That little twitch in his smile just now suggested he wasn't too fond of her presence. Either he didn't like gorgons or perhaps MERC's little arrangement with Sticks? Or maybe he simply didn't want her to distract his master during this little lesson? She had to know though. Jim could be a potential problem.
"Yes, but my business is actually in these parts so I'll trail along for a little bit if you don't mind. As you said Sticks, it could be fun." She's all smiles now which takes slightly more effort than usual as she has to make sure to cover up those pointy new fangs of hers.

[WarKitty]

A Party Place on Tempest Row

Candace has everything set up for Kulpa's birthday. There's cake and party hats - including plenty of cake for the mercenaries. There's a ball pit and a bouncy castle. Candace is dressed nicely, but looks worried.

[Murkus]

[Goblin Market]

"Jim, please don't jest about me that way! I feel old more often than not as it is," Sticks chides, just slightly.

He nods to Dena. The tall man will turn, if the other two will accompany him, and move towards the nearest stall. "So just what is your business here, Dena?" He seems curious!

[ThirdEmperor]

[Goblin Market]

"Old? Do I hear old? Aching knees and aging joints, a head full of cobwebs?" The naked maiden glances from her loom, and the spiders crawling over her body and the storefront look up as one, a great sea of scuttling motion coming to a halt, bobbing gently as a hundred eyes times eight reflect the trio.
She is, looking closely, not so much naked as bare entirely, with all human features painted on. Even her eyes are only brilliant spheres of colored glass, one green and one dark, a fat spider on her shoulder poking and prodding to guide a blind gaze towards them. "I have a cure."

[Deathkeeper]

The Goblin Market

Jim shrugs.
"It's his call, not mine. Welcome aboard." he says simply, heading out with Sticks at his shoulder. He doesn't think of Sticks as an old man, not really. Not the kind that would need snake oil from someone like this.

[Morty]

[A Party Place on Tempest Row]

A party of six goblin mercenaries on MERC's payroll arrived on the party. Much like Dipsnig, they're outcasts from the southern colonies. They haven't made it big like he has, but they're certainly skilled. They're hanging around the edges of the party, skulking like their kind is wont to and not getting in the way of actual guests. They're constantly vigilant for any signs of possible attack.

One of them, in particular, has placed several clay figurines around the place. They have strange, asymmetrical shapes and are covered in holes. In the presence of magic more powerful than the general background level of a place like Skyside, they will start to glow.

[Shadowcaller]

[Goblin Market]

So if it had been his call she wouldn't get on board? At least Jim was open about how he felt. The same could never really be said about Dena herself. "Just looking for a few glamours to purchase. Though I hear that our coin ain't good around here. The fey deal with memories and aspects and everything could be considered a deal to them. You should be careful so you don't barter away something you'll miss by accident." Dena urges the two, barely giving the strange fey woman a glance. Instead she's checking her watch, just to be sure. She will then check her cellphones watch. Gotta know how trustworthy she could expect them to be around here. So a test pact had been in order. Perhaps cellphones didn't even work around here...

[Recaiden]

[A Party Place on Tempest Row]

Kestrel is waiting off to the side, keeping the entryway in clear view. Being a spidery robot, it doesn't partake of the cake - not that it would be professional to do so - but it does have a party hat on top of its chassis. It suspects infiltrating the party as a guest to be the most likely avenue of danger.

[Murkus]

[Goblin Market]

"Speaking of bartering," Sticks says in response to Dena, glancing sidelong at the strange merchant hailing them. He doesn't cringe at the appearance of the stranger, for spiders have never put fear in him as they do with others, but it is still an unfamiliar sight. "My head is full of no sort of web at all, young... lady! And I have had my fill of cures for simple mortality. The one I know already works too well." He sounds... scoffing, skeptical, but not entirely unwilling to listen.

[WarKitty]

A Party Place on Tempest Row

Right as everything gets going, a rather large reptilian nose pokes in the door. Notably, the nose seems to currently be on fire.

[ThirdEmperor]

[Goblin Market]

"I didn't say mortality, did I? I said old, a cure for old, and my seeing eye tells me-" Her finger points between the three, moving with a clumsy aim. "A handsome young man, a pretty thing a thousand years young, and a very old man. Besides. I can hear the creaking in your voice." She turns back to her work, or at least the greater part of her does, the spider scuttling down her arm to the top of the loom as she sets it back in motion. Its eyes never leave them.

"Now, what you need is a night in a cocoon of spidersilk. My beauties catch dreams with these webs." There's something alarming about how they gleam as she weaves them. The little trickles of sunlight that pierce her stall shatter into rainbows upon the threads, into brilliant shapes collapsing and unfolding, and there are flashes of other things, other places, of pictures surfacing for a split second in the kaleidoscope show. "A little charm can catch nightmares, a shawl can keep the weight of the world from your back, but wrap yourself entirely, and dream, and we'll pull the weight of ages from your body and mind as you pass into sleep."

[Deathkeeper]

Goblin Market

Jim waves a hand dismissively.
"Come on, Sticks. Nothing about this seems trustworthy. I'm not buying any o this until I talk to some satisfied customers." he says with a small smile.

[Shadowcaller]

[Goblin Market]

Thousands of years old?! Was she trying to upset her or was she just really bad at guessing ages?
Might be some kind of trick. Either way, she wasn't amused. "Sorry lady, not interested." She replies, her voice slightly strained as she tries not to look as irked as she really is. She appeared to be blind but you could never tell. For all she knew her eyeballs could be floating right above them.

[Murkus]

[Goblin Market]

"N-now hold on a second," Sticks says, trying to smile also but seemingly too nervous to do it properly. Though the others seem uncomfortable or distrustful, Sticks puts his hands down on the woman's counter and asks in a quavering voice, "At what cost?"

[Morty]

[A Party Place on Tempest Row]

The goblin mercenaries are there to greet the potential unwelcome guest. Two of them take places on the sides of the door - one wielding a large bardiche that one would think a goblin can't lift, the other a pair of daggers. Another goblin is hiding a fair distance from the door, aiming a large crossbow, while another took to an elevation and is toting a wide-barrelled heavy firearm. Yet another of the mercenaries throws some snares and caltrops in front of the door before scurrying away. Finally, the alchemist of the group is holding a vial that seems intensely cold, and is holding back in throwing distance of the door.

[ThirdEmperor]

[Goblin Market]

"Oh, you'll come away without a few things. I don't think you'll lose as much as me. But they are surgeons, the little ones. They cut away what's old and rotten in the flesh." She must have been ancient. Even her fingers are barren, little pink impressions pressed into the delicate flesh where nails might be, the swell of knuckles beneath and the wrinkles of joints all gone. For all that, she works the delicate threads with perfect grace. "You might come away without a face, but those are easily replaced. You strike me as a craftsman. Would you rather work to hold together an aging whole, or replace what little the spiders take, start with a new flesh to work on?"

"That is the spiders' cost. Mine is a pair of eyes. Made, borrowed, given.." The spider on the loom purrs happily, mandibles and legs waving as she reaches out to scratch its hairy abdomen. "I'm happy with my friend for now, but pets cannot last. Especially ones that feed on age." A sigh.

[Deathkeeper]

Goblin Market

Jim crosses his arms and frowns the more the lady keeps talking.
"That sounds awful." he says flatly.

[Recaiden]

[A Party Place on Tempest Row]

Oh my. Now, all sorts of people come to parties, but that's certainly an imposing visage the newest visitor has. Perhaps they'll be trying the direct approach, and burning the place.
Kestrel casually strolls across the party space, so that it passes in front of the doorway, charging up some unlikely mechanism with a slight hum. If there is a sudden eruption of fire, a force-field should keep it nicely contained to the doorway.

[Murkus]

[Goblin Market]

Sticks cringes at the thought of becoming as this creature. Even his... horrid form had its upsides. There were days he disliked himself enough to say otherwise, however. And oh, was it ugly. But still, a chance to dream well again? Yes, he'd give up all his dark, his ancient flesh for that, if that's what it came to.

And he flushes, an icy blue color, as though the blood in his veins froze solid. Sticks grimaces, embarrassed to do this in front of people he knows, but determined to do it nonetheless. "I-I... very well!" He stammers in a pitchy sort of voice.

The tall man turns from them all. There are... a few moments of squeaking and other strange, small noises, as Sticks seems to muck about with his face. When finally he turns back, he has one hand covering his eyes (or the place where they ought to be) and the other clasps two small glass objects.

Seemingly with mystic sight, he approaches the counter of the place again and places his eyes before the woman. The two round, lightbulb-esque curiosities are still lit with the glow they possess when in Sticks' head. Though she doubtlessly intends to do something bizarre with them, they would fetch a good price as construct components, mystical false eyes, or pieces for alchemical study.

"You have a deal, creature," The tall man exhales, trying to be calm. He isn't doing a very good job. He doesn't like taking - a shudder, internal then external - taking himself apart in public. "A-and I will be back for these, should your cure fail." There is a strange steel in his voice for the last, at the very least.

[Shadowcaller]

Goblin Market

Dena raises an eyebrow, he accepted? By Slivars ten legs, the old man was hardcore. Only a crazy warlock would accept that kind of deal. In fact now that she though about it, all these fey pacts were remarkably similar to the ones warlocks made. The gorgon shudders, bad memories. Was Sticks really into these sort of things?

[ThirdEmperor]

[Goblin Market]

The weaver smiles, with teeth carved out of borrowed bones, those shapeless fingers grasping across the countertop to find the eyes. "I knew you for braver than your friends." She says, a small note of triumph slipping through. The little goat can bray as loud as he wants. "Let them out at midnight, before you fall asleep. They do their best work then, when they're hungry." The spiders come down on ladders of silk, landing on her bare shoulders, scuttling across her face as she casts about behind the counter to find an earthen bowl. At a click of her tongue, eight of the terrible little things clamber inside, and she binds the lid on with a gossamer string.

"I don't imagine there's anything I could sell your friends? Dreams, fortune, charms?"