Saturday, December 14, 2019

Master of Strings Ch110: Tricky Dealings

Alaroc and Jin used every muscle in their bodies to drag the dragon skeletons back behind the treeline. Once completed they collapsed on the ground and breathed heavy as Zilo knelt down and examined the bones before speaking in a self-assured deep tone,

"Well, now that that is taken care of, we better move onto the next step." sparky mimed the Bard, rubbing his chin before speaking up, "What next step?"

"I don't know" remarked Zilo in his same self assured deep tone. Alaroc popped back up and spoke, "What do you mean, we did it, we slew the killers, it was clearly the two dragons."

Jin rose and squinted at the knight before asking, "En how do ya tink dey used deh bow?" While asking the monk playfully lifted the bonny claws of the giant beasts. Alaroc shrugged and said, "Fair point. Maybe we should find their lair, and look for more clues."

Jin rose up and dusted off the soot from the burned skeletons and said, "Sound's like the best idea to... Everyone hide." Jin darted behind a tree as his ears perked and he pointed to the tree line that the group had hidden behind before.

The group obeyed and a few moments later a group of about 5 or so men dressed in dark green cloaks and a woman in rags came up the hill. Jin closed his eyes as the group looked to scare the woman then they shouted to the tree line, "Maybe Our friends can get you to listen!"

Zilo and his friends looked at each other and wondered about what was going on. After the man who yelled tried a few more times to shout for his friends, he slowly got more and more annoyed until he shrugged and pulled out a knife. he began to walk toward the woman when Zilo stepped out shouting, "Wait!"

The men turned to the bard and looked shocked. The man who shouted said, "Who are you two suppose to be?" Zilo glanced left to see that Alaroc had also stepped out of line. Zilo scrambled out of the brush and said, "We're your  friends, we heard you call and-"

"No you ain't. My friends are a good 10 feet taller with scales and wings." Zilo glanced back toward the trees, spotting the dead dragons before turning back and saying. Bit of a mishap you see, couple of adventurers tried to crash our lair, so we decided to pull a trick on them before we killed them."

The group of men kept holding the woman as the man who shouted took down his hood to show a huge scar on his eye and a head of short buzzed hair that matched his short scraggly beard fuzz. The man tilted his head and asked, "What you mean?"

"Group of three, looked like me, him, and an old wizard fellow. Figured we could use Alter Self to trick them right good, but then the wizard cast Permanency on us and... welp, here we are." Zilo smiled sheepishly as the man squinted at him. After a moment the man sighed and said, Shame that. Looks like the old dragon spooking method won't work then."

Alaroc breathed a sigh of relief but just as he did, one of the other cloaked men spoke, "Why you Sighing!?"

"Whuzzat?" Said Alaroc looking back up to see one of the hooded men walking up to him. "Why you sound so 'appy bout Vinny thinkin you are who you are? Got somefin to hide?" Alaroc panicked under his hood until Zilo crossed his arms and spoke back, "Care to test it!?

The man looked over to Zilo and asked, "What you mean?"

"Alterself only changes how you look, not how strong you are. Dragon strength still runs in those arms." Zilo's tone went low into a scary tone as the man began to shiver from the intimidating proposition. just as the man began to back off, Alaroc put together Zilo's meaning and grabbed the man's collar before whipping him about into a tree. Thanks to his new Belt of Physical Perfection from Maldrek the throw was easy.

The man slide down from his impact on the tree, nearly flying through and discovering Sparky and Jin behind the thing. The man with the scar, called Vinny laughed deep from his belly and said, "Serves him right for questioning some dragons. well, I don't suppose you can still spook our girl here in those new forms?" Said Vinny pointing over his shoulder at the woman. 

Zilo looked to her and said, "Refresh me on the game plan, it has been a long day." He said motioning to his body. Vinny chuckled and said, "We just need her to pay her debts, you get her to, then we split it like always." Zilo nods and says, Sure, I can do that, just give me a minute, this body needs a bit of build-up."

Zilo droops his head down and staggers his stance before lurching his head up and in an unnatural way and trouncing forward. He emanated an aura of fear and terror stunning everyone around them before he gripped the woman by her neck and lifted her up. he spoke in the same terrible voice of the Lich King,

"GIVE US WHAT WE WANT!"

He then dropped the woman as the men went back to her and Zilo rejoined Alaroc. Alaroc leaned in and whispered, "What by Dema was that!?"

"I performed my Dirge of Doom by dance instead of violin. As for the Voice, I've been practicing imitating my old roommate." Said Zilo as he pointed to his head with a smile.

"That's great, but how is she gonna pay? You might get her killed."

"Just you wait."

Vinny walked over and said, "She ain't got the gold, but gave us this." He held up a small ring of protection. Alaroc glanced down to see that Zilo's ring was gone and realized that while he held her up he must have slipped the ring down her shirt. Alaroc took a step forward and said,

"That's a Ring of Protection. Worth a few thousand on the street. Must have been a family heirloom."

Vinny perked up and said, "Few thousand copper?"

"Nah, gold."

Vinny licked his lips as he pocketed the ring, he spun around and said, "Well my dear, consider your debt paid, we'll be taking this ring now, so you can run along home-"

Alaroc Reached out and grabbed Vinny's hand. Alaroc was getting into character now as he spoke, "Define we, Vinny. Where's our cut?"

"I can't go an cut a ring in too, tell you what next time we do this, you keep the full-"

"Screw off with that, the only reason you got and know what that ring is, is because of us, we want our cut." Alaroc looks to Zilo and says, "I'll head home and watch the lair, you make sure we get our cut. "

Zilo nods as Vinny takes back his hand and grimaces. Vinny says, "Fine, I don't want to tussle with a dragon today. Come on Wilt Wing." Having now learned his name, Zilo walked along with the thugs as Alaroc returned to the forest, fronting on the man he threw at the tree on the way back as he was getting up.

Vinny looked to Zilo and said, "I don't know why you picked a woman like that man, can't be that few dragons out there." Zilo snickered at the thought of marrying Alaroc before him and his new band of thieves descended into Shadeville.

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