The night was full of rest for all but Soren, whose dreams were haunted by the visage of the guard she had slain but a few hours earlier. She awoke with painful chills and icy blue veins running up her arm, now much more vulnerable to her ailment without her idol’s divine protection. Endrin’s face darkened with concern as the enfeebled warrior bandaged her arm. Nonetheless, there was still much work to be done. With precious few days left before the festival, FCG decided to scout out the Victory Pit once more in order to acquire what intel they could on the beasts’ location.
Well aware of their current standing with the law, the party decided it would be best to disguise themselves before venturing out. Accustomed to the art of performance and costume, Triple J took the leaded and fitted Conan and Soren with rather interesting ruses. For Conan, Triple J took out his finest paint brush and painted a most elegant black handlebar mustache upon the fighter’s face. Concerning Soren, both parties agreed that less is more, and the holy warrior was given Triple J’s sexy nun outfit. With Conan feeling dapper with his slick black mustache, and Soren’s “nice rack” threatening to burst forth from the skimpy outfit, Triple J put the cherry on top and impeccably disguised himself as a member of the crownsguard with a marvelous handlebar mustache of his own. Their disguises complete, Triple J and Soren headed out to do a preliminary scout of the Victory Pit.
The disguised duo cased the area, discovering guards at all four entrances to the arena. Triple J decided to get in closer and approached the guards at the eastern-most. Through charm and guile alone, Triple J managed to convince both guards that he was there to relieve them early and that they should take the rest of the day off to go get hand massages. Dumbfounded, Soren just shook her head and went to go retrieve the others. When they returned, Endrin decided it best to stick to the shadows where he proceeded to watch the rest of the ridiculous attempt at espionage unfold.
Noticing that all the other gates had pairs of guards, Triple J asked Conan to join him at the gate. The fighter obliged but not before getting further into character. Conan asked to borrow Soren’s unused armor, acquired from a Dwendalian deserter, and specifically requested that his scantily clad companion duck into an alleyway with him so that he might slip in and out quickly. It took but moments for Conan to finish… changing, and the fighter accompanied Triple J at his post. Triple J tried, and failed, to pick the lock to the gates, drawing the attention of two guards patrolling within. The two guards questioned the handle-bared pair and were beginning to grow suspicious, before Soren intervened with her own unique form of womanly charm. Flaunting what Bahamut gave her, she seduced one of the guards into assisting her with some heavy bags she had supposedly left in the Pentamarket. Begrudgingly, the head guard opened the gate, and the other left to go help Soren. Sensing, a moment of weakness in the guard’s resolve, Triple J made his move. He informed the guard that Conan, whose painted mustache was now beginning to smear under duress of constant stroking, was actually just a “simple” lad who really loved tales of beasts and was dyeing to see some up close. Feeling charitable… and sharing a similar appreciation for the monsters held within, the guard agreed to allow the simple Conan in for a peak.
Meanwhile, Soren led the other guard on quite a stroll around Zadash. She convinced the guard to buy 10 gold worth of potatoes for her, claiming she had forgotten her purse. She then led him back to the Soup Kitchen where she discovered a most unpleasant sight. Claudia and Nala were both standing outside being interrogated by Zadash’s Watchmaster herself along with six other guards. Before any of them could notice, Soren immediately suggested the guard she was with buy her a drink, and the two headed to the Leaky Tap. There the pair shared a drink, through which the guard’s romantic interest in Soren became clear. Growing nervous under the guard’s leer, Soren suggested they leave the potatoes at the tavern and head out. The dragonborn barkeep refused to watch the potatoes for free however, and of course Soren still didn’t have her purse, so, with another bat of her eyelashes she dispatched the guard to go acquire more gold so they could pay the barkeep. Seizing the opportunity of the guard’s absence Soren quickly departed to rejoin the others.
Around this time, Conan, expertly playing dumb, was being ushered below by the guard accompanying him. Deep beneath the Victory Pit, Conan was shown the location of FCG’s quarry. Held in cages, guarded by tamers and trappers, were all of the beasts, including the chimera. The chimera however, had two large jagged crystals embedded in it’s shoulder blades which sparked and crackled with energy as a sorceress on the cage’s exterior chanted softly. It was at this point the head beast master, Draxel’s, patience ran thin. He ordered the guard and Conan out so that he could finish his work with the beasts. Regardless, FCG’s mission had been a success and the fighter happily obliged. Shortly thereafter, he was reunited with Triple J outside.
Soren returned just in time to watch Conan exit. The group spent a few more hours waiting for the watch to shift, so that Triple J and Conan could be relieved of their duties, before reconvening in an alleyway. Here, Soren informed them of the potential trouble at the Soup Kitchen, and all four members returned with haste to the Gentleman’s hideout. For a while longer, the group debated on how best to proceed with their plan before the evening deteriorated into another night of debaucherous drinking. Feeling ballsy after consuming a beer tower taller than his person, Endrin challenged Conan to a sparing match, magic vs might. Unwilling to let his hideout get wrecked in a display of machismo, the Gentleman suggested the party take their contest elsewhere. Thus, FCG headed toward their alternate hideout at the stables just outside the city. As they were ducking down back streets in the Outersteads, a dark figure apparated from the shadows and unleashed a spiraling cone of ice and freezing wind in there direction…
