Aggressive Negotiations

JP between Lorem, Zeeke and Bandorchu
The Drunken Hare

Wim smiled dropped and his cheerful banter dropped as the couple approached through the crowed room. Before him sat a pile of coins and a few full sheets that were paper markers. One of the pair came towards him like she was on a mission. But she did not completely convey the I want to bash your head in look. His friend Gonyaul followed in her wake.

Wim smiled at the pair of them as he raised a hand letting the lumberjacks know they did not need to be confronted with violence.

Wim here in this place, the young noble looked to be completely in his element.

“Good Evening,” the noble said to them as he started to deal another hand of the card game. Fortune, luck, and drunk opponents and not so drunk muscle, and a fair amount of cheating was shining on him this evening.
“Would you like to join the game?” He asked smiling again though not as big.

“Evening.”

Alexis greeted, keeping up appearances for now.
She looked Wim directly in the eye.

“And no. No time unfortunately. I am sorry to bother you, but I actually have need of your assistance. Concerning some mutual ‘friends’.”

Gonyaul bowed to Wim and his two bodyguards. He looked very pleased to see Wim again. He patiently watched the two communicate.

Wim raise an eye brow when he looked at her, then checked if others at the table wanted cards.
“And?” He questioned as he started passing the next set of cards. He pressed a red two to break a flush his main rival had going and pulled a third jester into his own hand. He wanted the fisherman in his pocket for the future..
He looked at her and smiled.

“Could we discuss the details outside. It will only take a moment.”

Alexis was holding onto her last strands of patience, but making a scene would not help the matter.

Wim knew that meant the nights gaming would be over for him. He would lose the table and not even the foresters would go against the house when she served beer.
Wim sighed and held up a finger to indicate she needed to wait a moment.
The fourth Jester found his hand with the king of hearts to follow. And the hand was done.
Wim smiled as he collected the winnings and cards saying, “Hoi always says bet on love. So, Let me buy you all a beer my loves, as a thank you.”

He pinched the young bar maid’s cheek as he gave he two silvers to pair for the beer and a tip.

Then young noble followed the pair out the door with the brute squad in tow.

Once outside, Alexis made good of her word, and got straight to the point.

“You know Islana. She is missing. And I am sure it was them.”

She nodded to Gonyaul.

“Gonyaul has seen people creep into the deep forest. And if it’s them, they might have brought her there, too. I’m going to find out. Now. But that might be too much to handle for him and me alone. So I need reinforcements.”

Gonyaul confirmed what she said with a quick nod.

Wim looked at her with some concern and said, “If I was one of them, I’d have someone I the ranks of the guards for just an event.”
Then he rubbed his chin for a moment and asked the question, “About how many people?”

“Yeah. I’m pretty sure that is how they lured her out. Gonyaul, can you estimate how many?”

Gonyaul responded promptly. “I saw seven lights.”

He was not sure if that meant seven people, just that they had seven light sources. It could have been more or less.

Wim looked serious trying to come up with a plan.
“I think we need her holiness,” he said not liking that much.
“A sealed note will get her to meet us,” He said.
“I can also get us out of the walls without the guard paying much attention to us,” he said with a smile. This is why he had his long pole.

“If they are past the first logging camp, we could get some of my men from the camp. They will want to be paid though,” he said asking what was being offered in return.

“It’s around where you camped out after meeting Gonyaul. You can get a note to the Arbiter if you can, but I am going now.”

Gonyaul chimed in. “Not where Wim and I meet. Different start spot.”

That location was a different spot where he ran into Wim. He had been off foraging for food quite a distance from his actual camp. If that is where they went they would not find any clues to follow where they needed to go.

“How show others way if we go now?” He asked Alexis hoping she had an idea.

“Ah. Sorry. You know military signs, Riese?”

Wim leans back against the wall and asked, “You want to go after them without Her?”
He shook his head is disbelief.
“Yes, I know some as taught by my father,” he said in regards to hand signs.
Wim was quiet fluent speaking with his hand, even polylingual and most of it obscene.

“The question is the same, “ he said with a serious look.
“If my ‘friends’ come, they will want to be paid,” he said knowing they would be more than happy to fight if that meant keeping him in his place.

Alexis shrugs.

“I am by no means rich. Don’t know what your men would want so can’t say if it’s enough. And as much as I agree the Arbiter could be a great asset here, I can’t just stand around and hope nothing happens to Islana in the meantime. Well aware that is not clever. Still gonna do it.”

“How about you turn a blind eye to some hints that will happen in the neighborhood, and we will come,” he said.
“I’ll get you past the wall guards and we will follow my good friend,” Wim said pointing to Gonyaul. He smiled like a shark about to eat its prey.

“I am not town guard, Riese, my blind eye does not amount to much. If you wanna haggle for Islana’s life, I believe I have wasted enough time.
Gonyaul, we’ll find Carver. I trust her, at least.”

Gonyaul was looking back and forth between their negotiating like watching a tennis match. He had a plucky optimistic expression, like the two of them were going to come to the best solution to solve this problem.