The Black Dragon's Den

[Earl of Purple]

Somebody new enters! He wears pair of jeans and a black t-shirt with holes in it. He's barefoot, with tanned skin and bright green eyes; he appears to be human, and reasonably attractive as well. He'll stumble to a table and sit down rather roughly, before groaning and lifting a foot to massage it slightly.

[Keeper]

Jace is distracted from Raril's comment by the new person.
"Are you alright?" asks the pregnant unicorn of the seemingly mostly-normal human fellow.

[Artemis]

The drow turns to take in the new comer. Poor guy doesn't even have shoes. "Want something to eat or drink?" Raril asks him.

[Earl of Purple]

"A drink would be lovely, yes. I just left a forest, where I was attacked by cannibals. I haven't been in the Nexus long, and arrived pretty much as you see me." The man smiles and sits up, using a subtle bit of natural magic to make himself appear in the best possible light.

[Keeper]

"Not long as in a few days, or not long as in a few hours?" Jace asks, trying to turn around and face the man properly. Which is easier when you're a quadruped and can't just swivel on a stool.
the man must be used to some weird since he isn't surprised by the talking unicorn.

[Artemis]

"Cannibals, eh?" Raril asks. "Usually not the best people to be hanging around with." Though given some dire straights the drow had been in in the past and the lack of resources in the Underdark, there's a good chance he's eaten people. Not out of habit, though. "What were you doing in the forest? And what's your preference? First drink's on me."

[Earl of Purple]

"A few days, though it feels longer somehow." Because Earl did nothing with him for months. "Perhaps a week. I was in the forest because I had been falsely imprisoned, and I escaped, though a manner I had little control over my destination. I don't believe my former captors know where I am, nor that I even escaped." And he'd quite like to keep it that way. "Jenever, please. Gin if you don't have any."

[Keeper]

”Well, if I could drink I would say we should drink to your freedom. I’m sorry you had to go through all of that.”
Says the unicorn sincerely. Though having the willpower to escape imprisonment might mean that this person is currently feeding Jace.

[Ironsmith]

[An Upper Room]

As far as anybody who isn't a succubus is concerned, this room is empty. Not "empty" in the sense of being unoccupied, a quiet little corner of the inn that is currently not in use. No, this is more of an uncanny emptiness, the sense that there is nothing here, that there should not be anything here, and trying to fill the emptiness would be a profanity matched only by whatever force might retaliate; if nothing in the room itself, than perhaps the proprietor or an unusually spartan guest, who would not appreciate having their space violated.

But, to a succubus, this room is very clearly not empty. There's someone in here, and if one is willing to look out of the corner of their eye, they can see her, in bits and pieces. The leathery, spade-tipped tail draped over the armrest of the seemingly-empty armchair. The very tips of her onyx-colored horns poking over the top, or the crook of her brick-red elbow propping her up on the one side. Her slumped shadow cast on the wall by sourceless, flickering firelight. The gentle, deep breathing softly reverberating around the room, seemingly inaudible until one goes listening for it, the sound someone might make when trying very hard to fall asleep but can't quite manage it.

Or, as a particular succubus might come to know her... the buyer.

[bc56]

An Upper Room
The door opens.
The room seems empty, but that doesn't dissuade the arrival; after all she's hardly relying on mundane senses.
Circe sashays into the room, setting her briefcase down next to the open seat, straightening the skirt of her skintight black dress out a little, and then sits down and leans forward, tail swaying gently and a bemused smile on her oddly cherubic face. "That's a clever disguise, but you don't need to hide from me." The other succubus is uncamouflaged, her demonic features on display for all to see; at the Den no one would bat an eye.

[Ironsmith]

[An Upper Room]

"Hide, hide, my kingdom for a hide..." The other succubus mutters airily, her shadow imitating the wave of a conductor's baton with her offhand. "I'd be tender, I'd be gentle, a model but less mental, how I'd laugh and grin~" She sings outright, the shadow splaying itself out on the chair as the door closes behind Circe. "I'd walk down the street with you creatures made of meat, if I only had some skin~!"

The shadow stands up from the chair and turns, seemingly to face Circe, "staring" at the other succubus (it's hard to be entirely certain, since her eyes aren't exactly visible like this). "...Ooooouuuaaagh." She groans after a moment, stretching her hands over her head. "...Oh, good, you're here. Took you long enough." She drones, tail swishing back and forth in the flickering ethereal light. "I'll just cut right to it. Two hundred vials. Paid upfront. The amount is not negotiable."

[bc56]

An Upper Room
"I don't deal in money for such large purchases," Circe responds, "I'd rather you do a job for me."
She meets a lot of bizarre people in her line of work, but this shadow succubus is up there. Definitely not entirely there in the head. Circe suspects she knows why the essence is needed.

[Ironsmith]

[An Upper Room]

"Yeah, yeah, I've heard." The shadow holds out her hand, fingers splayed expectantly. "The amulet, s'il vous plait, merci beaucoup." She shuffles in place, her shoulders already starting to sag from the apparently exhausting task of simply staying upright.

"Brignole will.. ooouagh... never... know what hit her." She yawns, her head quirking and falling to one side. "Bitch thinks she's better than me, thinks she can insult me like that and I'll just sit there and take it like a good little girl. Stupid little... run in front of a train, lay down on the tracks, and laugh when it tries not to hit you, do you call that smart, because I don't. She's asking for it, and she's not even being subtle about it. Gods, I hate her."

[bc56]

An Upper Room
Circe wasn't expecting that outburst.
So this succubus hates Her Majesty? She might be able to use that. But it also might be a liability. Odd that she refers to the queen as "Brignole" though.

Circe considers her options. On one hand, the hatred would motivate this one to take actions against Her Majesty's interests. On the other hand, it might make her sloppy and easier to trace back to Circe.

"Take this; plant it in the ritual chamber in her manor," Circe finally concludes, handing over an emerald marked with arcane glyphs in golden thread, "If you get caught, don't tell anyone where you got it, or you'll regret it."

[Ironsmith]

[An Upper Room]

The vague, flickering light that's pervaded the room up until now suddenly flares to life, the air turning swelteringly hot and too heavy to breathe as flames dance at the corner of Circe's vision, the shadow on the wall lengthening to the point that her head is now on the cieling directly over Circe, jaw unclenched and revealing the outline of a mouth full of mismatched, jagged teeth.

"You don't threaten me, you insignificant worm!" The succubus's voice reverberates through the room. "Speak to me like that again, and I will make the depths of hell look like a summer afternoon! Remember your fucking place!"

Then, almost as quickly as the outburst began, it ends, the room returning to normal and the shadow withdrawing to its comparatively unimposing height. The jewel Circe offered is nowhere to he seen, but the shadow is idly rolling around something about the right size in her hand. "...Ooooouaaagh." She drones, head tilted to one side. "...Consider it done, done, done." She mumbles, plinking out a trio of notes with her finger, the air filling with the sound of unseen bells. "...Just as soon as you pay, pay, pay. I've got an appointment to keep with me, me, me."

[bc56]

An Upper Room
The outburst earns an eyeroll from Circe. She's not impressed by theatrics. "I'm not paying you for a job unfinished," she responds, "Do it, and then I'll give you what you're owed." It's only half the truth, the other half is that she doesn't carry 200 vials with her and couldn't pay in advance even if she wanted to.

[Ironsmith]

[An Upper Room]

"Oooouagh..." The shadow continues to stare her down for a moment, holding the stone in her hand and seeming to briefly mentally debate returning it, before skulking toward the door, singing quietly to herself.

"Happy birthday to you..." She begins, as the door's latch lifts by itself.

"Happy birthday to you..." She continues, the door creaking open slowly.

"Happy birthday, dear Kama..."

The door slams shut before the song ends, and Circe is left in a room that seems about an order of magnitude more mundane than it was a moment ago. Even for her, it will probably feel something like waking up after a nap she didn't remember taking.

But, the shadow is gone. And she took the emerald with her. Either she's about to carry out her end of the bargain as requested, or she's decided to just take the jewel in lieu of her demands being met.

[bc56]

An Upper Room
Once Kama is gone, Circe sighs in relief.
The thought of the emerald being stolen does cross her mind, but she can track it down and get it back; not to mention that it's a lot less valuable to her than 200 vials of essence. She packs up her stuff and leaves shortly thereafter.