[Zade]
"Heeey baby..."

Zade was just around the corner from the PanDemonica when she ran into the usual element.... a crowd of drunks that had become too obnoxious to remain inside the club. Four of them gathered around Zade as she tried to walk past.

"Hey, that leather looks nice on ya'... but it'd look even nicer crumpled up on my bedroom floo-"

*CRUNCH*

Zade's fist intercepted the drunk's remaining words before they could make it out of his mouth. He fell, with both hands covering his gaping, now-toothless maw.

"You can't do that!" shouted another man. He was reaching for something on his belt, but Zade's hands moved faster...

*CRACK*

The whip snapped, and a bleeding red streak appeared on the man's face. It began at the tip of his nose, and it ran in a perfectly straight line all the way up to the edge of his scalp.

"OkayOkayOkayOkay..." said the drunk. He and his friends backed off and let Zade pass.

"You'd better not come BACK this way!" one of them shouted once Zade was a good distance away.

Ignoring them, Zade turned the corner and started up the step to the club. The huge, metal doors were already swinging open when she reached the top. Once inside, she found herself on a wide balcony that overlooked a star-shaped pit that was the main body of the club. A few feet away there was a stairway leading down to the crowded floor. Beside her, the club's debonair head of security, Leonardo, greeted her with a smile, a bow, and a flourish. Next to him, the diminutive demon known only as the Imp, hissed and cast a spell that caused all of Zade's weaponry to vibrate briefly.

"You're looking rather subdued this evening," said Leonardo.

"Dressed to kill," Zade replied.

"Oh. I hope your quarry isn't in the club tonight... I'd hate for something unfortunate to happen."

Leonardo gave a less-than-subtle nod to the club's rules, which were carved in huge stone tablets hanging above the bar directly across from them. The 'commandments' prohibited violence inside the club, and any violation was often met with a swift... and very embarrassing... death.

"No," said Zade. "I'm looking for information. You wouldn't happen to know anything about a man with no face, would you?"

"Sounds like an interesting fellow, but no... haven't seen anyone fitting that description."

"What about Hood? Is he here?"

"But of course!"

Leonardo pointed to table near one of the corners. Seated there was a thin, mousy-looking man with brown hair. Eric Hood was alone, with neither drink nor food in front of him. In his right hand was a small, slim dagger, which we was twirling around his fingers like a tiny baton.

"Thanks."

Zade descended the stairs into the pit and made her way to Eric's table. On the way, she grabbed a tankard of ale from a passing waitress. Reaching the table, Zade pulled out one of the two available chairs

and sat down.

[Val'keth]

She kept one hand on her sword hilt as she climbed the steps to the club. Many eyes watched those who went in - and later came out in a much worse state - of the PanDemonica. Slipping through the door, she felt a familiar tingle and she glanced - only briefly - at the Imp, then at Leonardo.

"Any trouble yet?" she asked as she glanced around the rabble assembled below.

"No," he replied. "The usual restrictions apply, of course..."

"Pity, it's always a good spectacle..."

Val'keth made her way to the lower level, pushing past throngs of people shouting, gambling and drinking. She listened to the snippets of conversations as she headed for the bar, but heard nothing she could link with the attack earlier that evening. It seemed the man and his dog had yet to catch the attention of the rumour-mongers in Montfort.

The bar was even more crowded, and as normal it presented somewhat of a challenge. With the use of outright force barred, and magic likewise, Val'keth often resorted to other methods that just barely scraped within the rules.

"Oi, you!"

She hauled the filthiest, ugliest and most noxious man she could see out of his chair, and pressed a couple of copper coins in his hand. It smelled as if he had been sleeping in the sewers, and she wrinkled her nose in disgust.

"Get me a Ferandikla Brandy. NOW!" she hissed, pushing him toward the throng.

"But... but...."

She slipped her cloak aside, revealing the sword belted at her waist.

"DO IT!" she snarled at him, her dark and seemingly pupil-less eyes flashing with rage.

In mere minutes, he had returned with her drink, and she tossed him another copper coin, thowing it into the maze of chairlegs and laughing as he scrabbled frantically for it on the floor. She looked around, then saw a familiar figure across the other side of the club.

[Zade/Eric]

"Zade," said Eric in a low, even voice. It was both a greeting and an invitation to get to the point. Eric's eyes were fixed on the club's entrance, and his knife traced increasingly complex patterns as it flipped, twirled and rotated between his more-than-nimble fingers. The things Zade had seen Eric do with that dagger were unsettling even to Zade... and yet here he was playing with it like a child's toy. Just like he always did.

Zade couldn't resist asking..

"What are you doing? With the knife... What's the deal?"

"Help's me focus," replied Eric. "You need somethin' or are you here to chat?"

"A man with no face... in the company of a large dog. Heard anything?"

"No face?" said Eric. "Magic?"

"Obviously. He can do things with his mind, too... move things. Look inside your head..."

"Sounds like a psionicist," said Eric. "Telekinesis. Telepathy. The face is probably a cheap illusion... his mind playing tricks with your eyes."

"Psionicist," repeated Zade. "Never heard of 'em."

[Zade/Eric]

"High paid assassins and bounty hunters, mostly. The boss has tangled with them before."

"Any chance this guy's here for revenge?"

"Nope," said Eric. "The particular guild we tangled with is rather short on members at the moment. Extremely short. Made sure of that personally."

"But there are other guilds."

"Not many. Besides... one guild never interferes in another guild's affairs."

[Val'keth]

Zade was in conversation with someone, and so Val'keth made her way over to the pair using *much* larger and bulkier patrons to hide her from their eyes. As the last one carried on past Zade's table, Val'keth caught the last snippets of their conversation and stepped into view.

"He's right. My people have used them to extract information from those rather - stubborn - intruders - amongst other things. The question is, what is it doing here."

She glanced at the man sat with Zade, watching the way his dagger flashed between his fingers, and she surmised this might be Eric Hood. She had heard of him - but this was the first time she had actually met him.

Curious, she pulled a chair up to the table, and sipped at her small tumbler of amber liquid.

"Aren't you going to introduce us then?" she asked Zade, glancing at Eric again.

[Zade/Eric]

The delicate dance of Eric's blade paused as Val-keth sat down. Both he and Zade looked incredulously at the woman, then they both turned and looked up at Leonardo. The enforcer of the club's rules against violence smiled and waved back at them.

Eric locked eyes with his new table-mate.

"Hood," he said, giving both his name and occupation with the single word. He glanced at Zade. "Friend of yours?"

"Oh yeah," Zade said with a sarcastic sneer. "We're best buddies."

[Val'keth]

Val'keth didn't even glance at Zade.

"Val'keth."

She leant closer to Eric and whispered, "I think she's got a bit of - you know - tension, at the moment. Hormones and all that..."

[Zade/Eric]

Slowly, Eric's dagger began to twirl around and between his fingers as he adjusted to the intrusion and returned to the matter at hand.

"Anyway... If this guy's here, it means he's after somebody."

"Any idea who?" said Zade.

"Probably a fugitive of some kind, which fits most of the people in this room."

[Val'keth]

She glanced at Eric's hand as the dagger flickered around once more, then frowned.

"That's certainly true. Question is, Zade or me, or were we just unlucky..."

Val'keth had a horrible idea the meeting wasn't just chance. Her worst fears were beginning to be realised - that of pursuit from the Underdark. The fact that the man had singled her out and left the dog to deal with

Zade just confirmed it.

"It'll not stop till he finds them and they are dead. Or until he's dead."

She shifted uncomfortably and glanced around again, her eyes flicking over the other patrons.

[Zade/Eric]

Zade began to think back, searching her memory for anyone who could have sent this bounty hunter after her. Her former slave-masters? No... It had been a long time since she escaped slavery, and the masters that owned her and her family were long dead. Besides, the masters hunted with DOGS, not huge, furry THINGS.

Who then? Drominian? The Queen of Swords? No... this just wasn't their style. But she had so FEW enemies left alive. At least as far as SHE knew...

But wait... if the bounty hunter was after HER, why did he attack Val-keth?

And as a matter of fact, he had attacked Val'keth FIRST.

Hmmmm.....

She glanced at Val-keth and gave a tiny grin.

The truth was, she didn't know WHO this man was after, and it was only paranoia that made her assume that it was her. Still, Leonardo knew nothing, and she couldn't logically expect Eric Hood to know any more about this hunter's motives. There was only one way to know for sure... and that was to find out from the man himself...

"Okay, Hood," she said. "How do we fight this guy?"

"Get past his shields. Once you do that... they die just as easy as anyone else."

"That was VERY helpful, Eric," spat Zade. "Care to ADD anything?"

Eric sighed. This conversation was clearly boring him.

"Ya got two ways to get at him... one is to take 'em by surprise. Get the jump on 'im when he ain't expecting it. Distract him. Of course, you'd have to make your first strike lethal or you're in a heap of trouble."

"That leaves little room for interrogation."

"True. Then there's the second way."

"Which is?"

"Telekinetic shield is only as strong as the mind creating it. You hit it with enough force, his concentration'll shatter. Backlash can be fatal... but it usually leaves enough time to ask your questions."

"How much force do we have to use?"

"More than YOU TWO can throw at it... that's for sure."

[Val'keth]

Eric knew his stuff, that was for sure. And he was certainly right about her talents. You were either born with the gift or not, and no amount of studying changed that basic fact.

"So, either we find someone who *does* have the skill to get through his shield, or we work out some way of keeping him just on the brink of death and hope he doesn't recover enough to use his skills against us again."

Val'keth mentally flicked through the vast number of poisons she knew about - weighing up the degrees of deadliness and trying to find one that would accomplish what they wanted.

"Suppose we find some way to knock him out, I can keep him drugged until we work out how to extract the information you want..." Val'keth volunteered. "We'd still have to deal with that beast of his though - you saw the way it healed itself."

She took another sip of her brandy, closing her eyes in pleasure as it burned like liquid fire down her throat. She didn't add that she had questions of her own for the stranger. If she was right about him, he had probably already reported her location - with all that would bring...

"Hood. Have you ever taken out one of these psionicists before?" She had heard the rumours about him, and the skill he displayed with the twirling dagger intrigued her. "And do either of you know a mage capable of weaving some sort of mind shield around himself - and us."

Val'keth remembered Jolan, the mage who had managed to sneak back to the underdark and recover her possessions. It might have been a bit premature to have killed him she reflected with a smile, her dark eyes recalling the scene in vivid detail.

[Zade/Eric]

"Your friend always this nosey, Zade?" said Eric.

"I haven't finished teaching her her manners yet."

"Uh-huh. Well... the first question is none of your concern. As for the second, I'm afraid I can't help you."

Eric was lying and Zade knew it. December had two very powerful mages on his payroll, but Val-keth's presence precluded Lovvorn's or N'Doki's involvement. Zade locked eyes with Eric and raised one eyebrow. Eric nodded imperceptibly and glanced at Val-keth. The meaning was clear... get rid of Val-keth and Zade could have all the magical support she needed. Zade didn't have a problem with that... it was a small price to pay to make sure that this psionicist wasn't after HER.

"Fine," said Zade.

"There's one thing that doesn't fit, though."

"Yeah?"

"Never heard of a psionicist using a dog before. That's new."

"Well this IS a different guild."

"A full psionicist wouldn't NEED an animal. I'm thinking this guy might be a rogue."

"Which means...?"

"Freelance. Got kicked out before he learned the more powerful stuff."

"That's good."

"No, it's bad. Means no guidance. No code of conduct. If he got kicked out, he got kicked out for a reason. The things they learn to do with their minds... if a person isn't strong enough, it can break 'em. That ain't pretty. This guy could be unstable. Unpredictable."

"Sounds like you," said Zade.

"Exactly. Just thought you'd like to know. Don't expect this guy to play fair."

"No such thing as a fair fight, Eric. I thought you knew that..."

[Val'keth]

Listening to the conversation between Eric and Zade, Val'keth realised neither was being completely open with her. The final straw was their completely inept attempt at some unspoken conversation - wriggling facial features had never been a good way to transfer ideas unnoticed.

Val'keth started rethinking her options. It was obvious Zade hadn't fought a psionicist before, and just as clear that Eric wasn't about to offer much help. It was also apparent that unless they were honest with each other, everyone would be looking over their shoulders - and distractions were bad.

"Zade. We can settle our argument on who teaches who manners AFTER we've dealt with the psionicist. I'll teach you how to conduct silent conversations PROPERLY as well." Val'keth sighed, and turned to Eric.

"As for being nosey, I couldn't care less WHAT you've come up against. What I am interested about is what we're ABOUT to deal with - and if you've killed one of these things then you know a lot more than you've already told us."

Val'keth stared at him, and added in a cold voice. "I'm taking a big risk here. I've suspected for a long time December is far more than the owner of a fancy shop. If I thought I could deal with this myself, do you really think I would be sitting here, taking the insults you and Zade are throwing my way?"

She shook her head, scowling at the pair of them. "I don't like this any more than you do. I'm an outcast here, and an outcast from my people too. I don't expect you to trust me any more than I trust you - but I thought perhaps we might learn to co-operate. I see I was wrong."

Val'keth rose and grabbed her drink, swallowing the lot and banging the tumbler back on the table. She pushed through the throng of people, her jaw set and her eyes hard. If no-one else had any idea what No-Face was doing in Montfort, that left only one way to find out. In person, and from a VERY respectable distance.

[Zade]

Zade just shook her head and smiled as Val-keth stormed off. Eric, however, wasn't smiling.

"She knows a lot," said Eric.

"She THINKS she knows a lot."

"Next time you run into her... kill her."

"That was on my agenda anyway."

"Good. Make sure you 'run into her' soon. Tonight."

Zade nodded and finished her drink in one gulp.

"So," she said. "Where's your colorful friend?"

"Getting his leg worked on. If you need him, you can find him at the Colluseum."

"Can he help with the psionicist?"

"Maybe. If he's drunk enough."

"Good." Zade stood up and started to walk away.

"Remember what I said about this guy. He's dangerous."

"I didn't know you cared, Eric."

"I don't. It's my job to look after the boss's assets."

"Assets?" said Zade.

"Find out who the hunter is after. Then kill the elf."

Zade nodded, and quickly made her way out of the club.

[To Be Continued]