Alea Iacta Est! (IC)

[Jormengand]

No-one could help but wonder why there was a man made of metal walking through town, but it was universally assumed that he was traveling to Johann's workshop, near the Black fox Inn - Johann, after all, specialised in the creation and maintenance of such constructs. Whatever the reason, their curiosity was swiftly crushed under the dark boots of Jezebel Winter.

The fact that Blackjack Jezebel was in town seemed even more frightening than a metal behemoth with a hammer, and entire streets cleared to avoid her - though perhaps, that was the way she liked it. Few could tell.

Few people, therefore, were interested in the mechanical man, but a certain Nial Domas had devoted his life to searching for a cure to every illness known to man, and to him, the idea of a suit of armour which kept you alive even in death was interesting to say the least. He was stood outside the Black Fox, waiting for the man to pass by.

As he waited, he saw a crazy-looking pink-haired lady with a weird forked cane waltz through the door. Though Nial could not have known it, this girl was Mistress, and she was on a quest for drugs. Any ladies who shared her inclinations would constitute an added bonus.

Mistress was treated to a view of the Black Fox's occupants - a few drunken workmen were trying to see who could drink the most, while Lana, one of Johann's technological assistants, sat on her own in a corner. The other few customers had gathered around a single table, clearly waiting for someone to arrive. It didn't take a genius to guess who - everyone had heard of Blackjack Jezebel, after all. Sure enough, Lana hardly had time to speak the words "Hey there, kiddo" before the door opened to reveal the black cloak which ensconced the pariah of their nightmares.

In the background, the clank of metal feet did little to ease their fear.

[Hazuki]

Mistress treads confidently across the threshold of the den of dastardly dudes and demonstrably delightful derrieres, her scarf wrapped around her slender neck as she breathes in the myriads of scents that accompany The Black Fox and its ilk. Ales, oils, and those little bowls of nuts that nobody is quite sure of what they are and even fewer attempt to eat them. She twirls her cane between her fingers as she wanders between the tables, searching for a suitable spot to sit down on before the wind blows in behind her and ruffles her scarf. They were letting the wind in, whoever had entered behind her so she draw a thin silver wand from her jacket and pointed it at the door while facing the other way; the hinges creaking before the door firmly closed; right in the face of Blackjack Jezebel. "That's better! Nobody likes a draft." The young woman says proudly to herself, unaware of who she's slammed the door in the face of.

A quick surveillance of the gathered people reveals that drunken men would never be the best to get coherent information from, people playing cards were not quite her game, and somebody already seemed to be attempting to greet her. So, with a bright smile on her lips, Mistress approaches Lana's tables and hops up on it, expecting to slide suavely across it just a little bit. Instead, she slides a bit too far and ends up going across the entire table; ending up leaning in an all-too-comfortably position with her arms sprawled across the head of her seat and her rear bumper barely meeting the cushion.

"Hello!" Mistress greets Lana nevertheless, sitting herself upright and meeting the woman's eyes. "I'm Mistress and I'm here to help."

[D20ragon]

Nial watched the Iron figure, gazing at him thoughtfully out of his child face.
Perhaps he should get to know the man...
Hefting his black bag off the ground, he walked into the bar, on thin, nine year old legs, where he hoped the man was headed.

"exthcuse me, mithter, but have you theen my daddy?" he asks the bartender, lisping outrageously.
He completely ignores the whispers in the background, speaking of Blackjack someone. Who cared about gambling? He had dealt with the devil and won.

[Jormengand]

Nial slips through to door just as Mistress slams the door after him, and the two begin their respective conversations. Lana looks over at Mistress with a look of bewilderment on her face. "Uh... you mean help getting us all killed? You know who that girl was?" By the time she's at the end of the sentence, she speaks in a harsh whisper. Lana then looks at the glass in a way which speaks volumes, and each of these volumes reads, on every line of every page "I need more drink than this."

The bartender looks unfazed by the commotion, and the eminent laughter, cheering and distinctly inappropriate compliments of several of the visitors, and looks down at Nial. "Maybe, but if he looks anything like you, I don't think I have. Do you have any idea where he went?"

[D20ragon]

"I don't know," Nial says, beginning to pout.
His face brightens.
"Do you have hot chocolate?"

[Lady Serpentine]

Jezebel's eyes narrow as the door slams in her face, and, a moment later, the abused furnishing is shoved open, banging against the wall with sufficient force to make it slam shut once more just as she slips inside, gaze focused on the one who was holding the wand moments ago...

As she reaches the table Mistress is at, she reaches into her jacket and tosses a card onto it, which slides just to the center, plainly visible to everyone sitting there.

On the card is a rather nicely done painting of single skull, sitting abandoned in the midst of a clearing, with thorns growing through its eyes, and keeping the lower jaw attached.

Should they turn the card over, the back bears another painting, that of a full moon over a forest, presumably simply the backing image.

[Jormengand]

The laughter and shouting die out as abruptly as they began, as Jezebel enters the room. The bartender is bold or foolish enough to shout "Hey! Mind the door!" but the majority of the rest of the room is reduced to hushed whispers. When Jezzie throws the card onto the table, Lana looks at it with dismay, and collapses onto the table. It is not, perhaps, Lana's day.

The barkeeper looks down at Nial "Sorry about that. Yeah, you can have hot chocolate, if you can pay for it."

Meanwhile, one of the waiting challengers stands up, and faces Jezebel. "I've heard a great deal about you, Blackjack Jezebel. Shall we see how good you really are?" He looks around to the other three men and two women at the table, who present various levels of anticipation, apprehension or thinly-veiled hatred.

[D20ragon]

"Yeth please"
Nial says, digging out a coin.
"Ith thith enough? Ith all I've got..."
He glances over to Jezibel. She's got style, at the least, he thinks.

[Hazuki]

"...what girl?" Mistress asks in response to Lana's apparent fear of an ephemeral girl, tilting her head at the apparently alcoholic young woman in curiosity. Perhaps she's a better lead on ebony dolphin than the young woman had expected, and the hallucinations were going to be a side effect of some withdrawal or aftertaste of the drugs. But, before Mistress' pretty eyes can ponder the situation for much longer, her attention is directed to the person that has approached their table.

Mistress glances up at the woman's face, then at the card she placed at the table, and flashes her an innocent smile. "My, what a pretty picture! Did you draw this yourself? I love a good artist, personally; they always have interesting things to say, and I don't think I've yet met an artist I didn't not un-like. Do you think you could do me?"

[Lady Serpentine]

"I did. And several more, as well. As for your other question... I do believe I have a more pressing engagement at the moment. So we will have to discuss it after I win."

With that, she walks off, unless stopped somehow, and takes a seat at the table where the challengers are, quirking her head at them. "If you wish to test me, very well... What will you place on the table?"

[Jormengand]

The barman smiles at Nial. "Yes, that will do." The coin offered was not actually enough to pay, but the barman profited nonetheless. Okay, maybe a little the less, but it was a good enough price

The man is seated, but then he takes out a few coins, and chucks them on the table. "We've not got much, but we'll give you a good game, trust me." He motions towards the dilapidated deck in the centre of the table. "Shall we begin?"

The player is good, but nowhere near as good as the legend herself. He'll need a bit of luck to win, but it looks like he might get that luck!

[roll0]

After a swift game, the man reveals his hand. "Twenty-one," he says, in smug confidence that he has won.

Lana, by this point, had recovered enough to answer Mistress. "That girl," she said in hushed tones, "Is Blackjack Jezebel. She could have killed you for that!"

[Lady Serpentine]

"And I have the same," Jezebel replies, laying her cards on the table and smiling coolly at him. "The luck of the draw, good sir - one should know better than to assume one has won until one has seen the other party's cards, no?"

She laughs softly, resting her hands behind her head and leaning back, shrugging a bit. "Time for the next hand, so... Milady, would you care to deal?", She asks the woman to the right of the man across from her, fortunately one of the ones who was anticipatory, rather than hating her, at least so far as she could tell.

[roll0]

[D20ragon]

Nial smiles.

"Tank you mister man."

Hmmm. Jezebel... Had he heard of her?
He strode over to her, his head of golden curls level with her seated waist.
"excuse me miss, but could I sit with with you?" he says in his best precocious-yet cute voice.

[Hazuki]

Mistress continues with her smile even as Jezebel walks away in oder to duel with another bar patron, only turning back to Lana once the clearly shocked and intimidated woman has recovered from her. She meets Lana's eyes coolly, a mischievous glint in her own. "Yes, I know. She can kill me, but I have the moral high ground."

[Lady Serpentine]

Jezebel spins in her seat, 'accidentally' elbowing Nial in the eye as she does, and looks down at him coldly, one gun already out and aimed at him. "You should know better than to sneak up on a lady... And unless you plan on buying into the game, no, you can't," she says as she puts the weapon away and turns back to the game.

[D20ragon]

"I think that's a mistake, miss. How many have bargined with the Devil and won?" Nial asks in a whisper, sipping his hot chocolate through pouty red lips. Inside his sleeve, one hand toys with his scalpel.

[Lady Serpentine]

Jezebel pauses mid-turn, hands slipping back to her guns. "There have been people who have claimed that I have, or that I am a devil. And regardless of the truth of those tales, there will be one less in approximately... Five seconds...if you claim that distinction, unless you remove your hand from your sleeve and let me be," she whispers in reply, glaring at him, obviously unimpressed, as the one chosen to be dealer starts to shuffle the deck. "For somehow I suspect that even your bargain does not include a pair of cursed bullets to the heart."

[D20ragon]

"what's a cursed bullet to a cursed heart?"
Nial whispers.
"c'mon, as one devil to another."

[Lady Serpentine]

"Enough to stop it," is the swift reply, followed by a motion too fast to see and a pair of gunshots, though they come so close together as to be nearly indistinguishable, each one striking Nial dead in his clockwork heart... Which produces some rather interesting clanging and gear-grinding due to the amount of damage the cursed rounds do, thus presumably giving a clear indication to everyone present that he wasn't what he appeared to be.

Aaaand, as I forgot I might need to roll extra damage for doing so well on my rolls...

[roll0]
[roll1]

[D20ragon]

A grin spreads across Nials face, as the bullets hit him. He feels no pain, of course.
Perfect. Quite Deadly, just what was needed. Now to gain that body at some point...

"Bye Bye," he says as he falls to unconciousness.

[Jormengand]

Lana did several things in this time. The first of any significance was to giggle slightly at Mistress' bravery, or perhaps foolishness. The second was to raise an eyebrow at the small child heading across the room, and the third was to stand up, knocking her stool over, at the child's apparent death.

The people at the table all reached into their pockets for appropriate weapons, and one of the woman shouts at Jezebel. "You have five seconds to explain what the hell that was for!"

The three drunks laugh, clearly too inebriated to notice what was going on, and the barman had disappeared out the back.

[Hazuki]

A grim haze settles over Mistress' brow as she hears the gunshot echo through every ear of the gathered tavern patrons, her attention partially settled on the woman in the black coat and catching the curious mechanical crunching that follows the gunshot. Of course, the situation would seem obvious to many; but not to her. There was no cause for somebody to go shooting willy-nilly, and, despite the mob mentality, that doesn't automatically mean that another is insane or acting recklessly. There is always a solution to a problem, a cause behind every action, and that is just what she intends to find out.

Weaving her way through the crowd, Mistress makes a few yells and whispers in different voices to distract them from their bloodlust. "What, did you see who did that?!" "I think I saw the one-thumbed man!" "Wherefore art thou Romeo?" "Is that a walking tank outside?" "Look at these lovely boobies!"

Finally pushing her way to the front through a series of ducks, she pulls out her wand and kneels beside the fallen body of the apparent boy. She points it over his form, idly scanning him from head to toe until she feels the familiar noise of it detecting something. "Ahh..." She says, a small smile coming to her lips as she realizes a few parts of the situation, before turning to address the crowd. "This 'child', such as you see before you, is more than may meet your eyes. With my handy little device," She wiggles it between her fingers. "I've noticed that this child is, in fact, a cyborg; and his heart seems to be running, judging by its resistance to a few prods. If need be, I can prove it further, but making the noise louder would only cause this cyborg more pain. And, seeing as none of us are aware of his motives, I would suggest everyone get back to their business; there is more to this than meets the eye, and that means you likely want to stay out of it! Unless it is in your interests to get involved with those who would turn a child into a cyborg who makes deals with black-jacketed devils..." She says, letting the implied danger hang in the air.

[D20ragon]

"Thank you miss," Nial says through the blood in his mouth.
"All I wanted to do was talk to Jezi! How she's changed."

[Hazuki]

Mistress raises an eyebrow at the child as he seems to suddenly recover from his death and gives a shake of her pink-haired head. "I don't know what game you're playing, cyborg, but it is a very silly one indeed. First, you feign death, lying still on the ground and holding your chest still as though you cannot breathe, when your heart is very much still ticking; then, you reveal yourself only once I've shown the kindly people of this tavern that you are, in fact, still alive. As for your argument regarding knowing Blackjack Jezebel..." She keeps her cane in one hand, gripping it tightly as she does the same with her wand. "She has been a renowned outlaw for three years, at a minimum. It is very unlikely you knew her before then, and if you had you likely would have forgotten. And, post her outlaw status, she would have had the same reaction as she did just now; which was to shoot you."

With that, she glances at Jezebel, then back at the boy. "Which isn't to mention the fact that she has no reason to harm you without instigation; she is an outlaw for hunting down and killing the person who betrayed her, not for murdering the innocent. Which can only lead me to believe that you're not innocent. What say you to that?"

[D20ragon]

"I say it matters not what one known druggie says. Rather, the people have spoken, and spoken in my favor," Nial whispers, gesturing to the room full of people either staring respectfully at him, or angrily at Jezibel.

[Hazuki]

"The crowd may believe what they wish. But if you think you know anything about me, child, then you are sorely mistaken. Because, if you know anything about me, you would know that I am very, very good at running away." Mistress speaks, pointing her wand at Nial's mechanical heart and activating it with a gentle buzz emanating from its tip, her gaze quite serious as she stares down at him. The wand pins down a crucial part of his clockwork heart, stalling it and making it jam as he lays down on the dirty tavern floor at Jezebel's feet.

Using the wand to stall/damage Nial's heart. I got a 12!

[Lady Serpentine]

"And what makes you think I care about my reputation, hm? I hope you enjoy the fruits of your vaunted devil deal upon your death..."

With that said by the woman, Jezebel's guns take their turn again, and speak twice more, each shot striking true - though one does rebound off the metal, striking her in the arm, the other rips a path into the organ, tearing through the delicate gears and bouncing inside the shell to leave it a gutted wreck.

[Jormengand]

Nial dies. Twice. Then the mob attacks you. Including Lana, the bartender and the drunks. They fire a variety of weapons which allow them to deal 7 damage to Jezzie, and then Mistress can react.

It is obvious from the noise outside that the situation is about to escalate...

[D20ragon]

As Nial falls, his thoughts spin.
Hmmm. Need to fix this. Shouldn't underestimate either of them. Have to do something about that. Oh well. Maybe the mob will kill them.
For now...
He spins dramatically as his vision fogs, and gestures beseechingly towards Lana. "please... Fix..."
He gets out, before the darkness takes him.
Now that, Nials last thoughts are, was a perfectly executed death.

[Hazuki]

A cold shiver runs through Mistress as she watches the cursed bullet tear through the mechanical heart of the creature before her, held at sonic-point by her very own hands. Before she can even begin to articulate her feelings in her own head, shots are fired by all the denizens of the tavern and she watches as several of them pierce Jezebel's hide. Taking in a deep breath, she flips over the nearest table and gestures for Jezebel to take cover behind it as she hops over the impromptu barricade, her cane used to steady herself on the opposite side as she peeks through a bullethole through the center of the table. With a low buzz, she uses her wand again, using it to lift some of the broken pieces of Nial's devil-infused clockwork heart into the air.

"Stop" Mistress yells out first. "Gaze upon the heart of the creature and tell me what you see; Lana especially. You work with mechanics, and you must know from simply glancing at these materials that this was no ordinary boy! No mere murder. Go on, look closely at this heart and tell them all what you see."

[Sam Fisher]

To say the door slammed open would be an understatement, it smashed open cracking and straining it's hinges. A large metal gauntlet had pushed it open. The Taverns door frame was soon engulfed by the size of the metal giant.

Ducking to enter Thatcher (although very few know his name) surveyed the door through false eyes. all hell was breaking loose. Even though his entrance made a lot of noise slamming his large hammer into the wall helped get the attention of anyone who had noticed the metal monster.

Explain these violent actions!"his metallic voice echoing around the room.

[Jormengand]

The combination of chaotic actions in the room culminates in a shocked silence. Lana walks over to the heart, looks at it, nods once and - just for effect - shoots it once more. One of the card players walks to the metallic man, and explains the situation briefly, while another takes out a small medical kit and walks over to Jezebel with arms raised slightly. Lana moves to help Mistress up, while the three drinkers use their new-found sobriety to lift Nial's body up, and start debating what to do with it.

[Hazuki]

"Destroy it." Mistress instructs the two people, getting up from behind the table with the grim look still resting on her face. "I'm sure some of you are skilled in destroying cadavers, and I have a feeling that anything less is likely to cause problems in the future. Destroy anything it wears, too; it's as likely to be corrupted by whatever was wrong with the heart as the heart itself was." She instructs, somewhat content that her hunch regarding the heart has been proven correct. Being the only oddity she could find in the construct's physiology, it was the only thing that she reasonably assumed was the cause of the changes from what one would expect from a child.

She tucks her wand back away and flicks her eyes towards Jezebel, meeting her eyes for a moment. She opens her mouth to speak, but instead gives a shake of her head and climbs back over the table in order to decide who to greet. She looks at Lana, in an attempt to gauge the mechanic's current reaction to her presence, and then at the large metal man that has entered the scene with a bellowing voice and a very large hammer.