Tales Of Skatara: Danger, Love-potions, and Tigerstripes Part 3

Chapter 3: Chases, switches, confusion

(Quick note: The song excerpts at the end are taking from "If I should fall from Grace with God" by the Pogues. If your asking why I used the Pogues for this music, it's because their music is a lot more cooler than some dull fantasy folk song.)


Etah ducked into the alley, leaned his head out to check the cobblestone streets, and convinced that he was no longer being followed allowed himself to take a short breather. 76 years was still young in Halfling years, but when you spend 65 of those years living on the street you learn a few things. And at this moment sitting against the wall the halfling begger in his tattered, filthy rags reflected on one of the things he learned in his many on the streets. When you find a whole company of underworld goons riddled with arrows you should run away, and not attempt to go through their pockets. The halfling thought about this and nodded that doing that would be a very idiotic decision, and the fool who brought this on himself deserved the painful death that awaited him.
Of course Etah couldn't explain to himself why he seemed to ignore his better judgement, go through the pockets of one goon, and pilfer the large glowing vial that he now held in his hand. It was a conundrum, and the halfling decided that he'd need to meditate on what to do over a stiff drink at his favorite tavern "The Slobbering Griffin."


It is said that the Kamrai sense of smell is only second to the mighty Werewolves of the north, and their skill at tracking, and ambushing is the best in all the land. A Kamrai is not considered a full adult until they succeed on their first hunt, and are expected to wait for possibly a week or more out in the wild to find the perfect game. All of this meant that so far Ga'Ja was having a fairly easy time tracking down Morgana's prize. First she visited the scene of the attack, figured that one of the attackers was a halfling(odd that a halfling would have been used in a hit) and that the halfling was heading straight into the Merchant's district with it's mazes of shops, and back alleys.
Ga'Ja was not worried though, in fact she smiled to herself as she leap gracefully from roof to roof. Threaten the little twerp, fetch the potion back, get away from Morgana and her cronies, and find some other job. In a second though Ga'Ja's train of thought was interrupted as she picked up a wiff of the halfling's scent(and urghh other scents) from only a few feet away. Ga'Ja stopped in her tracks crouched down on the rooftop, and saw the short and portly figure of the stinky halfling woddle into a bar. Ga'Ja smiled again and touched her side making sure the katana she favored was still strapped down and steathed.

Shakti had kept her promise to herself and had gotten drunk enough to forget Tirana..at least for a few hours. She'd arrived in the "Slobbering Griffin" about three hours ago, and she lost count of how many drinks she'd had about two mugs back. Indeed Shakti was so drunk that at this moment she was dancing on a table with a mug of ale in each hand, and singing a song that she just barely remembered from her childhood.

"Bury me at sea
Where no murdered ghost can haunt me
If I rock upon the waves
No corpse can lie upon me

It's coming up three boys
Keeps coming up three boys
Let them go down in the mud
Where the rivers all run dry"

She was so caught up in the song that she failed to notice two new people creeping into the bar. One a halfling who's eyes darted back and forth nervously, and the other an exotic tiger-stripped woman who for a few seconds actually stared at the drunken witch.

Indeed Ga'Ja was staring at Shakti with a slight smile, for she too had remembered that song. And as Ga'Ja moved through the bar she started singing the same song to herself.

"If I should fall from grace with god
If I'm buried 'neath the sod
And still the angels won't receive me

Let me go boys
Let me go boys
Let me go down in the mud
Where the rivers all run dry"