World Tree MUSH

    After an unexpected brush with people from her own homeworld, Kanna has been roaming around the region surrounding the town. It's not at all surprising her wandering will eventually lead her to the largest trade city in the area, Anchordeep; and the redhead is curious and adventurous enough that the rumors of a haunted bar reopening are plenty enough to capture her attention. So it is that on one particular evening, the door to Trollskull Manor swings open, and a ronin clad in colors reminiscent of a miko steps in, looking around for... she's not sure, really. Visible ghosts? Floating tableware? What even is a 'haunted bar', anyway?

    What an unexpected coincidence! Dante has arrived, with pizzas! He sips on a strawberry shake as he notices Kanna entering the bar and he raises his cup. "Oh hey, funny seein' you here." He greets, opening a pizza box and getting a plate. "Want a slice? I got plenty of share."

    So the door to Trollskull Manor swings on open and Kanna is immediately met with a gruff "We're not open yet. Big opening's in a few days."
    Lether is JUST coming down from the stairwell right about now when that happened. The lizardfolk girl isn't expecting another flipping fireball to rock the place again so she's in a rugged and new set of overalls and an oversized but brand new t-shirt to go with them.
    The fact that she's rubbing her eyes says she may have just woken up from a nap and is pretty cranky about it
    Nevertheless, Trollskull manor is... Looking MUCH better since the day it came into Lether's hands. The renovations are just about almost completed and the repairs after the fireball are now done too.
    So it's as she makes her way over to Dante and breakfast pizza that...
    A chair pulls itself out for her.
    "Thanks, Lif." She says matter of factly while snagging a slice. And then looking up.
    "Oh. You know her, Dante?"

    What lunatic gets fresh pizza for breakfast? Dante, clearly. In his defense he has been awake since last night, and he needs some kind of breakfast dinner. Dikfast?

    "Looks a lot better since I was here last, Lether." He says, ruffling the gator's head before he nods at her question. "Saw her at this gig I was doin' the other day. Some guys showed up, we fought 'em off."

    Well, whatever Kanna was expecting, it wasn't 'that flashy guy that helped deal with the mercs'. "Oh-? Hey, the big guy from a couple days ago. How 'bout that." The redhead's face lights up in an amused grin - only to switch over to faint chagrin at Lether's greeting. "Ah, sorry. I can come back... huh? Yeah, what he said." She opts to head over to the table, already eyeing the pizza with interest. "Never had one before, what all's on it?" She slides into a chair without further preamble. "Crimson Wind," she adds towards Lether, giving her name - or at least, a name.

    Lether bites into a slice and makes a face. She is a predator, a carnivore, a devout meat eater.
    ... Her poor teeth were not made for gooey, melty, cheese and there's a CLEAR struggle for a beat before she gets to chewing as best she can.
    As Kanna gives her *a* name.
    Lether blinks sideways as she stares dead at the ronin.
    It's a nictitating lens; a feature of crocodilians, alligators, and some birds to protect their eyes under water.
    "Hi. I'm Tiburon. The Shark Of The Land."
    That's a name too. It's not her's though.
    "Alright if Dante says it, you can hang, but the bar's not really open for a few more days." She ultimately decides as a mug of beer just... Pours itself out for her.
    "Thanks, Lif."

    In fairness, Dante did get meat lover's. He folds his slice in half before taking a long bite, and he then motions for "Crimson Wind" to take a piece. "Go right ahead. Might be a bit greasy but it'll fill you up. But yeah, this is Lether's place." A mug of beer is suddenly poured for Dante. "Thanks, Lif." Dante says to seemingly nobody at all.

    Somehow, Kanna missed the first instance of a mug pouring itself.

    She doesn't miss the second.

    "-whoa?!" She's halfway up out of her chair, hand on her katana, before she realizes what she's seeing and relaxes again. "...they sure weren't kidding about this place being haunted." The floating beers are eyed somewhat warily, but at least she doesn't seem to have any objections. "Anyway, I don't mind greasy." The adventurer reaches out to take a slice, watching Dante for her cues on how to eat it. She learns quick, as it turns out. "...hey, this ain't half bad." She chews slowly, thoughtfully, as if trying to suss out what she's tasting. "What'd you say this was called?"

    After a few more moments of eating, she turns to Lether and adds, "So, what's this place's story, anyway? Lot of rumors flying around, and I ain't been here long."

    Lether struggles with that cheese, meat lovers or not, it's still gooey and gets caught in that jagged maw of teeth.
    "Thatsshh Lif." She says struggling with the gooey flavor trapped between her teeth. A gulp and she wipes her mouth.
    "And this is pizza. Dante eats it a lot. Anyway Lif- he ran this place before we got our hands on it. He was the barkeep, but decided to... Uh. Stick around."
    That's a way of putting it as she snarfs down another bite.
    "This place used to be real popular but it kind of dropped off the map when he died. Passed hands from a few people, and there was as couple of bidding wars, but we got it off a guy named Volo. Volo wanted to write a new book about spirits and. Well. We got a spirit."
    Shrug.
    "Anyway there's nothing suspicious about us." She says point blank. "I'm a sewer gator just clawing my way out of the streets to make a legitimate business here." She says sipping her beer.
    Sure. Legitimate business of hunting lots of gold.

    "'s good." Dante offers as he takes a chomp outta his slice. He shrugs a shoulder at Kanna's surprised reaction, "Don't worry about the ghost, he's just serving drinks."

    "Yeah, I can see that," Kanna replies to Dante, her tone dryly amused. But then, after a beat, she glances up at... well, the general region where she expects Lif is, and says, "You got anything nonalcoholic? I still gotta get back to my inn room tonight."

    As Lether talks, the swordswoman eats more of her pizza, thoughtful. She does, however, have an amused grin for the last thing Lether says. "You know, someone talks about 'legitimate business' and says they're 'not suspicious', that's about as suspicious as it gets." She doesn't actually seem to be suspicious or bothered - more than anything, she looks amused. "So you're renovating this place and you got a ghost working for you... interesting. I heard something about an attack not long ago, though? Street looks like a bomb went off at some point."

    "It's a Lizardfolk cultural thing." Lether immediately says WITHOUT EXPLAINING IT FURTHER.
    She opts to sip her beer again.
    "Really just trying to get this place up and running." She says, "Never had a real home before this." But then she trails off at the mention of the explosion.
    "Yeah. Killed eleven people. Someone threw a Fireball spell outside our door. Donno why yet."
    Yet.

    "We're workin' on that last one." Dante answers, "We found an amulet at the scene off a kid, think it's what was used to cast it." Here Dante is, tryin' to be a big boi gumshoe and all. "Speakin' of, we get an update on that one, Lether?"

    'Never had a real home before this.'

    'Killed eleven people.'

    'Donno why yet.'

    Either Crimson Wind has no poker face, or she's not afraid to let her disdain show, because the swordswoman's face shifts very quickly to a scowl. "Eleven... that's not okay. That ain't okay at all." She sits up a little straighter, still frowning even as she's polishing off her pizza. But other than a brief, "Anyone got a napkin? I got grease on my fingers," she's content to remain quiet and listen to Dante and Lether's discussion on the matter.

    And that's where Lif comes to save the day, setting a clean napkin on the table in front of Kanna.
    Lether eyes Dante for being so open, but then shrugs.
    "We got a bit of a description of the killer. Sounded like a mechanical kind of person. Only things I know like that come from the Temple of Gond; The House of Inspired Hands. They make the nimblewrights- machines in the shape of people- that are used in their yearly parades."
    She sips her beer.
    "We were gonna poke them for answers with a sharp stick if we had to.

    Dante offers Lether a shrug. "What? She looks like she could be helpful." And then Kanna's response seems to be pretty favorable. "Just say when, and we'll go see these Gond guys."

    Wiping her hands, Kanna glances back and forth between the two... and, surprisingly enough, takes Lether's side. "I gotta side with her, you oughta be a little more cautious around strangers. There's a good reason I give my name as Crimson Wind." She sets her napkin on the table, then leans back a little, folding her hands in her lap. "But if it's a sharp stick you need, as it so happens I got something like that right here." The adventurer pats her blade in its sheath, grinning faintly. "If it's for a good cause, I don't mind tagging along. I got enough coin I can afford some pro bono work for a little bit, even." She glances at Dante, amused. "'sides, I owe Big Red here a favor for helping out. Those mercs and that girl were from my homeworld."

    Lether sticks her tongue out at Dante when 'Crimson Wind' takes her side. But.
    "Well," she begins. "Anchordeep's got laws. Rules and other stuff. I was speaking a bit in metaphor buuuuuut. I don't think the Temple of Gond will need *too* much prodding. Just a little." She shrugs.
    "If you want, I guess you can tag along. Anchordeep's a *very* dangerous city right now."
    She's not going to let Kanna in on the whole 500,000 missing gold YET though. That comes when a little more trust is earned.

    "Honestly, I don't mind a little bit of danger," Kanna replies, her grin widening a little. "You don't take up adventuring if you're worried about a little bit of deadly peril."

    "Guess she's in." Dante says, grinning at Kanna. "Welcome to the Gator Gang."