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[color=saddlebrown][b]Time:[/b][/color] Late Morning
[color=saddlebrown][b]Location:[/b][/color] The Nest; Roshmi
[color=saddlebrown][b]Interactions:[/b][/color]
[color=saddlebrown][b]Mentions:[/b][/color] [@ShiningSector] Five; [@FunnyGuy] Thraash; [@princess] Mari; [@Alivefalling] Aerilyn
[color=saddlebrown][b]Equipment:[/b][/color]
[hider]His travelling clothes - Dark, earthy shirt and coat, with trousers tucked into boots
A hooded, oilskin cloak
His bow, unstrung
A musket
Two pistols
Two hatchets
His travelling pack[/hider][/center]
[hr]

Of course, it [i]had[/i] to be today. Scathael hadn’t expected otherwise.

Well, most of him hadn’t, at least. It would be a lie if he said that there hadn’t been a small part of him that had wished for the rest of his time in the Nest to go quietly and smoothly. And so, he didn’t. That part was a fool, anyway; the place was practically a font of chaos. Neither did peace follow him whenever he left the open road for a town or city. With those two incontrovertible truths in mind, it would have been a far bigger surprise had his visit to the Next gone off without any further trouble. 

Granted, he hadn’t quite expected trouble to manifest itself as a hulking Warforged launching itself through the doors. Flimsy wood burst into a shower of tiny splinters. Shouts and yells of surprise echoed up, down, and across the inn’s floors. One tore itself from Scathael’s lips as he almost fell from his seat. He kept his balance, however, and managed to catch a glimpse of the machine as it went straight for the dragonborn, his elf friend, and the demi-human. A fight erupted immediately, and the rest of the inn went into a riotous uproar, although all had sense and none joined in. “Bloody typical,” Scathael muttered beneath his breath as he settled into his chair once more and did his best to ignore the noise. Really, what had he expected to happen, coming here? 

At least the Warforged didn’t seem interested in anyone else. Scathael just had to wait long enough for it to capture its quarry, or for said quarry to make a clever and daring getaway, and he could continue going about his business and on with his day.

Said business was a feline demi-human seated across the table from him. Her tail swished excitedly, as if it had a mind of its own, as she twisted around to watch the altercation with rapt attention. Scathael sighed and folded his arms over his chest. Up until just now, she had been haggling with him over a good quantity of excess musket balls he had cast back in the village. They had almost agreed on a good price, even. But Fate, as it was wont to do, just had to intervene. 

Scathael exhaled slowly though his nose. Things could be worse, he supposed. He could be one of those that were fighting the vicious-looking Warforged, for one. 

The demi-human furtively slid a hand towards the pistol on her thigh, and Scathael immediately gave her chair a hard kick. She let out a yelp, and snapped back around to glare at him with annoyance and a touch of embarrassment in her wide, brownish-green eyes. Scathael didn’t look apologetic in the least. He didn’t even sound sheepish when he said, [color=saddlebrown]“Are you an idiot? If you want to do that, do it from the other side.”[/color]

“Oh.” The demi-human’s irritation seeped away from her visage. “D’you think it’s got a sore spot around its back or somethin’?”

[color=saddlebrown]“No,”[/color] Scathael replied, managing to pack the dryness of a desert into that one syllable. [color=saddlebrown]“But I won't be turned into a stain on the wall with you if you're over there and I'm here.”[/color]

The demi-human scowled, but returned her hand to the table nonetheless. “I take it you’ve dealt with one of those before?” She jerked her head towards the Warforged. 

[color=saddlebrown]“Yes.”[/color]

“What was it like?”

Scathael shrugged. [color=saddlebrown]“I fixed the broken ones and left the able ones alone. That’s all. I never stayed around long enough to get to know them.”[/color] He never stayed around long enough to know if those in particularly dire straits ever survived long enough to get proper repairs, either, but he kept that part to himself. He recalled meeting some that had – quite literally – been on their last legs. Scathael could keep the mechanical parts running, but their magical components? That was well-beyond his expertise. He could only hope that they managed to find their way to someone who could properly fix them before expiring. 

“Really? You weren’t curious at all?”

Scathael fixed the demi-human with an unamused look. [color=saddlebrown]“Yes, yes, you exposed me. I made friends with a few and we had tea parties.”[/color] The demi-human rolled her eyes, but chuckled and smirked anyway. Before she could reply, however, Scathael noticed the Warforged doing something strange. An unfamiliar tension gripped his heart as he eyes narrowed. Then, they widened as he saw sickly, yellow smoke billow from the machine’s mouth. He had seen something similar before, and on a Warforged as well. Granted, the smoke then had emerged from somewhere else, and had looked different, but Scathael wasn’t about to take any chances. It had been terrible then. He would bet that it would be terrible now if nothing was done.

[color=saddlebrown]“Windows,”[/color] he exclaimed and shot to his feet. The smoke was still thickest around the machine, but it was spreading quickly. Though the cloud itself was unlikely to reach him, diffusion would ensure that everyone in the inn would breathe some of the stuff in, even if they could detect neither scent nor colour. He looked at the demi-human, still seated. [color=saddlebrown]“Get the windows, get the fans, cut a hole in the walls if you have to.” His words came out in a torrent. “That thing is going to suffocate us all if we don’t do something quick!”[/color]

He didn’t bother waiting for a response, but the patter of feet against wood told him that she was at least doing something. One of the windows on the wall behind him was already ajar, and its old hinges squeaked painfully as he pushed it open to its greatest extent before moving on the the next. [color=saddlebrown]“Every window, every door has to be opened! Get the fans going as fast as they can as well!”[/color] He yelled at anyone in earshot, which wasn’t much thanks to the din of the fight. [color=saddlebrown]“Unless you want bad things to happen to you, do it quickly!”[/color]