Session 12

October 29th

The group of three reconvene over breakfast, and V brings up the flier for the wrestling competition. Eden and Ophelia see no harm in going. Along with that, they agree to inquire more about the extermination job. After they finish eating, they make their way to the eastern square where the tournament is meant to take place. It’s a pretty common area so it isn’t the cleanest, but it isn’t as downtrodden as other towns.

V finds a gruff looking dwarf at a table taking bets and registration. He gives his name, which is passed along to a child and a group of people crowded around a board where people are arranging bets. The rules are simple: no weapons, no armor, just bare fists. Registration will close soon and at that point they will announce the brackets. V takes in this information then moves off to a secluded area to speak with Eden and Ophelia. Tentatively, he begins taking his armor off.

V is clearly uncomfortable with having so much of his marred and gray skin exposed, but denies the offer to look for a new outfit.

As they wait Eden asks about what slam poetry is, thinking it’s another form of combat similar to wrestling. They correct him and V explains what actually goes on at such events. Eden notes he doesn’t think he would be very good at it. V jokes about signing Della up for it.

Before long they announce the bracket. V is pitted against someone named Rennen D. The odds posted do not appear to be in V’s favor, not quite 2:1. When standing across from Rennen, V sees Rennen is a dwarf with a strangely short, neatly trimmed beard. V stances up, fist held up, and waits for the dwarf to strike first. Once he feels he understands Rennan’s style of attack, he easily overpowers him, breaking his nose and shoving him to the ground with his arm behind his back. Though the fight isn’t high energy, the crowd goes wild.

While Eden and Ophelia hear someone complaining about V being let into the fight as an elf. Eden politely responds, and gets accused of sucking V’s dick, and Ophelia bristles enough to follow after the stranger. The two begin to argue but Eden pulls her back to where they had been standing to watch the fight.

Della is still escaping the wolf pack, and, once they feel confident they are distanced from their pursuers, change from a lizard to a mountain goat. They easily hop up along small sections of rock, scaling up the side and losing the pack hunting them in the process. When they get within sight of the city walls they shift back into a human before going inside. They do stop to ask one of the guardsmen about the inns nearby, and he recommends the Saltlick Inn and the Needy Hunter to them, given their bedraggled appearance. He also recommends the House of Aphelion to them for aid.

They try the Needy Hunter first, a grimey, grungy, seedy inn. There are men in every corner drinking. Della approaches the man at the bar and tentatively asks about their party. As they begin describing the other three party members, a voice hails to them from across the room. The man has a very waxy mustache, a bald head, and is wrapped in a dark cloak. He offers that he may know the people Della is looking for, but insists on bargaining for the information. In exchange for interesting intel, he can tell them about their friends. Della isn’t too eager to share their experience, though.

He’s begrudging, but tells them that V and Ophelia are staying at the Black Stag.

They try to ask if they need to pay, but get told to scram.

On their way to the Black Stag, they stumble across the wrestling tournament by chance. When they glance at the bracket board and see V’s name, realize it’s their V, and from there quickly find the three of them sort of chilling off to the side.

As soon as he lays on Della, Eden rushes over to heal them. He settles Della down with some food and water and they discuss what happened to them. When they say they knew one of their captors was named Artem, which Eden points out is the same name on the wanted poster. The situation seems difficult as the renegade group could pose a threat to the party's own investigation of the beast, despite wanting the same thing.

Ophelia declares that they are going to go with Della that night and keep them safe from the pack, while also trying to contain them. V and Eden are in agreement with this plan.

Next match, V is pitted against a very muscular dwarven woman with clear indications that she is used to battle. He took note of her injuries and tried to temper his strength so as not to take advantage of that, but it becomes clear that isn’t fair to her as a combatant. She noticed too, even, and told him to stop holding back. When they fight at full force, he grabs her arm and twists at the injury in her hand. That’s enough to drive her to the ground and win the match.

For the next match, V is pitted against a man named Tuzan, a battered looking man in his 30s. V is a little remiss to fight a man who is so clearly exhausted, and after being wrestled down once makes a point to quickly finish the next two matches.

Finally, for the last match, V squares up against a bulky, one-eyed dwarf. V opts to fight extremely dirty and elbow the champion’s good eye, giving him the leverage to easily overpower him in two quick rounds. Nobody is thrilled V won the way that he did, but he wins 50 gold. He returns to the party and they discuss their plans to help Della that night, with V a little town between his meeting with Iban. He promises to meet them after sunset.

They return to the inn to talk logistics in private.

The plan currently is to find a safe place in the opposite direction as the wolf pack, chain them with silver chains and manacles, and look after them. They make quick work of gathering their supplies, planning a location, and informing V of where they’re going to go. It takes a while to get out to the mineshaft while covering their tracks, but they eventually make it to the shoddily boarded up mineshaft.

V stays behind at the inn, sat in a corner table, wittling as the time ticks away. After the two hour mark, the bartender leads V through the door at the back of the bar. This leads into the living area, a kitchen with a dining table set with two chairs. In the corner of the room a trapdoor is nestled into the floor. She opens the trapdoor and descends, expecting V to follow and he does. There are a few tiered shelves in this cellar with different vases and jugs, and V watches as she takes a vase from the bottom shelf, pours it into one of the jugs. V hears a whooshing sounds as the wall seems to swing open, as if a seal has been opened.

Beyond the wall is another hall, with a room visible at the far end. He looks between her and the path but goes forward. The wall closes behind him.

He finds himself in a strange combination of a sitting room, but also laboratory. More shelves with jars of herbs, but also a chair and writing desk. As V is taking in the look of the room, suddenly someone appears alongside him in the room. This person appears to be a young man in his early 20s, if that, with the same black hair that the innkeeper. The stranger doesn't seem thriled to see V. They stare at each other for a long moment before V asked if he was Iban. The young man seems to know Durz sent him and rolls his eyes. V gestures for them to both sit, then says simply he is alive, but he shouldn't be, and he wants to know why.

The man he assumes to be Iban gently prods at parts of his bare arm. After examining him, Iban pulls out a pocket watch, an extremely uncommon sight that makes V nervous. Iban explains it's simply a watch and shows him the watch closer to prove it is simply a time keeping tool, and he's using it to check the elasticity of V's skin. Next, he checks V's eyes. With a gesture he casts a spell that brings out a bright, white orb that he holds up to V's foggy eye. As he does this he asks why V doesn't think he should be alive. V replies that he died, he knows he did, and yet he is here.

"Do you believe in the gods?"

"No."

"In any capacity? In anything outside of the gods?"

"My existence is a tool, not as a being. I know being here is wrong."

Iban asks if this is his original body, and V confirms, citing both what Eden saw and the memory he regained from that conversation. V says he is not tired, but he wants to rest, and somewhere behind him he hears a voice echo I want you to rest. Iban seems unphased, though, and offers that he can try to do more research as to what led to this, seeing as there is no clear cause for his state. He says in the meantime, he would like in return for V to help take care of a classroom in this underground facility that is infested with magical 'bugs'. They're not bugs, but he seems to be calling them that for convenience sake. It's clear this was the person looking for a discreet exterminator. As he stands to leave, he holds his hand out to Iban as if to shake it, but ends up pulling the shorter man's hand up to feel his bicep as he flexes, wondering how he should be able to do that if he is dead. His best guess is magic, or, V is something else entirely. He mentions finally when he is ready to come back for the bugs, to speak to Nieven again.