subplotkudzu | Emirikol session 15, part 5

Hiram had kept a careful ear out all night, and heard the constables being harangued by the lady of the house, who informed them that no, no one matching that description had come in. The constables searched anyway, but Hiram had been keeping his hat, and therefore his disguise, firmly pinned to his head all night and avoided notice. He was feeling confident come the morning - sitting to the ‘all night special” breakfast – when he overheard the madam ordering out someone who had just marked in, followed by some potentially magical muttering. He stood and craned his head enough to see the madam with a freshly bright and helpful smile on her face talking to someone short enough to not be visible below the counter, and heard the bark of a dog. Calling on years of acting training he made his best unobtrusive exit out the back.

And ran directly into the two lions. “The gnome is smart” he curses. The two beats leapt for him but Hiram manage to confuse one with his cloak and avoid being knocked down by the other, getting a gash on his arm for his trouble. Never considering fighting the beasts Hiram instead hurled himself past them onto a window ledge of the building next door, and from there scrambling onto the roof as the lions leapt to drag him down. One again managed to catch him with a claw, opening a bleeding wound on his leg, but the actor’s fingers held firm to the cornice. He lay still for but a moment, hearing the gnome and his dog join the lions in the alley below, but didn’t hazard a glance at them, instead breaking into a run. He heard the gnome unleash a burst from a tin whistle, followed voices yelling for him to stop as the constables positioned on other buildings nearby took aim at him. “The gnome is too smart by half…” he thinks as the pistols bark into the morning air.

One of the bullets grazes his torso, opening up a new source of burning pain. Hoping none of the constables are carrying two pistols he continues running, leaping across a narrow alleyway down to a one story roof, and from there dropping onto a side street. First a quick bit of dramaturgy to draw the wounds into his scarf and staunch the bleeding, then a quick change of disguise and sauntering back towards the bazaar and caravans where he might shake their scent. He spies a spice shop and ducks in to drop one of his gemstones in a quick purchase. Not a hundred heartbeats pass after his exit from the shop before the lions are upon him. Terror gives his feet speed, and as they chase he hurls back a loose bound packet of the most intense hot gnomish pepper spices a small emerald could procure. The lions stop dead in the tracks, yelping in pain and fear as mucous pours from their nostrils and eyes.

Hiram slows not at all, hitting the bazaar and purchasing a bottle of cheap perfuse, then into a tavern privy to change his appearance yet again, add some scent (tossing the rest of the bottle down the privy) and back into the street. He passes by the gnome and dog, getting a good view of them for the first time, but the dog does not react to his presence. For the moment, at least, he is clear. Now what?

Emirikol session 15, part 5

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