"My ties to that clan were broken decades ago and an ocean apart. While it is possible that they were seeking me out, the more likely answer is that another was involved. How else would they know where to find a location that you and I did not know of until we arrived. Only the samurai arranged the plans, perhaps it is her or someone whose trust she betrayed that the Ito sought?"

Shiver looks over the steaming tea cup at the mercurial attitude of Angelina trapped in a single form.

"There are questions which you do not ask. You told me that they would come when we returned home. Are you now afraid, is she?"

"There are many variables that need answering. The Ito, the Dragon, and whoever was behind our booby trapped informant...seems there's alot of coincidentally knowing where to find us or our companions." Angelina said. "As to fear...no, I am not afraid. On the planes, I have learned that I have to face the facts, not just sugarcoat them away. I have plenty of questions, though I fear Desdemona has many more...and she is being quite vocal about it." she winces as she has to listen to Desdemona mentally berate her.

"Anyways. Guess we can start with the basics of the agreement between you and Mynce."

"She is my employer. Though I must say that thus far, our relations have not come to the same terms as the recent interactions that have poisoned social connections. The Adversary moves amongst the people of Seattle and beyond. His pawns are the source of trouble at the Looking Glass, and we have seen the same strife build between our group, the dragons, and you and I.

"Do you see these same connections?"

Placing his cup down in front of him, the troll changeling opens his body language for the first time in recent hours.

Moira & Murrey

As you draw near the cook outpost manned by your employer, she begins to remove the apron while holding the spatula in her mouth. Motioning for Izzy to take her place, she hands off the tools of the trade and turns to address the party goers. "LISTEN UP! Izzy is the man with hot meat so he's going to be seeing to your needs!" She turns to the team with a wicked grin and savors the brief flush across the young Changlings face. She motions for you to follow her through the back of the house into her room. Once you step inside you hear and feel the music in your chest and see people dancing throughout the house. The sound dims as soon as she shuts the door.

The room is littered with high tech components and blueprints for all sorts of devices. The center of the ceiling sports a large disco ball. She quickly pulls outs some bean bags and an inflatable chair for you all to use. "About time I saw you all, I as starting to get a little worried. So anything new I need to know?" As she speaks she drags her bag to her and begins to rummage through it.

:: Once inside, Moira's smile at seeing the young Izzy on the mend fades and she sinks into one of the beanbags. ::

"Im afraid things are looking darker with each turn. The players in this game are major, and it's going to take a fair amount of luck as well as skill to accomplish what we need to do."

Iblis digs out a small pouch and opens it up, digging out a handful of credsticks. She clicks each one and begins to make a stack to the side of her chair until there are eight resting there. She opens up her deck to reveal her cyberdeck. She attaches a data jack as Moira talks and begins slotting credsticks one by one. "What's happened?"

"We decided to take the majority of our magically active members on a joint astral quest, primarily because I needed to alter my aura in order to not be spotted by our opposition. Unfortunately, something happened. We ended up in a different plane than we should have and were chased there by what we believe was a Dragon."

:: Moira lowers her head as well as her voice. ::

"We...lost Paladin. I don't think Izzy should know yet, you've done great work with him, but he's still recovering and this would only hurt his chances."

Moira & Murrey

Iblis shakes her head at the mention of the loss of Paladin. "I have no idea about the whole mojo angle but it sounds like you all had a rough ride." She hands over the eight credsticks to Murrey. "Here's the back pay I owe you all. I know the people working have changed so I will leave it up to you all to make sure people who have helped get paid. Each stick has a "donation" of 25k on it that I managed to "find" in the matrix so enjoy." She slumps back into the chair with a serious expression for once.

"I agree about Izzy, he's stayed clean so far because we've been on him 7/24 and will stay in his face until I'm sure he can keep it that way. I've been throwing parties here pretty much non-stop since I last talked to you all. Consider it my cheap version of security. There are bodies here, awake and present all the time until you all deal with this whack job and his cronies."

:: Moira nods, relieved as the outlandish changling shows her surprising intelligence and maturity. A walking example about judging the covers of books. ::

"The others are working on the details regarding the party crashing now and we've picked up enough extra help that we should be successful. Be careful though, I hate to mention it, but the reason we were called in the first place was when an even bigger party turned violent. You have enough Mojo here to keep an eye on that sort of danger?"

"Nah I hear ya, and I have asked a few friends to keep me covered till you all handle this. I don't think they'll be able to stop anything from happening but they all said that what happened before would take time. They're keeping an eye out for signs of that kind of stuff and we all should get enough warning to clear out." As she talks she packs up the deck once again and tosses the bag to a corner of the room. "Well, it sounds like this should all end soon enough. Again let me know if you need anything from the land of ones and zeros." She pauses to make sure there's nothing else you needed to discuss with her.

:: Moira nods and struggles momentarily to rise from the bean bag. Once up, she accepts the cred sticks and hands them off to Murray. ::

"Hopefully we'll put a permenant stop to these monsters."

:: Turning to Murray, she waits for him to lead the way back out to the van. Once inside, she'll give directions to a club called The Underground in downtown Seattle. ::

Hiroto looked up from the corner where he had been quietly meditating. His Japanese style body armor removed for a more comfortable Kimono, his twin blades crossed on his lap. Waiting for a lul in the conversation he spoke up.

"I know little of the person you seek. It seems you have sorted out where to get him and his group, we just require a plan of attack. Prehaps there is a way to isolate him?"

Aaron looked over at Hiroto and nodded.

"I have to agree, we were hired on as additional muscle which is really what I'm good at. I'm not up on all this investigating stuff. Do we even know the name or identification of our enemy? I hate to sound stupid but I'm not even sure where we'd begin looking for the opposition."

The Elf looked over at Bakatare with an obvious question in his eyes.

Murrey listens to Moira and Iblis update each other on the current state. As Iblis begins setting up their back cred he connects with his own deck and downloads the video footage to bring Iblis up to date on to an OMC.
"Here's the sensor data, we were attacked during the naval staring. Bastards seemed to be Ito clan, if that beans anything to you. If not, I hear that they are bad-guys for hire. We got lucky, they underestimated us. I don't count on that happening again. The good news is, they have to train a whole new crop of guys to throw at us; mad news is, they know one of my tricks."

Murrey nods as Iblis hands over the pay and sets it into his pocket to be doled out later.

"Well, if you'd just behave, we wouldn't have to worry about that." Angelina commented to the roomate in her head. Turning back to Shiver, she said, "Apparently you and Des saw Madame Fortunata for info on our contact. The Ito, or the dragon could just as easily used similar methods to find us."

Bakatare resists the overly dramatic urge to slap himself in the forehead.

"My apologies to both of you, of course. For some reason I'd assumed Murrey had filled you in on everything, but of course nobody instructed him to and we know very little about you.

Very well, to cover the basics, the legwork, as they call it, on this particular run is basically complete. We're looking for a man by the name of Michael Nelson that attacked a changleling party a few days ago. We have evidence that he led the attack, and we know his motivations and his connections. He is seveal steps removed from anyone of actual power, but past that several steps, his connections lead back to a dragon. Our employer wishes us to humilate and destroy him.

The humilation step we decided to cover by breaking a magical foci that was a gift from his draconic patron in full public view, mostly likely in front of his magical circle as well. The destruction part we plan to follow closely on the heels of the humilation, and that's where you folks come in.

We're going to ambush him at his party. Ironic, yes, I know. Basically, I need to know if you're more comfortable blending into the crowd and helping us from concealment, attacking him or his bodyguard directly in melee, ranged fire, etc.

Our primary target is the focus he's wearing, and then him, and then anyone left on his crew that wants to cause trouble. We're pretty sure once he's down that the magical circle will be done with it if we let them. They don't like him, they follow out of ambition, greed, and fear, so there's no love lost between members. His bodyguard, on the other hand, we know next to nothing about, except for the fact that she's a very powerful adept, and probably very skilled with her hands since he drags her around on that leash naked."

"It is possible, though the precision of such means is rarely such as to be able to lay in ambush."

The evening was quiet outside, the way Shiver liked it with a quiet breeze blowing in through the penthouse window.

"What do you remember of your other half's actions before the journey?"

"Not much...bits and pieces, though it seems more like dreams. I remember more when Des is considerate enough to leave notes, which she apparently didn't deam necessary this time. Though seems she's open enough to reminding me of your conduct while I was out."

Aaron was sure he mis-heard Bakatare's statement.

"A Dragon, we're slotting off a Dragon? The Dragon's not going to be present when we go about whacking his favorite pet is he?" He took a deep clensing breath, just like his old carromeleg instructor had taught him, 'control the breath and you control yourself, control yourself and you control the universe', in order to fight down the panic the thought caused.

"As for skill sets, I'm pretty solid in close combat, that's where my specialty lies really, but I've also trained extensively in heavy weapons. I'd say I'd be more useful in close but that's your call. I'd be willing to deal with the fragger's bodyguard and could go in totally unarmed it needs be."

The thought of the 'leashed adept' excited him. He'd always prided himself on his martial arts skills.

Lets just see how tough this chica is.

Bakatare chuckles dryly.

"We've been assured that Michael isn't a major player between dragons, and that he's a minor and expendable asset. Our employer has assured us that the actions that spurred our response was outside of the scope of his position in the dragon's employ, and that there should be very little, if any, fallout directly on us. We did some checking on our employer, and she's tied into the dragon world pretty significantly, so she at least has the credentials to know what she's talking about.

Of course, we're dealing with dragons, so you know we're not seeing the big picture, and how much of that you want to believe is up to you. I wouldn't blame you personally if you decided to step out.

However, if you're in, having you moving through the crowd and ready to deal with the bodyguard sounds like an excellent idea."

Aaron smiled and his eyes danced with mischief. He stretched his long arms to their fullest extension, sculpting his muscles into a living, moving version of a pointy earred David.

"Oh, I'm in, so long as we're not doing something overtly suicidal, then I wouldn't miss it for the world."

:: As Murray pulls into the small mostly empty parking lot, Moira moves to the door and slides it open. ::

"I shouldn't be too long. If you want, there's a bar here. You can come grab a drink if you don't want to stay in the car."

:: The neighborhood seems too industrial to welcome either residential homes or nightlife entertainment. The building Moira moves toward is a drab matte grey painted building that for all the world looks like a beat up Lego block. A simple white on black sign point the way to the entrance. UNDERGROUND -->. ::

:: The early hour still finds a few hard core regulars, bent over half empty tumblers of dark liquid, cigarettes dangling limply from their cracked lips. Thankfully, there were only two currently and the air was not so acrid as it typically got later in the evening. ::

:: Despite the bar's obvious rough and dangerous appearance, the space seemed to caress and adore the moon maiden, smoke curling around her white clad body gently lending an almost airbrushed quality. Busily washing dishes in the sink, the huge troll caught a glimpse of the girl in white and felt his breath catch as he always did. He still remembers the first time she came, with his buddy from the war, homeless and broken after a botched extraction. She looked then like a fallen angel with broken wings. ::

:: Turning around, he smiled toothily at his only live entertainment. ::

"Hey there Em. Folks around here missed you last week. Will you be back to sing for us Tomorrow?"

:: Moira smiled at one of her few friends as she leans on the bar. ::

"Im afraid not Wulf, Im still on the same assignment. Things will be....very dicey the next couple of days. I've just returned to get some fresh clothes. A friend of mine may be coming in. Put his drinks on my tab, alright?"

:: Wulf nods quickly and rests his gigantic hand on top of both of hers. ::

"Be cautions, be careful and be clever. Then they'll never know what hit 'em."

:: She smiled wider at the old troll. He may be just a bartender, but Moira held no doubts that he had seen more action then any runner she had yet to meet. Climbing the stairs to the loft she had made her home, she opens the door, steps in, and closes it behind her. Seemingly dazed, she stands in the middle of her barren living area and just stares. Not in astral, not the mundane. Alone in her room, Moira lets herself lose her sanity. Her chest hurst as the grief of her losses hit her with sudden ferocity. Overnight, through her journey into the Gallery, she had been forced not only with her own haunted past, but saw glimpses into the tortures they all had faced. Was her's any more or less severe then theirs? Suddenly, as that question burned in her mind, she realized that the answer was no. ::

:: She reverted back to the young child standing on the rooftop of a hospital morning the loss of her mother. Staring up at the moon and learning that death was just the final phase and not something to be hated. It was tragic what had happened to her beloved family, but they were at peace now. No further harm could come to either of them. Minutes passed as her mind settled and the fog that had been clouding her spirit for over a decade was lifting. ::

:: Opening her eyes, she feels a calm peace she has not felt before and it empowers her. She can feel the changes in her body and soul, she had wanted to change her aura but had forgotten that in order to make such a change, one had to change themselves significantly as well. ::

:: Turning to her closet, she strips off the now dirty gown and form fitted body armor she wore beneath. She takes a thorough but quick shower before pulling on new undergarmets, her long sleeved and legged form fitted armor and then dressing in a pair of relaxed authentic demin slacks and a black pullover. Stuffing an extra set of casual clothes as well as a carefully folded clean gown into an overnight bag, she includes a pair of heels and a pair of boots as well as typical toiletries before heading back downstairs. ::

"And what has she told you?"

Shiver reached forward to refill his tea cup from the pot, warming Angelina's cup as well.

"Right now she's berating me for answering questions when you have yet to completely answer ours." Angelina said, looking rather henpecked. "You were rather vague in your answers about you and Mynce."

Watching Moira disappear into the lego block, Murrey steps out of the car and locks it, taking a moment to walk to a flats dispenser and grab something to wear while washing these out back at Iblis' place. On the way back he watching people moving about there lives and wonders how many would make the choices he has, to have put themselves, paid or not, directly into the path of the blizzard in defense of a group of folks nobody seems to understand or shows much desire to.
He watches as a gander shouts at one of his geese, maybe she didn't charge enough, maybe she took to long, the reason isn't important, just that he has an excuse to shout at her, to reaffirm his dominance over someone. A chip head slumping in a burned out alley, escaping into his little deck for a fantasy catches his eye for a moment.
Am I any better? I distance myself from all the violence I inflict. I put my drones and my vehicles in harm's way, not myself. No, never that. This guy here might do violence to feed his monkey, I know I do violence to feed mine. Well, I often do. Man, how long has it been since I just drove them to their location and lost the occasional news hound? Not long enough, I hate prissy politicians and media savvy what-nots. They cause this rot, they make people like Paladin get iced. They make it profitable to hurt Izzy and Iblis, they encourage people to hire me to make them stop; yet I am as culpable as they. The actions of those like me panic them, make them act rashly, don't they? Does any oyabun ever act rashly anymore?
I remember the meds the enclave fed us to keep us evened out and numb, they said they were vitamins, but it's funny how when you go off them the air smells worse, the colors are less dim but no less soulless, you can almost feel the lighting sucking your soul out through your eyes. My folks probably got canned over me, my sister might be one of these geese right now and I can't do a Dunkle-damned thing even to find out.
Eh, too much soul searching, back to the car you...
stepping around a dozing junkie, Murrey heads back to the car as he sees Moira coming out of the building.

"She is my employer in all that entails. I am compensated for my services. You both know by this point, what a small portion of my duties are."

Shiver's voice is unchanged. The same soft tone he used when asking Angelina questions, answers her own.

"Care to elaborate a bit more on the rest of those duties?" Angelina asked pointedly. She was starting to see just why Desdemona was so irked with him. He was being decidedly vague in his answers. The time for that was over. She wanted the details.

"My primary duty is to teach. Beyond that, I perform several duties which change depending on operations. Currently, you are the crux of my duties. I am to defend, nurture and observe you."

Here the old troll's voice cracks.

"If Desdemona becomes a problem, I am to follow certain executive directives.

"Those are my duties and I will carry them out without fail. My employer does not care whether I love you or not."

Executive directives...they had already heard enough about that. "Yes...that is the problem. If Desdemona would just behave herself, we wouldn't have all this trouble. Now that it is simply a battle of wills to determine who is in control, I'll just have to show Des that I'm stronger than she thinks I am."

In a delayed response to Hiroto, Bakatare ponders for several moments before speaking.

"As much as I'd prefer to isolate him and take him out that way, it's got to be public. That's about the only way to assure we get the humiliation factor our employer is looking for. It needs to be public and obvious. It's good that the two of you are both capable in close combat. We'll have you both in the room, moving among the crowd to give you as much access to the target as possible without alerting suspicion. I think both of you should focus on dealing with the bodyguard. Drop her as quickly as possible. Moira, Angelica and I will deal with magical responses from the circle and destroy the focus while Shiver distracts the main target. Once the bodyguard is down, the focus should be as well, and we can take out the main target. Once he's down, the rest of the circle should be willing to let it go. They don't like him, and have no loyalty to him besides obedience to the power he wields."

Elsewhere...

The light in the area seems warm and inviting. The sound of birds can be heard all around. The distant sights of the city can be seen and the calm is broken by the sound of a car making it's way through the fields and low hills. A grey SUV makes it's way and stops some distance from the remains of a small campfire. The doors all spring open and Stefan exits the front passenger side followed by three men. They move with a subtle grace and control. One heads to the back of the vehicle and retrieves a small duffel bag and makes his way to a spot littered with bone and ash. He carefully begins to collect the ash and bone from the area. The other three spread out and begin to watch the area for any signs of trouble.

"Gather what you can, get as much as possible."

Stefan's tone is light and relaxed, his own natural voice comes through. He seems to relish the moment of being able to just speak without layering it with meanings and nuances. He pulls out a slim cell phone from his suit jacket.

"Afternoon Sir. We're here now and it looks like events have unfolded as predicted. I have them gathering what we can salvage from the site." Several minutes pass as he listens to the voice at the other end.

"I'll make sure everything is in order. Goodbye Sir." He moves back to the SUV and takes a moment to enjoy the sunshine and open air, so very different from the club where he spent most of his time.

"That would be the best choice of action. What is the current relationship between you and her? It would seem that you are now in direct communication without shifting."

"Yes, I have a roomate in my head. A rather vocal roomate, who has threatened to kick my behind several times now." Angelina said with a wince that was becoming all too common.

Shiver nods and sips more of his tea as he watches Angelina wince in pain.

"How connected are the two of you? Does your form still shift when each roommate assumes authority?"

"I believe so. She managed to kick me to the backseat back in the metaplanes. I wasn't expecting it, though I know to always stay on my guard now."

"Very well. If there are no further questions, we should get some rest. I am sure that the rest of the team will be calling us as soon as they are rested, which could be as little as three hours from now."

Rising to his feet, Shiver collects the tea set and returns to the kitchen. Quietly he rinses the tea pot, disposing of the tea leaves, and goes about washing the two small teacups they had used. The his and her's disparity plainly obvious due to the need to modify everything to accomodate his large grip.

After setting the teapot and cups to dry in the rack, the old troll puts away the dishes from dinner. Their conversation had lasted long enough for the plates and pans to dry. Each mundane task allowed him the chance to spend another moment in a simple life, before he would be forced again to deceive his companion and serve the one person who truly knew him and whom he owed everything.

Hiroto sat in deep thought as Bakatare explained the situation. After Arron has said his piece he spoke up. "While what he has done deserves the fate that is planned for him, I see little need for the humilation before killing him, as killing him solves the problem either way, but I understand that is what has been requested of you, I shall assist in whatever way I can but I shall not partake in the humiliation of the man."

"My abilities are at your service."

Bakatare arches a brow at Hiroto as he speaks.

"Well, the destruction of the focus in public has been deemed humiliation enough. I trust that particular act does not offend?"

"My appologies I assumed where I should not have that the humiliation would be of a more..." Hiroto stuggles to find the right word, "...spiteful... nature. That action does not offend.

Bakatare actually chuckles. "No offense or apologies necessary. I have a dear friend with some similiar foibles."

Waiting an hour for the sounds of breathing in Angelina's side of the house to reach that slow, steady beat that means she is sleeping, Shiver spends the time mentally preparing his debriefing to Mynce.

Later, he slips out of the apartment and arms the security system. The night air is cool and wet as the troll makes his way through downtown to his car parked in the storage lot. From the car he calls his employer, informing her that he is on his way in.

Sitting once again in the office, he starts by asking about operations that have continued in his absence and ensures the safety and wellbeing of his pupils. With the patience that comes from certainty of position and relationship, Shiver begins. He speaks of the samurai and the attack on the field by the Ito clan as worldly matters that may need to be addressed before shifting into discussion about the journey.

Mynce sat still during the telling and made little comment, waiting for the tale to end. She seems to let the tension flow from her body and leans back in her chair. "I have no idea where you went or what that all bodes for the future. I'll see if any of the other cells have any information that may help us. In the meantime, what's your take on her threat level to herself and others around her?" As she speaks, she moves to open a small portable computer and begins to enter data waiting for Shiver's reply.

"At the moment, I'd say her threat is level is slightly higher than it was before the journey began, though still within acceptable limits. The ability to share information both ways rather than the one way stream which I had some ability to mediate with access to the journal has shifted and there now seems to be a constant communication between her two aspects.

"It is interesting that the Master of Forms took specific interest in her, perhaps bearing evidence to the fact that her presence in our care was guided by the necessity of the act for us to progress."

Shiver leans forward and picks his hat up from Mynce's desk, before carefully running his fingers along the inner lining of the felt and silk. Withdrawing the needle, he holds it up.

"What can you make of this? My ability to parse the deeper mysteries of energy is very limited, but this is the physical manifestation of the oath I made to the Dweller. I must thrust this needle into the flesh of another within the cycle of a moon and submit that individual to the tender mercies of an infinitely powerful, yet trapped immortal."

:: Returning to Bakatare's home, Moira seems refreshed, but reserved. Dropping her overnight bag next to the couch, she sits down as they go over the plan one last time. Listening to the summary of the plan, she nods her understanding. ::

"I have asked my guardian spirit to help me learn a technique to control the crowd. I cannot say whether or not I will be able to learn this skill before we commence the plan, but I will put every effort into it. If I fail, I still have several options for manipulating the situation with my voice, but it will mean that I will be a likely target as my position will be highly visible. Any spell defense thrown my way would be quite appreciated."

Mynce leans forward and appears to look through the needle. A few minutes pass before she makes a disgusted noise and leans back into her chair. "If it something supernatural it's beyond my ability to tell. I would recommend keeping the bargain at this point, the last thing the society needs is an unknown entity like you described compromising one of our own." She nods, giving the clear sign their meeting being over, as Shiver moves to leave she looks at him once more. "Do not hesitate if it becomes necessary, she is our responsibility and the oaths we swore leave you no other choice."

"Duty before all."

Shiver rises to his feet and looks to his employer, gives a deep bow and leaves. He knew that to hesitate would mean the death of many and to act would lead to a death deep within himself. Necessity did not care what pains he would endure, it simply knew that the path was as it was.

Returning to the penthouse, to find it quiet as he left it, the aging troll, who if his path had laid differently before him would be vibrant and full of life rather than entering the twilight of his years, prepared to shower. The water sluiced off his scales and deposits, running red over the cut made in his forearm for the sacrifice to the spirit gateway.

He did not know why, but his conversation with Mynce had led Shiver to examine the various turns and possiblities that could have been his path. By the time the water turned cold, he was still there. Turning off the water and stepping out of the shower onto the heated tile floor, the possibilities melted away.

A human, born to the Ito Clan, stripped by his change to a troll at age 10.

An athlete, excised by the exclusion of phys-ads in professional sports.

A family, wife and child, bought part and parcel with his life by the Brimstone Society.

Thousands of minor twists and turns within those larger moments, are brushed away and absorbed into something greater like the water on his body, the towel becoming his duty and purpose. He had seen the path laid before, straight as if shot from an arrow. Shiver's life and path was simple, direct, and completely unlike those which his companions walked on. It separated them at times, but gave im the focus necessary to do what must be done.

Sleep overtakes him for a few hours, but soon he rises as he must, and finds inner peace in meditation. Shortly before sunrise, Shiver finishes his meditation but stays in his room to read. Soon Angelina would start making breakfast and he would enter the public areas. He did not know how many more breakfasts they would have here together, but it was not important. They would have as many as they were meant to have, no fewer and no more.

Bakatare nods as Moira describes the situation, mentally evaluating what he could of her appearance. She looked weary, but it was a subtle weariness, one that had nothing to do with how much sleep she'd had lately. Weary as if a massive burden had been lifted, and still unsure how to react without that weight present. But no mind...

He mentally shook his head. That got them nowhere, and details had to be decided, plans had to be disbursed. He sent a quick note over to Shiver to plan a meeting with the troll and the split woman later to pass along the details, and a second to Madam Yin to get the details of the catering company they were supposed to move with. The team members would have to arrive with them, work with them at least a little in the beginning before Michael arrived to avoid being obvious.

Bakatare

You recieve a small alert for a new incoming message. As you quickly access it the text scrolls by.

I will be using a small catering company by the name of Josie's Delights. I have contacted the on-site manager for the party and explained that the client requested a certain look to the serving staff and that I would be supplying a few extra waiters for the event. Your group will need to be there by 8 pm to get uniforms and go over the night's schedule. I need some more information about the entertainment you will be providing. Is it a man or a woman? What form will this entertainment take? Singing, dancing, etc. Please let me know as soon as possible. Yin

Shiver & Angelina

You soon find a message from the rest of the team asking for a location to meet and go over the details of the job.

He takes a moment to jot down a reply as the information arrives.

The entertainment will be a female singer. She's very good, but she's very local, a definite unknown. I can arrange for a sample of her music for you it if would be helpful.

I'll also make sure the additional "staff" is there on time.

I am grateful again for your assistance in this matter, and I will endeavor to limit the collateral effects to your club and clientele. It is my sincere hope that the benefits of our arrangement will surpass the drawbacks.

Looking up to the group again, he relays Madam Yin's information to the group.

"Additionally, I've one avenue left for additional information. I'm not sure how vital it is at this point, but more information is never a bad thing, and it might be useful in dealing with Michael directly. Although cliched, the meeting is in the Barrens, only at night, and I've been warned to bring along physical protection." He glances at Aaron and Hiroto.

"You two seem the most directly capable in that regard. I'll like you to accompany me this evening to find out what we can find out."

"That should give me time to mentally prepare myself as well. Hopefully if all goes well, I will be able to keep the crowd relatively in check so that there is less collateral damage and less interferance. It should also help us to escape once the job's been done."