>>6297945
Silence falls over the room once more as your words ring loudly in your friend’s hearts!

“Welp, I’m convinced.” Morook remarks as Volka smacks her fists together!

“Hell yea, Rook! Color me FIRED UP!”

“Y-yea… about time you showed some backbone…” Rezzie mutters as she hides behind her doll! And Tzah-Tzie, well…

You uh… you might wanna avoid being left alone with her for a while. Let her cool off a little. While your friends share their support in their own special ways, Oti stares you down like a cow watches a passing locomotive.

“Hmph… You may be right… to a degree.”

High praise coming from Oti. You let him continue.

“I won’t pretend to approve of this, nor will I ignore the gravity of the situation,” He adds as his disco ball eyes sweep across the table, “But you did do me some services in the past, and OTI KIILNAAVEN isn’t one to let debts linger…”

Okay, you groan, so he’ll help? The sorcerer nods, if only a little begrudgingly.

“... I shall. ‘Fight Magic with Magic’, as they say…” His eyes narrow. “You’ll certainly need it.”

“So…” Volka mutters meekly like a kid asking to use the restroom, “How, um… what are we… what should we do?”

“Dad’s credentials should help a lot,” Morook volunteers in the usual carefree drone, “He’s rough around the edges, but he’s rarely wrong–and if anyone has a plan to deal with Trier, it’s other mages.”

“I’ll admit I’ve entertained the thought in the past,” Oti adds as if you were discussing favorite breakfast dishes, “I never taught at Trimbault, but I was a student there… for a time.”

Morook clicks in response. “Yea… it shows.”
“There’s another thread we aren’t tugging at though…” Tzah-Tzie mutters, face scrunched up in thought and a lot less, erm, amorous than it was earlier, “The Cartel. You… said they’re providing him with bodies, right, Ant?”

Yea, you nod, the very thought making your skin crawl, that’s what The Spicys and Trier keep saying, anyways, but they’re being pretty evasive…

“Then why not just ask ‘em?”

The whole table’s supply of eyes shift over to Rezalith, the girl still hugging her doll close like a Spy Movie Villain’s cat. “You wanted to bust some heads, didn’t you? Why not do it at the same time?”

Ahhh, you nod with a grin, kill two birds with one stone, huh? The devil stares you down with renewed ire.

“I don’t need stones to kill, AnTARD. Focus, if you please.”

Right. She’s got a point–you did come here to give TT some closure… and if Vhale and his cronies are dealing with Trier, then surely the hardened mobsters have some kind of Ace in the Hole over him?

“Also means they’re protected by him.” Adds Morook as he rocks back and forth in his chair. “And they protect him.”

Ugh…

>CONTD.