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"Well, I really should pass on my message before they leave!" the raider states. "I'm afraid a young child's life may depend on it," he adds.

He looks again to see where Dan is above the rest of the crowd and then looks back at Belle with a much more serious look on his face and tone in his voice. Quietly, he adds, "I'll have to explain later...but if there should be any trouble, no matter how it looks, rest assured that I *AM* on your side," he then turns and to begin making his way through the crowd towards Dan.

Almost unconsciously, one clawed hand reaches down and snatches up a small handful of the old man's mushrooms.

The old man is left standing. He appears not to have noticed the theft of the few mushrooms.

Belle looks towards Jonesy, "Ready to get moving?"

"Sure. I told my father in-law where my wife is staying and he has promised to go visit her once he's delivered these mushrooms to the church." Now that that the raider has moved out of the way, Belle can get a better look at the mushrooms. She recognizes them as a fairly rare variety that is popular in the upper echelons of society (ie. the church) for their slightly hallucinogenic properties.

Belle is far less concerned with the mushrooms and lives, especially those of children, are far more important than any object. The Apok holds up her hand for a moment, "A child's life might be in danger? What might I be able to do to help?" Her whole attention is on the next words the raider might say.

The raider pauses a moment.

"These two men abandoned two women, there wagon, and their kids in the wilderness two nights ago, stealing off in the middle of the night and leaving them completely unprotected. One of the children is critically ill, and the vial they were using to treat the sickness disappeared with the men. I've been asked to try and get it back, and return it to them before it's too late."

He looks over Belle's shoulder at the approaching guards. "As for help, if there was some way of preventing the local muscle from interfering, and easing their minds regarding my intentions, that would probably go a long way."

"The plot thickens," Belle states. "No wonder they shows so much fear when they found out what I was."

The Apok shakes her head, this is not the tactic that she wants to use but she sees a way to deal with the guards. The woman pulls her mask off, revealing an incredibly beautiful face, pale with grey eyes with a hint of blue, "Maybe I can although it is not a tactic I like using any more."

Before turning towards the guards, she states, "Jonesey, I will still help you if I can but lives have to come first." At teh same momnet, she pulls her cloak off, wrapping it around the mask (ooc: Not so she cannot don it almost instantly) but revealing her figure.

ooc: Of note, she does not completely trust the Raider but she figures that the truth will come out in conversation most likely.

Also of note, I did not want to go any further just in case you needed to insert more. She does plan to use her charisma and claim authority to bluff their way out of this.

"Many thanks," the raider acknowledges. "I'd be happy to explain more in detail later ..." he says. Realizing he also needs a 'where', he adds, "Perhaps at Dan's inn, if the locals let me in," before turning away. Turning, he strides away from the town looking over the heads of the crowd for Dan and his companions.

Belle notices the guards looking unsure for a moment as they pause. The Wormspeaker, with a menagerie of symbiotic worms protruding from his mouth, soon catches up to them. His church uniform is clean but decidedly old and well worn. After a moments discussion with the soldiers he walks towards Belle with a military briskness. Some of the soldiers, three to be exact, trail in his wake while the others return to their normal duties.

"Your name and business here." He says matter-of-factly as he stops in front of Belle. The simbiotes in his mouth give him a strong lisp in addition to a very unattractive appearance. His eyes, and those of the soldiers, linger overlong on her body as their owner's hormones are stimulated by Belle's good looks.

Belle keeps an eye on the raider as well but otherwise schools her expression to be slightly haughty. She also wants to do her part to not actually lie although she does not have to tell the whole truth. There is no reaction to the worms, that does not seem to bother her.

"You may call me Belle," she responds. "My business is my own but I am on my way out." There is a tone of command in the woman's voice that is surprising how strong it it. It has the accent of a member of the upper priesthood, one of the elites of the Church.

A slender hand is held out in a gesture of peace, "I mean no harm to any here if that is a concern." Even though haughty, there is a strong persuasiveness in the woman's voice.

The natural look of distrust on the WormSpeaker's face is replaced by one more friendly. The corners of the eyes lift, the tenseness in the jaw eases and the man easily takes Belle's hand and shakes it in friendship. She is actually surprised that a member of the church would react so favorably to an Apok. {OOC: I'm assuming you were looking for a trust roll there, so playing accordingly.}

"And is that a friend of yours?" He lisps while indicating the retreating raider. "It appeared as if it were about to come to blows between you. Perhaps we should go have him arrested and questioned?" Belle knows from experience what questioning by the church usually means when it comes to somebody from a lower class of society like herself.

Belle actually meant her hand just as a gesture but she has no real problem with him shaking it. The worm speaker is taking a different stance than she expected but perhaps many shun him even worse than they do her as an Apok. It might explain why his uniform is not as new as one might expect.

The blond haired woman shrugs at the term friend, "There is no need to question him." Still, projecting trustworthiness, her voice takes on a more conciliatory, less arrogant tone. Fr the moment, she will keep the accent of an upper level of the Priesthood of the Church. "Everything is under control, I do however need to stay with him."

The Wormspeaker nods amicably and says. "Very good. I'll let you be on your way, but please stay out of trouble." With that he signals to the remaining guards to do an about face and they all head back to the city gates. That definitely went better than it could have. By his reaction Belle is fairly certain that he didn't see her Apok mask. If he had he would likely have not been so gentle with her no matter how pretty she is.

OOC: I need to know if you're planning on going after the Raider or if you plan to continue on your original mission with Jonesy.

ooc: This is what I wrote previously:
Before turning towards the guards, she states, "Jonesey, I will still help you if I can but lives have to come first." At the same moment, she pulls her cloak off, wrapping it around the mask (ooc: Not so she cannot don it almost instantly) but revealing her figure.
She does intend to try to help Jonesey if she can but does consider lives more important.
I was not sure how he reacted to her initial statement.

ic: Belle nods, "Thank you," to the Wormspeaker, heading off although trying to do her best at first so it does not look like she is racing too much.

When she gets a little distance away, she will ask Jonesey, "I still will try to help you but I need to see what is going on with the Raider."

Belle is concerned that Jonesey simply cannot keep up with her. Pretty sure that she is faster than the raider being able to run around forty miles per hour. "Is there a place where we might meet up in a quarter to half an hour, maybe a bit down down the road?"