[coronatiger]

Thoughts on November 2nd

Va’lyndra found out where two of the bandits lived. It matched with the information we got from the lieutenant, but neither of them were among the two leader types. Still, I asked if we should go and say hello. Va’lyndra asked if I was planning to join the gang. I opened my mouth, but Ilzo spoke first, saying we should take over the gang. I thought both ideas sounded good, but Va’lyndra said that prominent people shouldn’t show interest for them. I asked if she was talking about me or Ilzo, and she said both.

I suggested that Va’lyndra tried to seduce the two leaders to figure out who was actually in charge; we knew where they lived. I didn’t want to volunteer myself for the task, for I’d only sleep with them and disappoint Olivia. While she’s quite stunning to look at, Va’lyndra isn’t trained in seduction, but she has wrangled Ilzo, so a bandit or two shouldn’t prove too difficult.

Va’lyndra proposed instead that Ilzo put on his gold-plated armor and wandered about hoping the bandits would try to rob him. I frowned at that, for the lieutenant had said he didn’t want us to kill all the bandits, and Va’lyndra admitted she wasn’t serious. She went back to the seduction idea, but said I should take point, being an accomplished seductress.

This ended up being the plan. I hoped I could manage to extract the information we wanted without sleeping with anyone, and thought that getting the intel would be the easier part. As there were two candidates, Va’lyndra asked which one I’d go for. I picked the human over the dwarf, and she called me a racist. She also warned me that the human was known to be violent, according to the notes, but I said that if he tried to hit me, I’d hit back. I decided not to take the bait for the racism debate.

I chose to go unarmed and unarmored when we left for the Pond district. Part of seduction is to inspire trust, and weapons and armor tend to get in the way of that. Ilzo had his gold armor, but left Surkalpi behind. Va’lyndra and Leopold also went unarmored, but Va’lyndra had her staff and Leopold his knife in case of trouble. After all, we were going to one of the cannibal districts.

Someone had erected a wooden fence across the street when we got near where the bandit leader lived. His house wasn’t far from there, so I cracked my fingers and jumped the fence. That was easier than opening the gate. There were a few men loitering nearby, and one of them began to protest my intrusion, but once he had looked me over, he suggested I come with him instead. Ilzo and Va’lyndra got into a shouting match with some of the other bandit guards, but I trusted Va’lyndra to keep Ilzo reined in.

The guard brought me inside a small dirt hut. I gave him the name of the bandit leader and asked if he could take me to him, or if he wanted sex first. He definitely wanted sex first. I stood on tiptoe on one leg and wrapped the other around him while he rammed me against the wall.

The angry voices outside rose, and I thought it was going to come to blows. Couldn’t Ilzo have waited to stir up trouble until after I was done here? While it sounded like reinforcements were arriving for the bandits, I was more afraid that Ilzo would get us difficulties with the lieutenant. I rolled my hips, trying to finish what I had started, so I could go outside and defuse the situation.

Then actual fighting sounds drifted into the hut, and a deep voice boomed encouragement for the bandits to attack Ilzo. It seemed that Va’lyndra and Leopold had fled, or else the voice didn’t consider them threatening. I wrestled my partner to the ground and straddled him, not that he had any desire to go outside and help his friends. I could tell he had heard what was happening outside, but like me, he was fully committed to our private duel.

The voices seeping through my haze indicated that the fight was going badly for my friends. A small voice inside my head asked what I’d do if the bandits killed all my friends, but I ignored it. If they were stupid enough to pick a fight without me, they only had themselves to blame. Then the bandits declared someone dead. It had to be Ilzo, for the sounds of fighting subsided substantially before finally stopping. Had they subdued Va’lyndra and Leopold? I was desperate to find out, but I had unfinished business in the hut.