((ill consider this interaction to be BEFORE the ambassador trip in the time line hehehee....


*Sho heard a voice grumble from far above in the loft, and he saw auburn hair, only half upkept,  atop a head with blue eyes and a wildy growing tuft of reddish hair below the lips. It was Varro Velox... he was relatively new to the fellowship, having been introduced to them by Uxor.
A slur of a semi-deep and melodic voice crept down to Sho's ears*

Weeeeell. Maaaaybe we DID fight the bloodykoooobolds! And maaaaybe the kobolds won *he made a sharply wicked and dark seeming laugh* (because i swear that's how the male human laugh emote sounds )

You sure talk the part though. Tell you what... I'll take you on right now! Man to man*he pointed at the pit far down below in the lower levels of the tavern* an' if you win............we'll go where ever ya wanna go.

*Varro leaned back, and there was the sound of a bottle setting down among many other bottles. This was followed by several instances of whispering, arm swirling barely visible over the platform from below, and flickers of light (go go arcane spell failure). There was a floof of feathers, and Varro's unbalanced form stammered off the edge of the high loft seating, and his haphazardly balanced body drifted down gracefully to the lowest level near the bar.
The tender, seeing him coming down, immediately fled up the ramp. This had been happening too often in the phoenix lately. A few too many drinks and soon fists and spells and weapons were flying among the patrons*

*Varro's voice carried up* Tell you what...leeeets make this inneresing. Nooo weapons. Noooo magic. Just bare knucklez. *he stood ready, seemed to remember something, then moved behind the bar* hold on hold on... *he pulled out his lute and set it in a place of relative safety* I promisssse, no muuusic either. Fair and quaderlateralalalal.  What'cha say?

((lemme clarify when you say it goes dark - we talkin they cast darkness or blindness? I'll assume that it's just a darkness spell and not blindness for the purposes of this

*Varro non-chalantly waved with his hand to indicate that he agreed to the mask notion. He snickered a little at the mention of making things even MORE interesting. Though in truth, as drunk as he was, it was practically fighting in darkness already for him.* Ash urack ligh *which could only assume to be translated as "as you like." It was either a terribly drunken slur, or another language all together"*

*Varro closed his eyes - it was a distraction to leave them open really. . . and far too much effort anyway. Varro started to inch forward feeling about with his foot very efficivently, grumbling something that sounded to mean "No tag teams" but came out as "No tash pfsems"*

*Uxor was vastly surprised to see a crowd of people gathered outside the Phoenix. She saw among them Sho, who seemed to be directing them all toward the rusty nail. She trotted over toward Sho, a little lighter on her feet than normal - undoubtedly the residue of some spell of speed still upon her - and flagged for Sho's attention. She pointed at the crowd, the phoenix, and made a gesture of scratching her head in confusion*

*It didn't take long to gather the news of what had happened within the phoenix, and Uxor began to make a hissing sound as her face controted with laughter at the story of Varro being left in the dark. Once she'd had a good laugh of it, she smiled to Sho and brought out her parchment, writing*

"Don't worry, I have an idea  of how to deal with Mr. Velox. I'll explain later"

*And she slipped into the darkness of the Phoenix*

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*Varro heard a lot of shuffling and moving about as he felt around with his foot for something to trip.* Come out, come out where ever you aaaaare *or at least in his mind that was what he said. To anyone else, it was a horrible jumble of Quori and common slurring. He reached the edge of the room, running his foot into the wall, trying to trip it at first before realizing it was not Sho. It was very quiet now, and he was beginning to suspect some sort of joke had been pulled over on him, when he heard movement far above him*

Thought you'd get higher ground, huh? Come down and play, I don't bite ... *he muttered inaudibly* hard anyway *and snickered to himself as he backed up and beckoned with his hands. He heard a loud crash not far from him as something landed in the lower bar with him. He was forming taunts to hurl at Sho... "hmm, what else sounds like 'sho' ... slow? yeah that's a good one." He was about to lay into "Sho" with this barrage of lymerics when his foot met something.  Something else, however met the side of his head*

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*Uxor was seen not long afterwards with the body of Varro in tow by the leg. She had dragged him up out of the pit, out of the phoenix, and down the street, his head rolling as he groaned from a combination of drunkeness and unconsciousness.

Some time later she arrived at the phoenix, with a note in hand that read "So sorry for my friend's behavior. Please excuse him - he is in mourning"*

*Uxor sat quietly at the gathering, hoping that Varro's antics had not disrupted the impromptu meeting too terribly. She lifted a brow at the mention of delving deeper into the tunnels, but sat quietly. If her sword arm was required, they would ask her. She didn't want to steal the glory from any other brave soldiers. Her karma was not for glory, it was to help where help was needed. So she patiently awaited orders*

*A short time into the meeting, a more properly upkept Varro came gliding in. He had pulled his hair back tightly with no stray strands drooping to frame his face. He inched his way gradually towards Sho, trying not to interrupt, and held his hand out*
Varro: I am at your service wherever it is you see fit to go.

*Uxor tried not to smile openly. She was glad that she was mute in that moment, she might otherwise have needed to stifle laughter. Her laugh was a great deal more easy to control. It seemed Varro was a little confused on whom it had been to knock his lack of  senses out of him.
If neither man was the wiser of what had happened, she was not inclined to correct them. To allow Sho to think Varro had submitted of his own accord, and to allow Varro to think it was Sho who had bested him in a fight - so long as it resulted in peace between them - was perfectly acceptable to her.*

Ahopiana notices the shadowy elf at the door, but doesn't watch Sho leave with her--she makes no movement or inclination to draw the others' attention from her.

Ahopiana:

Wayfinder Dael is overmatched and cannot afford delay; that is where we come in.  Shaagh has recovered the Seal of Shan-To-Kor; would be a major rallying symbol for murderous giants. The fools worship the damn thing.

Mithrian:

Mi Lady... Shaagh leads the Cloven-Jaw tribe, right? 

Ahopiana:

Aye, we'll be slaying many of his rogue hobgoblins after we bust the kobold blockade. It's in the deepest part of the Steam Tunnels. 

Now, if anyone has any questions, Mithrian shall lead.