Sigil: The City of Doors

"Ahh, I see. Okay then," he thinks to himself, nervously looking at the assembled. "One more dive in and we'll close our business together. Thank you all for your help." Cyprian bows to them all.

/leave for private discourse?

"The bargaining chip I am about to offer will add a whole new dimension to his decorative plan." Akh mused. "I don't know if my position within the Dustmen is strong enough to hold a meeting with my Factol. But we can learn that tomorrow. On that, however, I must talk with you about an issue in private."

"We got out alive. This time. Not sure I'd trust m'silver tongue to get a much better deal. Demons is demons, an' I never yet met a Tanar'ri patient 'nough t'put up with too much dickering outta mortals. An' he damn sure ain't givin' up 'is entire dec'rative plan, so don't go pushin' too hard on gettin' more bodies out."

"Alright, marry it is then." Cyprian nodded. "Then shall we talk to your guildmaster for guidance? Perhaps there are trinkets we can trade in the dustmen vaults, or maybe he can give us a stipend to utilize in the procurement of others?" Cyprian scratched his head. "We could offer up the wand as his 'lynchpin' replacement. Then everything else could be middling in quality. From there it'll be the salesmen's job to get the most bang for our buck."

Akh remained introspected for a while after they had left.

"...Given the way that conversation went, I suppose the only viable solution is to offer the nalfeshnee a suitable item. I might have something they could accept." She looked at Cyprian, indicating what item she had in mind. "But I have no confidence in myself to negotiate a good bargain with it, my fluency in Infernal notwithstanding. Experiencing mistreatment of death firsthand on such a massive scale is too much for me to bear and keep whatever wits of mine about. I will definitely need help."

That confession of inadequacy wasn't painful to make for she was rather devoid of pride, but it didn't settle well with her nonetheless, awakening old fears. It reminded her of her bad track record in dealing with malevolent creatures. "The priority would be to get the whole skeleton out, not just the skull, and as many of the other corpses if able."

"Think we're damned lucky t'have gotten outta that with our limbs attached, and if we were gonna fight 'im, th'time was then, when he didn't know we were comin' or interested. Reckon y'find 'im somethin' suit'ble, or bring someone as values their skin less'n I do t'throw down with a Nalfeshnee on 'is own ground..."

(Assuming it's okay to skip ahead then? If not I can hold off on this part.)

Cyprian wouldn't have much to say until they were well out of the abyss and a ways away from the Darkhouse Inn. Only then would he turn to the others and say,

"Well! I suppose we have three options then: Kill, bang, or marry! Thoughts?"

Illi, having helped as much as she could, gives a curtsy.

"Sorry about the tall fellow and the whole... gold and long-term trade business. He got ahead of himself without remembering that we have yet to successfully complete our first transaction. After all, you'd be a fool to deal with us further if we can't complete our first trade satisfactorily."

He shrugged.

"Heroes. What can you do?"

Akh wouldn't interfere now just as she hadn't so far. This whole turn of events proved to be out of her depth and she was grateful for more outspoken types to have come. She wasn't entirely sure what in fact had been agreed on, but time for clarifications would be found later.