In Mazerine’s mind, she was at least grateful that the meeting with the eccentric, albeit helpful, professor had been at least somewhat helpful. They had now discovered that the artifact they had found was only part of a smaller artifact, and that was both good and bad in her opinion. The new information was good in the fact that it meant they would (assuming they found more of the artifact) be able to discern why it had reacted to them in the manner it had, but it was bad in the fact that they were essentially looking at a blank slate now on where to look next.
The suggestion of food was rather welcome, and Mazerine followed Douken into the pub that they had chosen. It was nothing remarkable – neither dingy and dirty nor sparkling and clean – to Mazerine, this was a sign of an establishment that would offer decent food at a decent rate, and that was all she needed.
The vague excitement the elf had felt about eating, however, faded rather quickly once their surroundings came into view. There was a pair of men sitting at a table not far from the entrance, and they were rather familiar to Mazerine – in fact, it was the pair that she had stolen the map from that had spurned this whole journey in the first place – the very map that had, both literally and figuratively, tossed her into Douken’s arms. Her eyes widened as the familiar faces associated themselves with their identities in her mind, and she immediately positioned herself so that her face would not be visible to the men if they were to look in their general direction – which had, fortunately, not happened yet.
Mazerine moved in closely to Douken so she could speak at a barely audible level. ”Do you see those two men with the dark red cloaks right over there?” she said, hoping that Douken would catch the general direction she was indicating. When he did, she continued. ”It’s the men I stole the map from, the map to Occultatum,” she added, urgency in her whisper. She watched Douken’s eyes dart to the pair quickly before returning back to her. [n]”We need that map,” she said, commenting on the document she had seen out of the corner of her eye when she had recognized them. Without another word, she stood up on her tiptoes, grabbing one of his hands, and kissed him on the cheek quickly. ”I have an idea… and you’re going to have to trust me,” she added after a moment of silence.
She dropped Douken’s hand and took a deep breath, turning away from him and walking right up to the pair. She placed her hands on the table and leaned forward slightly. ”Hello boys,” she said, a smirk on her lips. The thinner of the two men made a strange guttural noise and immediately went to draw his dagger. ”Mm, I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” she said, tilting her head towards three members of the city guard sitting only a few tables away. ”They don’t take kindly to barfights around here,” she said, though she did not know how much truth there was to that statement. ”That’s it,” she said, grinning as the man released his dagger and placed his hands back upon the table. ”Relax. I’m not here to steal from you again,” she said. ”Just wanna chat,” she added, and the heavier set man gestured to an empty chair at the table, his eyes narrowed as though he were trying to figure out what game she was attempting to play. Mazerine looked behind her to make sure that Douken was still near, and when she saw that she was she sat down.
”What’dya want, you tart?” asked the heavier man, his voice gravelly. The thinner man let out a guffaw at the remark, which Mazerine made no note to react to.
”First, I wanted to thank you. That map you so easily let me relieve you of was pretty interesting,” she said. ”Found some interesting things where it lead me, I did,” she added. The men seemed to perk up at that comment.
”And what did an inexperienced rat such as yourself manage to find there?” asked the larger man, clearly trying to mask his genuine interest with unmarked disgust. ”You don’t look rich, and you don’t look all powerful, so couldn’t have found what was really hidden there,” he added, an air of arrogance to his speech. Mazerine grabbed the satchel that carried the relic, and fished it out, setting it down on the tabletop with a loud clunk.
”This,” she said, smirking as the she watched the eyes of the men widen. The thin one reached out to touch it, and she snatched it away quickly. ”Not so fast. I’ve a proposition for you,” she said, and the heavier man raised an eyebrow. He opened his mouth to say something but Mazerine cut him off. ”Before you get a chance to say anything vulgar, let me continue. This was the end game, right? This is what you would have gotten from Occultatum had you not… lost track of your map,” she said, pausing for effect. She slid the artifact across the table and this time let the men touch it, so they could see that it was not a sham and was in fact real. After a moment, she leaned over and snatched it back again. ”Let’s… well, let’s have some fun with this, shall we?” she said. She gestured to the map that was still laid out across the table between the men. She could tell, just from looking at it, that it was in fact a sister to the map she possessed that showed them Occultatum. ”Let’s play for it. You pick the game, I’ll pick the drink, and we’ll combine them into one. If we win,” she said, gesturing to Douken. ”We get the map. If you win,” she said, gesturing to the two men. ”You get the artifact.”
The men looked at each other, the heavier man leaning over to the thinner man to whisper something in his ear. They seemed to bicker back and forth a bit before finally coming to an agreement. ”Deal,” he said slowly, his eyes slightly narrowed.
”Gentlemen, decide our game,” she said, standing up from the table. ”I’ll retrieve the drink,” she said, and with a quick glance to Douken, she hustled herself up to the bar. The barkeep addressed her and she slammed a handful of coins onto the counter. ”I need one small barrel of dwarven ale,” she said, astutely. The bartender let out a guffaw and looked at her.
”Y’sure, miss? That’ll knock ye’ right on yer ass, it will, pard’n my words,” he said. Mazerine shrugged.
”I know how to handle myself… and that’s the idea,” she said, with a bit of a wink.
”Alrigh’, then,” said the barman. ”I’ll bring it to ye’ in a right mo’. Ye’ be needin’ four mugs, then I take it?” Mazerine reaffirmed with him that this was correct.
”Could you also spare a barmaid to deal our game? I’ll compensate her fairly,” she added, and the barman agreed. Moments later Mazerine was back over at the table and the barman arrived with a barrel of dwarven ale, four mugs, and a barmaid in tow.
”This’ere is Marella,” the barman said, introducing the barmaid. ”Just let ‘er know what ye’ need. But I’ll tell ye’- she’s a trained mage, she is – don’t try none o’ that funny bis’ness with her,” he added, to which the barmaid smiled.
”Thank you,” said Mazerine. She then grabbed the four mugs and filled them all up with the ale, before sitting back down and addressing the men. ”So, what’s the game?”
