As he turned away to leave, the party seemingly intending to question the assailants elsewhere, and dispersed his illusion into a viscous red mist with a sweep of the hand, Ulor briefly gazed into the obstinate merchant's eyes, hissing "So be it, then. You shall know fear." Moving away from the stand, he then promptly forgot about the man, growing absorbed in the quandary of how else he could procure an offering for the immolation, preferably in good condition and at a less blatantly bloated price. Ah, they would be heading towards the city cathedral - assuming this dire place had only one cathedral, as cities ought to - later that day. Surely something of the sort he sought would have been available around it, or, if all else failed, [i]inside[/i] it. He could, for instance, make himself pass for an acolyte at the ceremony. His guesses would surely have been as good as the knowledge of anyone but an esoterite...

At that point, his thoughts were interrupted by the group's arrival at their apparent destination. Some sort of inn with a Kobold, of all things, as its insignia. And a homely one, if the writings - some of them scratched over, but he could not read those anyway - etched below a depiction of the creature in question were worth anything. One wondered whom this sort of designation was supposed to attract, but Ulor had seen far worse as inns went, and thus stepped without much reluctance. One crowded space was worth another, after all. Indeed, for the moment none of the motley folk assembled here had charged towards him swinging a weapon, which was already an improvement over the street. That impish figure with the tankards who seemed to be acquainted with their feline guide, presumably the innkeeper, did seem eager to defer them to the services of his hench-goblin, but that was nothing new among the profession.

Conveniently enough, the elf, at whom the goblin's evil looks had been directed, was swift to be cowed into paying what might have more than circumstances required, but that was none of his concern. The less came out of Ulor's own pocket, the more he would have in store for such cases as the inopportune banishment of the octopus. Leaving her to fiddle with some critter, which was presumably what their kin did most of the time, he swept over the occupants of the room with a glance. Various figures of suspicious appearance, now that he thought of it. But this tiefling seemed intentioned to fulfil his share of the bargain, which, in his words, included keeping unwelcome attention away from them, if paid well enough, which he apparently was. If he failed to, he could be- But no, better to ensure he would not fail beforehand.

Reaching for the innkeeper's mind with tendrils of twisted dream, Ulor spoke, his words resounding both aloud and within the tiefling's thoughts:

"S[sup]S[/sup]e[sup]e[/sup]e[sup]e[/sup] t[sup]t[/sup]o[sup]o[/sup] i[sup]i[/sup]t[sup]t[/sup] t[sup]t[/sup]h[sup]h[/sup]a[sup]a[/sup]t[sup]t[/sup] t[sup]t[/sup]h[sup]h[/sup]e[sup]e[/sup] e[sup]e[/sup]y[sup]y[/sup]e[sup]e[/sup]s[sup]s[/sup] a[sup]a[/sup]n[sup]n[/sup]d[sup]d[/sup] e[sup]e[/sup]a[sup]a[/sup]r[sup]r[/sup]s[sup]s[/sup] o[sup]o[/sup]f[sup]f[/sup] t[sup]t[/sup]h[sup]h[/sup]e[sup]e[/sup] m[sup]m[/sup]a[sup]a[/sup]n[sup]n[/sup]y[sup]y[/sup] r[sup]r[/sup]e[sup]e[/sup]m[sup]m[/sup]a[sup]a[/sup]i[sup]i[/sup]n[sup]n[/sup] a[sup]a[/sup]w[sup]w[/sup]a[sup]a[/sup]y[sup]y[/sup] f[sup]f[/sup]r[sup]r[/sup]o[sup]o[/sup]m[sup]m[/sup] u[sup]u[/sup]s[sup]s[/sup]. S[sup]S[/sup]t[sup]t[/sup]r[sup]r[/sup]a[sup]a[/sup]y[sup]y[/sup] n[sup]n[/sup]o[sup]o[/sup]t[sup]t[/sup] f[sup]f[/sup]r[sup]r[/sup]o[sup]o[/sup]m[sup]m[/sup] y[sup]y[/sup]o[sup]o[/sup]u[sup]u[/sup]r[sup]r[/sup] t[sup]t[/sup]e[sup]e[/sup]r[sup]r[/sup]m[sup]m[/sup]s[sup]s[/sup]."


[hider=Mechanics]

Ulor continues to abuse his [i]Awakened Mind[/i], enjoining Racchus to ward off the curious as he had offered.

[/hider]