Standing up slowly and stretching just a tad to test the waters, Akuma looks around at everyone, then his eyes fall on Medea. "What about her?"

Rowan smiles and laughs when Bob winks.

"Sure, I still have a beer to finish anyways. First I'd like to see if anything can be done about this little scratch here."

Throwing the strap over his shoulder, Lex walks back into the bar, Alpha in tow. Noticing Rowan, he moves close enough to say in a low tone, "Alice is dead. Gunshot to the temple."

Akuma's eyes narrow and his pistol in suddenly back in his hand and pointing right at Medea's temple. "Anyone need to talk to this slitch before I put her under?"

:: Sophia quickly moves to stand behind Akuma and his target. Adding a bit of awakened punch to her statement, she extends her hand in a peaceful gesture. ::

"Akuma...put the weapon down. Medea has many crimes to account for and she will see the face of justice, but not by your hand. Let go of your vengence."

Mojo, who had spent perhaps the most time with Alice, glares at Medea. "Yeah, let's give her back to the mafia boys. I don't think we have time to give her a proper sendoff." He smiles wolfishly and his tusks become apparent.

@Everyone
About a half hour goes by as the Rosselis and the single un-injured Caroletto guard clean up the parking lot. Lex, Sophia, and Gio work together to patch up wounds. The Dons spend that time in close negotiation.

As the "healers" finish up their work, and Lex makes his comment to Rowan, the Dons look to be finishing up. As they get up, shake hands, and come towards the rest of the people still in the barroom, Akuma and Mojo begin to threaten Medea as Sophia tries to talk them down.

<<OOC: now that the timestream is realigned >>

"Wait! Akuma, you're desire for vengence is understood and, indeed, it will be granted. From what we have disccused," Don Rosseli interjects indicating his Caroletto counterpart, "there are only a few more holes in this story. For instance what part he had to play," indicating the Caroletto elven mage, "and why exactly Medea acted as she did. As far as I know, she and my family have never had a direct confrontation before she ambushed my son a few days ago."

Don Caroletto turns toward Sophia and Gio, "Your ... union ... while abrupt and unexpected ... "

"... and surprising ..." Don Rosseli jumped in.

"... and surprising, we have discussed it and can see only benefits for our ... enterprises," he finishes with a grin. "The four of us have much to discuss, including your proper wedding ceremony."

"But first," Don Rosseli continues, "We need to deal with her." He looks almost as wolfish as Mojo.

:: Sophia, still tense and serious from holding Akuma off, turns to face her father with a stoic expression, ready to argue her point if necessary. Once her father accepts her marriage and even announces his intention for a full wedding Sophia breaks into a girlish grin from ear to ear, laughs short and unexpectantly and turns to Gio, her arms wrapped around his neck as she kisses him fully. ::

Gio looks a little embarassed but happy none-the-less. He extracts himself from Sophia's arms and moves over first to shake hands with Don Caroletto and then to hug his father whispering, "Thanks," in his ear.

Akuma puts his gun down. "Fine, but when you guys are done with her, I want to pull the trigger."

His gaze then follows Sophia as she runs to Gio and he can't help but smile, but it quickly fades as darker thoughts return.

@Everyone
Don Rosseli turns to the crowd: "I suggest that we move for a change of venue. These three look to be unconscious for a while, and just in case anyone gets too interested in tonight's activities out front, we should probably be on our way. I've already called for an extra vehicle for you and your team," he says turning toward Lex, "and I've taken steps to clean up the mess that we made earlier. Do you know if your driver had any next of kin?"

<<OOC: If anyone wants to they can insert an answer to his question after this post, but I'm going to keep going since I didn't do anything yesterday. >>

The Don nods. "I do appologize for our actions earlier," he says again toward Lex but directs it toward you all. "We were told that you were holding Gio hostage against our good behavior and," he looks a little sheepish ... but not much, "I've never dealt well with threats."

A car horn blows three shot blats out front, "Ah ... there is our transportation." He writes down an address on two bar napkins and hands one to Lex, one to Don Caroletto, and then continues: "That is the address of a warehouse run by a subsidiary business that I own. We'll be safe there. Let us meet up again there in about an hour ... say at 9:30pm? Then we can question these three and see what all this is about."

Don Caroletto agrees to these terms and he and his men grab Medea and the awakened elf while the Rosseli's grab Lasher, the whip-weilding elf that Rowan dropped whose name was supplied by Duster.

Rowan waves goodbye to Bob, "Maybe next time things wont be so exciting." She gets on here feet and nods at the Don, "That sounds like a good idea."

:: Sophia looks at Gio a moment and sighs. ::

"As much as I want to be with you, I think it's safer if I ride with Medea in case she wakes up. I want to make sure she keeps her appointment with our fathers. Will you be ok?"

@Sophia
"No problem. I'll stick with my family for now to. Maybe we can help to keep them honest." Gio gives you a quick hug and then moves to join his father as they carry Lasher out. Duster jogs up to him and whispers something to him. Gio smiles and looks back at you. Flashing you an even wider grin, he leaves with his family to meet you again in an hour at the warehouse.

:: Sophia moves over to Duster with an accusatory glare in her eyes, though the playful turn of her lips shows she's not necessarily angry....yet. ::

"Ok..what gives? What did you tell him??"

@Sophia
Duster smiles wryly, "That I'd watch out for you."

Akuma shakes his head when asked about Alice's family, then nods at the suggestion of moving to the warehouse. He walks out to the van to gather his rifle and the rest of his gear. Giving Alice a long look, he shakes his head and slames the door shut and moves to follow the team to the new car.

@Lex
The Don answers your question as you walk towards the waiting vehicles: "We aren't sure who told us that. It was an annonymous tip. But, it was also a tip that we couldn't really ignore. When we got here and found the Carolettos and your team, we assumed the worst because it was the only information that we had. I will see you in an hour."

@Everyone but Sophia
As Sophia and Gio go with their respective families towards a new location, you all pile into another vehicle. You notice that two of the Rosselis are dealing with the other van and, presumably, Alice as well. Piling inside a nice, luxury model Honda, the driver asks, "So. You guys want to do anything for the next hour or do you want to go right to the warehouse."

@Sophia
Medea is placed in the passenger seat of the car. Behind her sits Duster, his shotgun at the ready. Lasher is loaded in between you and him. Both Lasher and Medea are still very unconscious. Your father puts Alyssa, the adept, in the drivers seat. Between Duster, yourself, and her, you probably have enough skill in this car to handle one or both of them if they wake up -- especially since you can probably just knock them out again.

Alyssa drives the car away from Our Lady of the Bottle as you see the Rosselis begin the final clean up on the parking lot. A few of them hotwire the cars and drive them off, probably to be cleaned up and re-sold. Alyssa drives away from the other Caroletto cars so you all don't look like a motorcade .... or a funeral procession.

After about a half hour of driving, she gets on the the highway and heads back towards the Bethlehem city limits moving towards the warehouse. When you get there, your about ten minutes early. Just about enough time to get Medea and Lasher into the warehouse and secure them. As you get Lasher out of the car he begins to come to, but is still in no condition to be fighting you. He's awake enough to help you walk him into the warehouse, but not yet ready to struggle. Medea is still out and her face is starting to look pretty bad; all swollen and bruised.

"I'd like to get to the warehouse if there is nothing the rest of you want to do."

"Thats fine with me." Rowan says to Akuma.

"Sooner we leave, the sooner we're there."

@Everyone but Sophia (although the description of the warehouse is below)
The drive straight to the warehouse takes only about 20 minutes. It's actually not too far from Akuma's place in Bethlehem. The building is probably about the size of half a football field, give or take a for meters, and looks tall enough for two stories. There's a large door in the front for foot traffic and smaller vehicles and there's a loading dock for trailers on the right hand side. To the left are other buildings. The same behind.

There are windows along all four sides of the building (which you'd either see by casing the joint or by going inside) about 3/4 of the way up the walls. They're almost opaque with dirt, either from negligence or to keep people from looking in. You can see a faint glow from the lights on inside.

Checking the door, you find it unlocked! Entering, Mojo calls out, "Hello?" The building has four large aisles seperated by shelves that reach about three meters into the air. There is a ceiling above you so there must be a second floor to the building. The shelves look like they story boxes, each labeled with a number. What ever the system used, you can't figure it out. There's an open space by the door with a room that has a window facing the warehouse, probably an office. Other than that it looks like one big room.

The lights are sporadic and shed large pools of shadow between the shelves. From one of these pools, two human men step out. Both are armed with pistols, but neither of them level their weapons in your direction. "You hear for the party later?" on asks.

"It wasn't BYOB, was it? Man, if so I need to make a run to the stuffer shack. Who're you with?"

@Lex
The man on the left replies, "We're Rosselis. The Don told us to expect a large group. And you?"

"Well I never was a family man. More of the rolling stone type. However, we just came from the Don. Don't worry, we're all on the same side." Lex looks around the warehouse, "Nice place you've got here. Going for the old-world industrialist look?"

Akuma stays quiet for the most part as he waits for everyone to arrive and for events to unfold.

@Everyone
You wait about a half hour, Lex bantering with the two Rosselis and generally seeming to have a good time. He's probably about two minutes from convincing them to play poker when Sophia and the car with Medea and Lasher arrive. With a sigh at the lost opportunity, you all exit the warehouse and help get Medea and Lasher inside.

Taking the initiative after you arrive, Mojo begins to set up an astral ward about the small room. Then, summons a watcher and has it sit inside.

Noticing that Lasher is now awake, though still pretty messed up, you tie him a bind him a little more securly to a chair before doing the same for Medea. Leaving her bound, gaged, and blindfolded, you figure that there's not much more you could do. You stash Medea in the warded and watched room and wait for the arrival of the Don. Duster, who arrived with Sophia, props a chair in front of the door to Medea's "cell" and props his shotgun across his lap. Alyssa, the Adept, kneels in a corner and seems to begin to meditate ... or sleep, you're not sure.

<< OOC: Going to move onto the Don's arrival with the Caroletto elven mage. But if anyone wants to insert any conversation with Lasher or Duster here, be my guest. >>

You only have to wait about 10 more minutes before Don Rosseli and Gio arrive with two more people, neither of which you recognize from the events of Our Lady of the Bottle. One is a mage, reports Mojo, and rather powerful. The second is mundane. Both are human, the mage is a man, the mundane , a woman. The Don nods to you and then he and the woman inspect Lasher's bonds and look in at Medea. "Has anyone tried to wake her up yet?" he asks, indicating the unconscious antagonist.

"Nope -- we figured we'd wait until we had a full house first." Lex says with a grin. You all groan and his expression turns a little hurt before he shrugs and grins again.

Moments later, Don Caroletto arrives with two people. The first is an orkish man; the second is the unconscious elven mage that seemed to be in kahoots with Medea in a fireman's carry over the ork's shoulder. If the Dons decided on the number of people in advance, perhaps Alyssa counted as one of the Caroletto's cadre of compatriots, "Good. I see we're all here," the Don says as he arrives in the building. Shall we get started then? I thought we'd start with Geoff here before moving onto Medea. Any objections?" He indicates the still unconscious elven mage when he names Geoff. The ork unceremoniously drops the mage to the floor, drags a chair over and binds him to it.

Don Rosseli nods to his mage and the man, who introduces himself as Darius, begins to heal Geoff bringing him back to consciousness. "Would you care to explain your actions in the bar or do we have to do this the hard way?" Don Carolleto asks his mage when Geoff awakens. "Incidentally," he says looking up at the group watching, "if anyone has something constructive to add, feel free to step in at any time."

"I didn't want to do it." Geoff starts out bringing a few snickers from the on lookers, "but she made me." He looks down for a moment. "She has my wife and daughter. I don't know where, but she said that if I didn't help her kill you ... kill all of you, she'd kill them." The end of his confession is said amid tears.

Don Rosseli steps up, "When did she take them?"

"About four days ago." The stress of the last few days is obviously coming to a head for Geoff. Tears run down his face, but other than that he seems in control. The worry he's been feeling for his family is evident.

Gio chimes in, "That would have been right before she ambushed me, then. Or there about."

"Do you know why she's acted as she has?" Don Caroletto asks.

"No. All I know is that I arrived at home and saw Medea and an ork in my living room. They said that they had Diana and Rosa and that they would kill them unless I helped them."

"Did they do this to any other members of the Family?"

"I don't know."

At this answer, Don Caroletto glances at Alyssa. "He speaks the truth," is all she says.

"Interesting. And you know nothing of where they're held?"

"No."

Don Caroletto turns to his Rosseli equal, "Anything to add?" Don Rosseli pauses for a moment and shakes his head, "Let's get onto the big leagues."

Geoff is unbound but blindfolded and set to stand next to Alyssa. Apparently, the Dons are trusting, but not too trusting, in this matter. Don Caroletto nods to Duster and he drags Medea out into the main room where she is retied to the chair. She begins to come around as she’s moved this time. “Darius,” Don Rosseli says to his mage, “Heal her enough that she can talk to us. From the looks of her face, I’d say you broke her, my dwarven friend.” Duster grins and snorts.

The mage turns to Medea and stands behind her. Placing his hand against her cheek, he begins his spell. Almost immediately the bruise seems to fade away as the magic begins to re-knit the broken bones and repair damaged tissue. After holding the spell for about five minutes—as Medea shakes her head, trying to loosen the blindfold—Darius takes a deep breath and removes his hand, “She’s all yours.”

“I’m going to remove the blindfold and gag. Those who can, be ready to counter any magics that she may attempt.” Don Caroletto warns. Darius nods, as does Mojo, each preparing their spell defenses.

“Explain yourself, my dear.” Don Rosseli orders. Despite his familiar wording, his tone is of steel. Gio moves over to stand behind his father. Not to reign him in, but rather to lend more weight to the interrogation.

“Eat me,” comes the response and an equally icy stare from Medea.

“Come now, cousin, I thought you had more sense than that. Answer the man’s question.” Don Caroletto steps up to the chair. “We fixed your face, and we can break it again if you want us to.”

Medea’s jaw stiffens, and she looks up at her Don for a few moments saying nothing. Don Caroletto shakes his had and nods at Gio’s father.

“Darius – let’s do this the hard way.” Don Rosseli cuts in.

“Right.” Darius steps up to Medea again and kneels down to look her in the eye. He stares at her for a moment, trembles a bit and then looks confused. “I can get a lock on her. Hold on …” he gets up and moves around her and snorts when he gets back and looks at her hands. “What have we here?”

“No!” Medea cries as Darius removes a white gold ring with the Caroletto seal on it. Mojo reports over the comms that it’s a rather powerful focus of some kind.

“Now, let’s see how we do.” Darius again looks Medea in the eye, holding her gaze. His eyes squint a little as you all see his skin appear to scale over for a moment or two. Medea shakes her head but is unable to rip her eyes from his gaze. Another moment later and Darius stands, keeping his eyes on Medea, and says “She’ll answer you now.”

“I think you know what we want to know,” Don Rosseli begins. “Tell us why you attacked my son...”

“Tell us why you attacked us through Geoff.”

“Tell us why you pitted us against each other by feed us false information.”

“Did you kill Ray Rosseli?” asks Gio.

The Dons continue their onslaught of questions and it looks like Medea is actively working to resist the spell cast upon her by Darius. But, it’s to no avail. With a visible shudder, the dam breaks and the water floods through. Her head drops and she begins speaking in a soft, broken voice, “I didn’t really want to do all this but they left me no choice.”

“Who didn’t?” interrupts Don Caroletto.

“Patience, cousin,” Medea responds, showing a little of her former ice. “All will be made clear in time. You are aware of my arrest three weeks ago? Lone Star was less than forgiving when they found that I had been involved in a lucrative jewel smuggling operation. You look surprised, Antonio.”

At the use of Don Caroletto’s first name, Alyssa squints and looks ready to slap Medea for her insolence, but the Don waves her off. “I am surprised. You didn’t tell me about a lucrative jewel smuggling operation.”

“Now, why would I do that? I’d have to pay you a cut, then, wouldn’t I? Anyway, I got busted, along with most of my crew. The jewels were confiscated and they wanted to send me back to Amazonia, from whence I was smuggling the jewels. In order to keep myself in this country and not in the hands of Amazonian “justice,” we made a deal. I bring you down, dear cousin, and the Family down with you or I go to land of monkeys, jaguars, and leopards, oh my.”

“How did I get involved in this?” asks Don Rosseli.

“You were just convenient. Why should I try to bring down my Family from the inside, when I can make it look like you’re trying to take it apart from the outside? It was easy enough to start a few fights between our lower ranks and eventually I was able to escalate it to the point where a death occurred – Ray. So, I guess you could say that I did kill him as a result of my actions, but it wasn’t me who pulled the trigger. It was him.” She indicates Lasher with her chin, since her hands are still bound. He shrugs noncommittally, obviously not concerned with his past.

“It was sometime around the death of Ray that I decided I didn’t really like the idea of bringing down one or two Families just to stay out of Amazonia. I mean you guys,” she says indicating the Rosselis, “have owned the authorities for a number of years. If I could somehow get into a position of power in the area, the authorities may not have been able to touch me anyway. So, I decided to kill two birds with one stone. Instead of bringing down the family, I thought I’d just bring down the head of the family and instill myself in his place. If I can bring down the Rosseli empire as well and take over their businesses, well that would have been icing on the cake.”

“And so, I engineered a new idea. I paid Jimmy the Fish, a known Rosseli supporter, to become my informant. It was easy enough, then, to get a message to Gio about a meeting to discuss Ray’s death. Since you were in charge of Caroletto/Rosseli relations, Gio, I knew you’d come personally. I ambushed you with a team of mercenaries that I hired with the remaining money from my smuggling operations. Little did I know that you had fallen in with that little minx.” She indicates Sophia.

Gio moves toward Medea at this comment, but his father puts a hand to his chest and says, “Why was Sophia a problem for you? Couldn’t you have just killer her, too.”

“I would have, but I didn’t know where she went! She was in the way of my control over the Family, so she would have had to have died at some point. But she dropped off the face of the earth. Now, it looks like she was with Gio the whole time.” Medea, not be aware of the wedding, looks a little confused, but she watches Gio and Sophia for any reactions. Seeing something confirmed in the way Gio glances at Sophia, she sighs.

“I think you can piece the rest together. I had my guys kidnap Geoff’s family about four days ago. They holed them up somewhere and I put the squeeze on him. I knew he was close to you, so I knew he’d probably be around if you both,” indicating the Dons, “ended up in the same room. He sparks off a firefight, probably gets killed in the crossfire,” a gasp from Geoff, “and with any luck you all die gloriously in battle. If not, I had my team on standby. I wasn’t prepared, however, to meet the kind of resistance you brought with you, nor was I prepared to deal with his actions,” she finishes indicating Duster.

“Where are my wife and child?” Geoff asks, looking more angry now than worried.

“I honestly don’t know. In fact, the only people who knew you killed about an hour an 20 ago.”

“What do you mean?”

“IV and Zapster – the ork and the human killed at the bar. They knew where you family was. I don’t. But they’re dead. So, you might want to start looking because I don’t know how much food or water they were given.” Obviously, the truth spell is still working, but Medea can’t hide her contempt any more than she can hide the truth right now. She grins at Geoff, obviously not interested in the fate of his family. Geoff looks stricken as he begins to contemplate loosing his family despite his betrayal, not to mention the fact that Medea expected – perhaps wanted – him to die in the firefight that he started.

Seeing his emotions run across his face, Medea laughs, “You shamans are always so naïve.”

There’s silence in the warehouse for a few moments. The Dons look at each other for a moment and Don Rosseli shrugs, “I’ve heard all I need to. Darius is it?” he asks the mage who nods. “You’re sure she’s telling the truth.”

“Yes. She basically has to right now.”

“I agree. She’s telling the truth,” the normally taciturn Alyssa adds.

Don Caroletto turns to his cousin, “Why didn’t you just come to me after the arrest. I could have kept the authorities off of you and probably fixed all the drek in Amazonia as well. Money solves all problems … or mercenaries.”

“I told you that. I didn’t want to have to explain my extra-Familial activities to you. Plus, the thought of being in charge for once was attractive. I figured the resulting mob war after the death of Gio would certainly end up killing you or discrediting you enough that I could step in and take your place.”

The Don sighs. “Gag and blindfold her. We’ll take her back and guard her magically and physically until we can deal with her properly. She may have two more deaths on her head before this weeks out,” the Don says to Alyssa, probably referring to Geoff’s imprisoned family.

“Take me away. Take me away. You think I’ll stand by and let you “deal” with me. I know how you’ll “deal” with me and it doesn’t sound attractive at all.” She spits at the ground before Don Caroletto’s feet.

“Stop her!” he yells, not truly knowing what she’s up to.

Medea’s eyes roll back in her head and the room seems to go cold for a moment. Her body slumps to the side but then the image shimmers and she’s sitting up right again. Her eyes pop open as she screams in pain. Suddenly, her scream is cut off, as if someone pushed stop on a recording and her jaw clenches shut, severing her own tongue. She twitches for a moment before going into a full fledged seizure. Falling to the side still bound to the chair, her seizure lasts for only a few seconds. When she stops, the blood leaking from her mouth mingles with a milky, grey fluid leaking from her ears.

“Is she still alive?” Don Rosseli asks carefully a moment or two after Medea stops shaking.

Darius moves over to Medea’s body. Reaching his fingers down to her neck he feels for a pulse and shakes his head.

“What the hell happened?”

“If I had to venture a guess,” Darius responds, “I’d say she just tried to cast something rather powerful and the drain killed her.”

“Can it do that?” the don asks, stunned.

“Yes, if you’re reckless enough to try a spell beyond your skill.”

“Why didn’t you stop her?”

“I had most of my focus on keeping her talking, but even so, I was defending against spells she cast against us, not against herself.” Mojo nods, agreeing with Darius when the Dons look in his direction.

Don Caroletto sighs and shakes his head. “Well, it’s over at any rate.” He kneels by Medea’s corpse and pushes her hair out of the small puddle of fluids, “Alyssa, you and Boon take her back to Mark. He’ll know what to do.” Alyssa and the ork that came in with the Don nod and move to begin to deal with the corpse.

Don Rosseli turns to you all watching from the sidelines as Don Carolleto begins to deal with the corpse of his cousin, “There’s a little matter still between us and we might as well clear it up before we leave tonight. I believe that we owe you some money. Correct? The agreed upon price was 10,000 . I’ve decided to add half again that to your final price for a total of 15,000 each.”

“And I’m matching it. Oddly enough, her actions,” indicating Medea, “have done more to strengthen these Families than bring them down.”

“30,000 isn’t bad for a day and a half of work, no?” comments Don Rosseli as he moves toward the small office where he pulls a credstick reader out of a draw in the desk.

Lex looks like he's about to say something, but swallows his thoughts as the second Don doubles their pay.

"It's not so bad at all. Of course, it seems like this matter isn't completely through, " He nods towards Geoff, "So if either of the families ever needs some outside 'help' again..." with a flick of his wrists, two cards appear in Lex's hands with a cell number, which are handed to the Dons, "...I'm sure we can work something out."

@Lex
Don Carolleto turns to you. "I was going to speak with you about that. Would you be interested in helping us to find and extract his family. I'm sure that this .... gentleman .... could probably assist us in our search," he comments, indicating Lasher, still bound to a chair with a slightly sick look on his face.

"I'm good for another round," Rowan smiles. "Definately can't knock the paycheck."

Akuma nods, "I will help."

"I think we should discuss this somewhere a little more...private." Lex motions towards the office where the Don procured the credstick reader.

@All
Don Rosseli turns to Don Caroletto and borrows the credstick reader for a moment. Entering an account number and slotting four sticks, he hands one to each of you. Giving the reader back to to Don Caroletto -- but not before he enters all zeros for an accoun and clears the system -- he says, "Thank you for your help in this matter. I hadn't expected to get personally involved, but, hell -- it made for an interesting night!" he finishes with a grin as Gio rolls his eyes. "We owe you more than these 'sticks," he continues growing serious. "If you need help with anything, call Alessandro at the number he gave you. If we can help, we will .......... for a small fee. Now, if you'll excuse me," he turns to Don Caroletto. "I will be in touch in the agreed upon method." He nods towards his former rival, collects his family and heads out.

He notices that Gio lingers with Sophia and pulls him aside. You can barely hear him tell his son to stay with her and to come home tomorrow, to the smiles on Gio's and Sophia's faces.

Don Caroletto smiles, "From his entrance earlier, I'd have thought he'd be dragging Gio home in chains by now. Anyway, about the family. I'm fine with talking about it in private if that's your wish. But first ... " he says as Alyssa hands him four credsticks. As before, he enters an account in to the reader and slots the sticks, transfering 15,000 on to each one of them. "Expensive day," he mutters to himself, "and I have a wedding to deal with, too," he finishes with a smile and a glance toward his daughter as he hands you all the sticks and move back into the small office. He motions for Geoff to follow him and the mage enters as well.

Pocketing his 30,000 , Lex smiles to himself as he follows the Don into the back office, giving Geoff a wide berth.

Rowan accepts the credstick and slides it into one of her many pockets, and turns to follow Lex.

Akuma does the same, taking up a spot towards the back of the group to let Lex and Rowan do most of the talking.

The Don looks to Geoff and asks, "Do you have a photograph of your wfe and daughter that our team here can take a look at?"

Geoff blushes and looks away from the Don. "Uhm. Usually I would, but, uhm ...."

"What?" the Don asked, puzzled at why Geoff seemed embarrased by a seemingly inoccuous question.

"I gave the photograph to a private investigator already. I heard of her through that underworld guy ... what's his name ... DeCarabas. She came highly recommended." Upon seeing the Don squint in his direction, Geoff begins to speak more quickly, "I didn't want to come to you ... I couldn't come to you. She, Medea, said that if I told you about my family, they would kill them. So, I hired someone else." he finishes with a sigh, "I thought that if I could find them, maybe we could save them, and then I wouldn't have to listen to Medea."

The Don nods, "It's okay Geoff. Under the circumstances, you acted with quite a bit of clarity. DeCarabas is a worthy contact, he's never steered me wrong. How much are you paying the investigater ... her name?"

"Her name is Gwyndlyn. She's getting 1,000 a day from me."

The Don nods and turns to you all, "I will match what Geoff pays this Gwyndolyn for you to help her in her efforts. Work with her or without her, that makes no difference to me." Turning back to Geoff, "How long has she been working on this?"

"Three days."

"She may have useful information, then. If things get rocky, then I'll double your final payment. Technically, this could inspire you to take your time in this matter for a better paycheck, but I would ask you to hurry. Medea may have had some sort of way to contact anyone guarding the family. If she doesn't contact them, they may assume the worst and move out. That could be dreadful for Geoff and his family. Anything else?"

Geoff pales slightly and looks to you all pleadingly.

"Not really," Rowan speaks, "I'd like to talk about getting some gear replaced after the job, but thats then. Now we probably need to be going and meet this Gwyndlyn."

Rowan turns to Geoff, "Know where we might find her?"

@Rowan
Geoff turns to you and pulls out his wallet. From it, he pulls a business card which he hands to you. "This has her number on it. I don't know where she is at the moment, but if you call her, hopefully you can set something up."

Akuma stands in the back, remaining silent. This part of the job isn't his cup of tea.

"I dont think there is much we can do here, and since the deal's arranged now. I suggest we get to work."

Rowan flips open her wrist-phone, and dials the number on the card.

A woman's voice answers:
"Private Investigation, Gwyn speaking, can I help you?"

"Hello, I'm working for Geoff, you are already on a case for him and I thought we might want to coordinate our efforts, care to meet so we can talk things over?" Rowan says over the phone.

Turning to the Dons she asks, "Do you know any good meeting places?"

"Can I speak with Geoff to verify this?" she asks incredulously.

"Sure, Geoff," Rowan turns to Geoff. "Gwyn wants to talk to you, make sure I'm working for you."

@Everyone
As Geoff takes the phone, the Don turns to Rowan and answers her question: "Use a restaurant. Doesn't really matter to me. Pick a place and don't tell anyone else and it's safe," he says with a grin. "If you want something that I have a little more control over ... well, then you can use the Rose again if you'd like. I can have my people contact the owner and save a room for you if you'd like.

When Geoff takes the phone, you guys are treated to a one-sided converstation between the mage and Gwyndlyn:

"Yes, this is Geoff." He sighs and looks around for a moment, "Rubber baby buggy bumpers..... yes, it really is me, thanks for making me say the pass phrase in front of my employer..... Yes, my employer had asked them to assist me with my little problem and they felt that you all might be able to work together..... Yes, I can put them back on....."

Geoff hands the phone back towards Rowan.

"So lets meet at the Rose in an hour." Rowan speaks into her phone.

She closes the phone and speaks to the rest of her team, "Ready to go?"