Quixotica (Open!)

[Litharriel]

"It's a deal, then." said Jasna, taking Tempest's hand in her own and shaking it. She gave her unsettling grin again, and pushed the yellow-tinted specs up so that they hid her eyes again. "If your sanity is questionable, you'll fit in well, here. This place has that effect on people. As for the Sphinx..." Turning, Jasna started down the street, trusting the men to follow, "She's the Crossroads' foremost broker in information. Anything you want to know, she can tell you... for a price. Charges double for prophecy, of course. I hope you're good at riddles..."  

[Litharriel]

"Oh, the Sphinx is already quite mad. She's been here longer than most--ever since that run-in with Oedipus. And the price tends to be a bit... high... if you give her a wrong answer--unless you can present her with a better deal, or a riddle of your own that she can't answer..." She glanced dubiously back at Moonbeard, and then Tempest. "What's this about toilets?  

[Litharriel]

"The same baby a week later." said Jasna cheerfully, in reply to Moonbeard's latter riddle.

They rounded a corner and found themselves in a small square. The building directly across from them appeared to be constructed of bones, some of them human--or at least humanoid. They gleamed dully in the dim, flickering light of the torches and will-o-the-whisps.

It was to this edifice that Jasna strode, to a recessed doorway flanked by two grotesque statues: spear-weilding Hyena-headed men in ornate armor. As the three approached, the statues became animated and crossed their spears before the doorway. They opened their muzzles, and a hollow voice came from them. "Who comes?"

"Jasna." replied the Cheshire cat. "I bring information Manusiha might find valuable."

"And them?" asked the hollow voice, and one of the statues raised its free arm to point at Tempest and Moonbeard.

"My partners." Jasna said evenly.

The voice lost some of it's hollowness. "Since when do you need partners, Jasna?"

Jasna grinned. "I've been moving up in the world."

The spears moved aside, and the double doors opened. A little man with dark curly hair stood there, his arms folded. When he spoke, it was with the same voice that had come from the statues, only minus the hollowness and pluss a Cockney accent. "You're a pair of bloody fools, if you trust her," he said testily to Tempest and Moonbeard. "But come on in, the lot of you. I'll take you back to her."  

[Litharriel]

The doors close behind them of their own accord, and the trio find themselves in a long, high-ceilinged, black marble hallway. There are no windows, and it is lit with a dim luminesence that seems to have no source. It is lined with doors, though there is no certainty where they might lead. The walls are further decorated with bones, arranged elaborately and wired together into macabre works of art. Their footeps echo through the place, as does the tap of Jasna's silver-knobbed cane.

The little man (he only came to about waist-height on Jasna) led them on, grumbling to himself, plainly disliking the company. Snippets of his words float back to Moonbeard and Tempest. "...bloody dragon... singed my hair off... damn near lost my fingers... comes back here... two big bloody goons..."

"Oh, Regis, you aren't still angry about that, are you?" said Jasna, chuckling. "It grew back, and you got to keep a percentage of the treasure. And there's no sense grumbling about them." She jerked a thumb back to indicate Tempest and Moonbeard. "It's none of their fault."

"May the Plague Doctor take you." growled the halfling in sullen reply.

Jasna laughed to herself and shook her head. She had heard Tempest's edgy whisper to Moonbeard as they'd entered, regarding her trustworthiness, and had chosen not to reassure them. Her smile turned slightly cynical. Here, being a little bit feared wasn't necessarily a bad thing. Kept people from thinking they could take advantage.

As they continue, further scents find their way to Moonbeard's sensitive nose, seeming to come from behind the various doors as they pass: Cooking meat, roses, the strange and not-altogether-pleasant mosaic of sents that made up a rainforest, the reek of corpses and blood, dusty parchment and old leather, the salt air of the sea, engine grease...