Seeing the others preparing for combat, Nyx begins to grow worried. Do they really meant to attack these men unprovoked? This is getting so out of hand. She crouches and tries to find a nook or hallway to hide in, not eager to be seen if it turns out they are attacking someone they shouldn't be.
As the others draw their weapons, Ciraco shrugs and draws his own sword, joining Igdrig's side of the door. Someone is about to have a very bad day, he thinks as he looks at the sight of the group poised to attack.
Quick to throw himself in danger, and the rest of us with him, Luca thinks as Narciso readies himself for attack, the others following his lead. Much like Nyx, he prefers to simply observe.
Within a moment, the door finally swings open, followed by a loud thud as your would-be quarry falls backwards, landing flat upon their back. With the door wide open, you can tell it's a woman, her clothes ragged and her hair a frizzled mess. She appears to be unarmed, having no visible weapon.
Seeing it's an innocent, Narciso drops his readied action. He peeks into the room to see what he can see.
Idrig points his crossbow at the woman, point blank. "You've got about three seconds to explain who you are and what you're doing here," he whispers.
Exiting the narrow tunnel, you find yourself on the main floor of the Colosseum once more. To your left, the hall exits to the arena's stands. To your right, you spot the main promenade that continues around the structure's circumference. Besides the woman, you're unable to see or hear anyone else nearby.
The woman lifts her head, remarking, "That'll hurt in the morn'." Her speech is slurred and her eyes look glazed over. Staring at the crowd around her, her eyes narrow. After a moment, she adds, "Ain't no time fer games. Didn't ya hear the boss? He wants some grub!" She swats the air in front of Idrig's crossbow as she rises to her feet. "Ain't no time for playin' with toys, Nina. Yer papa wants you in bed."
She walks through the door, stumbling recklessly, and slams into the wall adjacent to the Casa delle Carni door. She collapses to the ground, remarking, "Can one of you lots make the grub? I need to lie down a bit."
Idrig stares at the intoxicated woman, slinging his crossbow over his shoulder again. I'm not a fucking cook. He is about to protest to the idiot before a thought crosses his mind.
"I've got quite the recipe," he says to the others, a grin creeping across his face. "Help me find a kitchen and a larder."
Nyx rolls her eyes as she watches the woman stumble from afar. As it becomes clear that the situation they are in is not immediately dangerous, she moves from her somewhat hidden spot. Seeing the woman collapse, she steps over to help her to her feet.
"If these are stalls for food then there should be one nearby," she says, eyeing the names above the doors. "Or several, for that matter."
Luca's eyes widen as the drunken woman mistakes them for allies and gives them instructions. Who says excessive drinking never benefits anyone? As the rest of the group seems set on locating a kitchen, he remarks, "There might be rudimentary kitchens in the stalls themselves. As for the larder, it's bound to be close." I doubt they'd want to haul the ingredients too far.
As Nyx attempts to help the stuporous woman to her feet, she finds the task to be nigh impossible. The drunk's eyes appear to be closed, although she still seems to be breathing. Catching sight of this, Luca replies, "It may be best to just let her sleep it off."
"Well let's hope she's not too out of it by the time we get back. We should send the food make with her, the others might not think we're with them like she did," Ciraco says.
"Let's start with the food stalls and go from there," he adds, starting to make his way towards them.
Idrig nods, following Ciraco. "I'm not much of a chef, but I think I may have something our necklace-thieving quarry may find delectable."
Seeing the futility in her attempts to help the woman, Nyx simply lets go and shrugs. As the others begin to move forward she follows after, not really sure what she can do to help. This dwarf is going to poison these people, I just know it. He seems the sort to do something so vile.
"What do you suppose he wants for food? I'd guess pizza. A drunk Brennisian can't turn down pizza," Luca remarks as they decide to investigate the food stalls. He opens the door to the stall and peers inside. Within is a small kitchen. A pair of stone wood-fired ovens sits against the same wall as the door. In the center of the room lies a stone prep counter, littered with various culinary utensils. On the counter's ends, there are half a dozen shallow basins.
Opposite to the door is the stall's serving counter, with golden curtains concealing the opening. To your right as you enter, you spot a trapdoor on the floor, as well as a dumbwaiter built into the wall. Eyeing these, Luca remarks, "I'd wager some of the ingredients are kept below us. Though maybe there's a full kitchen elsewhere."
"Maybe," Idrig repeats. "Now, to find some ingredients." He begins heading toward the trapdoor, intending to scout below them. All the while, he keeps his eyes open for anything that could be used for his 'recipe', such as rat poison.
[sblock=Idrig & Anyone else who goes down the trapdoor]Descending the ladder, you find yourself in a small larder lined with shelves and hanging dried meats. Next to the ladder, much like the floor above, is a dumbwaiter. Within the dumbwaiter is a large bowl with a likely-forgotten ball of dough resting inside. It nearly reaches the bowl's rim, having expanded beyond its intention. The room's back wall has a small door, likely leading back into the middle maintenance halls. Those who look easily find a variety of spices and dried meats required for a dish. On the upper shelves, you spot two large wheels of Parmigiana cheese, as well as a few jars of Mozzarella in a briny solution. Near the floor, you discover a small crate of tomatoes, looking highly wrinkled yet not quite spoiled. From the looks of it, all the required ingredients are present, albeit in less-than-fresh conditions.
Idrig
- [SHOW]
[/sblock]
As he searches, Idrig gathers several of the ingredients in the larder — everything necessary to make a pizza. A stale pizza, I won't lye. He titters to himself as he brings everything back upstairs.
"You can help, or you can watch, but you can't get in my way," the dwarf warns. He stacks all of the ingredients neatly on one end of the stone island, dusting his hands with some flour.
Now, let's cook.
Luca smirks as Idrig reemerges from the larder, ingredients in tow, and ready to make a pizza. "Determination is the real first ingredient for the perfect pizza," he remarks as the dwarf goes about his business. As Idrig begins his work, Luca begins building fires for the ovens.
Narciso smirks and heads into the room, cracking his knuckles. "Alright guys, lets get to work yeah?" He starts to quietly hum a tune as he gets started. He flubs up slightly on rolling the dough, could have done better, but it's not the worst, right? After rolling out the dough, he picks up the dough and starts to spin it above his head which he seems to actually have some skill in. Next, getting into it now as he starts to whistle the theme a little louder, he puts the dough down and picks up a knife, he gathers some ingredients onto the table using his time in Brennis as a basis, and starts to chop. It takes a second to get into the rhythm before he starts to chop with speed and precision. By a stretch of luck, he's managing to keep up with the pace of the kitchen, and hoping to god he's not screwing it up. Finally, he tosses the pizza in the oven, watching it rise.
(The tune he's humming/whistling: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=czTksCF6X8Y)
As Narciso gets to work, Idrig does what he can to aid in the cooking process. "Careful now," he says, handling the lye poorly as he tries to mix it into the pizza. By the Pantheon, this might be the best pizza our poor fool has ever tasted. He has no problem shrugging off the heat of the kitchen and the stress.
Nyx sighs as the group heads into the pantry, only to return with food. She watches in a combination of confusion and awe as the two men jointly put their cooking skills to the test. She notices the dwarf trying to hide an ingredient among the others, and failing to do so convincingly. It does not look like poison, but hard to tell what exactly else it might be. She decides to merely stand to the side and watch as this all unfolds, having no cooking skills to show off.
"That's far too obvious even if they are drunk," Ciraco says seeing Idrig's attempt to hide the poison on the pizza. "Here," he says, joining Narcisco and the dwarf and attempting to better hide the lye amongst the other ingredients, although his efforts aren't much better than Idrig's.
"Godsdamnit," Idrig mumbles as the human does a pisspoor job at the lye spreading as well. He looks up at Nyx, mirroring her expression. "I don't suppose you'd be any better at this?
Figuring there is no chance of convincing the dwarf to stray from his attempted poisoning, and growing tired of the amount of time they'd been spending in this place, Nyx steps over and tries her hand at it as well. Might as well get this over with.
"Aye, that's how it's done," Luca remarks as Nyx finally succeeds in concealing the substance. "You really have to make it blend in with the cheeses." Examining the prepared pizza, he adds, "Well I've seen better, but it could have been worse." With this, he slides the pizza onto a paddle and places it in the oven.
After ten or so minutes pass, the pizza is finally baked. Luca removes it from the oven and places it upon a stone slate on the counter. The pizza as a whole is misshapen, even more-so now that the dough has bakes. Additionally, the dough is significantly thicker than the typical Brennisian variety. Tomatoes and sausage are, however, placed around the pizza nicely. A handful of stray anchovies have somehow found themselves on the pizza, though, added by one such individual with little care given to popular tastes. However, the traces of lye flakes are concealed thanks to Nyx's expertly done job.
Gazing upon the finished dish, Luca shrugs. "Let's hope it tastes better than it looks. Minus the poison, of course. How do we want to hand this off? Our drunk friend is hardly in the delivering shape."
Idrig puts a finger to his mouth, pondering the question further. "I hadn't gotten that far," he admits. "Might be able to rouse the woman, but she seemed hardly able to hold herself, much less serve a plate of food."
"Well we should at least try to rouse her. If not we can think of something else," Ciraco says as they struggle to decide how to deliver the pizza. He starts making his way out of the food stall and back to the passed out woman.
Idrig looks for a bucket or something that can hold water, hoping to douse the woman to wake her up.
Idrig shrugs, grabs the bucket of filthy water, and dumps it on the woman's head.
"Bugger off, ain't ya see I'm nappin'?" the woman says as Idrig, her glazed eyes slowing opening as she once more becomes aware of her surroundings. Her gaze meets Idrig's and she says, "Oh, it's just you, Nina. What can mama help you with? Ain't you s'posed to be sleepin'?"
"Well color me surprised, she's actually awake," Luca mentions as he hears the woman talking once more.
Idrig doesn't blink. "Nina's got a pizza for you to deliver to the big man, mama." If she is willing, he helps her to her feet and hands her the plated pizza.
"Mama's nappin' right now, she can't. Just put it on the counter and they'll get it. Hang on," the woman says, adjusting herself against the wall, stifling a burp. "Come get your godsdamned grub!" she shouts loudly, her voice echoing down the halls. "Bout damned time!" a voice calls back. The woman, however, is fast asleep once more.
"We probably shouldn't be here when they get here," Ciraco says starting to usher the group away so they aren't spotted when someone comes to collect the pizza.
Narciso runs with them to find a place to hide.
Idrig follows Ciraco's suggestion, slipping away to a nearby room or corridor, out of sight.
Nyx follows as well, not eager to see this 'Cyclops' person if there is no need. She is somewhat annoyed that the others have had more success at rousing the passed out woman, but she lets the frustration slide as they slip away to hide.
Luca places the pizza by the curtains and quickly joins the others in stepping away back into the hall. A few moments later, you hear the sounds of a large group approaching, their footsteps echoing through the building.
"Mmm, looksh good," says an inebriated voice Idrig and Narciso recognize as the impassioned killer from earlier.
"Ye gonna share, boss? There's more than enough for the rest o' us," says another Nyx recalls from her shadow figure's reconnaissance.
"Aye, fine, if it'll stop your whinin'," the gruff, booming voice replies. For a moment, it grows silent as the group seems to dive into the culinary creation. "This is absolutely divine. Really hit the spot."
A few more minutes pass until another voice speaks. "Uh, boss, I don't feel so good."
"Aye, me neither. My stomach feels like it's on fire," says the one who sealed their fates.
You hear exasperated coughing, choking, and groans emit from beyond the walls. "Godsdammit, someone's tryin' to off us!" Frantic footsteps follow, though they're cut short as one-by-one, you hear the unmistakable thud of a body collapsing.
As the Colosseum grows silent, Luca interrupts, "Do you suppose they've saved room for dessert?"
I guess it worked, Nyx thinks, cringing at the sound of the men collapsing to the ground. She'd never contributed to a murder before, and even if the men up ahead are meant to be criminals, it still eats at her that she had some hand in this. Hopefully one of them has the necklace we are looking for.
