Yuffie was a drow, a native of Xen'drik whose family had been nearly wiped out. They had been scattered, and Yuffie had eventually made her way to Khorvaire where she had come to appreciate the non-drow to some extent.
Now though - it was time to return to her homeland. She made a half-hearted attempt to steal Ranma's wallet, but as that was being held by a warforged - she'd admitted her chances weren't that good. Warforged tended to be less easy to distract, and using one's sex appeal against one had darn little effect. If they reacted at all, it was confusion.
She had her weapons and equipment, most of which bore a dweomer. If you had to have a hobby, collecting magical items was a good one. Magic gemstones were even more prized to her, being her specialty within the field.
She noticed the presence watching them at one point, but didn't bring it to anyone's attention. They'd be leaving this unnatural city soon enough and she'd be back home at long last.
"Some people liken the city to some great beast. If that's so I live at the end that craps.
"The city is Sharn, my home for the last five years since my stint in the Breland Army as a cook for the 321st Light Infantry. It's called 'The City Of Towers' by some, the 'Gateway To Xen'drik' by others, and still others call it things that'd have many mothers cleaning out their kids' mouth with the soap. It relies heavily on magic for a lot of details to keep everything moving, but there's still a few stirges in the system if you get my drift. There's a thousand deals and secrets flowing through these towers at any given time, and like the sewage these can back up and overflow into the neighbor's apartment without any warning.
"My job goes by a lot of different names too. Sneak, snoop, ferret, inquisitive, though the shingle on the door reads a word that requires me to explain it to some louts - 'detective.' It means that my job is in the information trade - but this ain't stuff you'll find in The Korranberg Chronicle.
"My name is Unrio Konju, I won't even charge you for that information. If you run into someone else with the misfortune of having that name, add 'of Sharn' to mine.
"It was an early spring day, you could smell the distinctive tang in the air from wind wafting up the towers from the Cogs. I was on the sort of assignment I get normally as part of my contracts. Delfur's Bakery makes bread but lately they've been losing bread. It's made more complicated in that Delfur's Bakery is a front for a less respectible type business, so they need someone kind of discrete.
"I figured out what they were doing on the first day, and narrowed the possibilities to three employees. Unfortunately for the poor sap, I'd also figured out the guy doing it didn't know about it. Magic can be used for things that ain't as straightforward as making the sewage flow.
"Because magic was involved I was in Clifftop. I know a couple of guys in the 'bibbeldy boppity boo' business, and while I know the basics of what magic can do - I ain't nearly so familiar with subject that I can verify what I think is correct. If it is, Delfur's Bakery is poised on the brink of finding out why so few businesses make their bread dealing with those questionable elements.
"I was on my way to my old war-buddy Knucklebuster to see if my little hunch was correct when I saw her.
"Now don't get me wrong, human women can be cute but they're just too damn big and ungainly. I can appreciate their looks, and I been tempted on a couple of occasions to check into some of the accomodation spells that allow halflings and humans to check each other out, but Mama Konju's little boy ain't exactly wealthy. There are times when a guy gets kinda lonely and the night's a bit cold. This wasn't like that.
"See this cute little number with the red hair back in some pigtail was someone I KNEW. Of course, what made me really pause on this was that I'd seen her die.
"It was in those days with the 321st. She was the darling of the unit when we was fresh out of boot camp. Young, shy, mainly ignorant, but downright chipper. Pretty fair hand with a spear, better with a sword, and one of the best archers that wasn't an elf. One of our first skirmishes, someone screwed up the directions and we went right into a Karrnathi ambush. To say it wasn't pretty would be an understatement of criminal proportions. We lost Reena Santarni at that point, as well as five others I didn't know near so well.
"We fell back as quick as we could, trying to fight our way clear. We could hear Reena's screams and pleas for mercy, trying to surrender when she'd been swarmed over - but you know what the Karrnathi undead legions are like. Mercy ain't in their vocabulary and they eat prisoners alive.
"Seeing the young redheaded girl brought all that back in a flash and I could even hear the way those screams had echoed off the canyon walls as what was left of us retreated.
"There was no way that could be Reena. So was it a changeling wearing her face? Some daelkyr or thing from the pits?
"I still had my job and my contract going, but ain't nobody from the 321st was going to just let the matter lie. Fortunately, I happen to be in the business of finding stuff out and I figured I wrap up Delfur's job by tomorrow at the latest. Looked like another job had just filled in that vacancy in my queue."
"Let's see," said the clerk. "We have the Nerima Wrecking Crew, class D adventuring group, en route to Xen'drik. Ranma Saotome, cursed questing human monk. Tao, warforged monk. Cloud Strife, cursed human swordsman. Tifa Lockheart, human unarmed fighting specialist. Yuffie of Xen'drik, drow scout. Aerith Gainsborough, priestess. Did I miss anyone?"
"No, that's it," admitted Ranma.
"Master Cid will see you now," said the Clerk, pulling a lever that opened the gate. "Proceed to the dock, he'll be with you in a few moments."
(Posted Thu, 28 Apr 2005 09:15)
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