The Inn door flew open, and in stepped AndyTbone once again. He was back, and still wearing the same gear as always, and still with those trademark iron shackles hanging off his belt. He stomped into the tavern angrily, saw an empty seat and sat down slamming his fists on the table. He appeared to be furious, and mumbling under his breath, something about a contract going bust.

He withdrew those arrest warrants he has been carrying for so long, one for Cirali and one for the unknown man. He put one on the table and held the other over a candle and it burned to ashes in a matter of seconds.

all while this is going on the orc wearing the screaming face armor is drinking his mead

Seeing that AndyTBone was back, Cirali crept over from his conveniantly placed seat, both in the shadows and near the cellar, and snuck to the basemant door. Then, he opened it, shut it again, and crept very obviousley forwards, into the light. He crept right up to the door, and acted like he didn't know he'd been seen at all and acted like nobody was chasing him if they were. Just as he stepped outside into the rain, he turned around, flashed his glinting smile, and backed off into the gloom, knowing AndyTBone would probably not miss this opportunity.

AndyTbone sitting in his seat, scowling at anyone who looked at him, and then he sees Cirali's little dance in the ran, taunting him. As if he knew....
It was almost as though Cirali knew what AndyTbone was soo furious about, and he was taunting him. Hmm perhaps Cirali knew exactly what had happened, why else would anyone try and have someone pursue you? Because he knew what would happen, because he knew what did happen.

AndyTbone remained in his chair, resisting Cirali's taunts. He scowled at Cirali once more, then pulled the Iron Shackles from his belt and slammed them down on the table next to the burnt ashes of what was an arrest warrant.

Neekum-Kai, being the son of two Shadowscales, sensed danger. This was a mysterious gift he was born with and his parents had embraced it. He turned, suspiciously scanning the room for the slaver, Cirali, or perhaps, something more sinister...

"Hmm theres that spy fellow who seems to be hunting Cirali like I am, well, I was." AndyTbone thought to himself.
He looked down at the ashes and started rubbing them into the top of the table, the table was covered in black ash. Everything had been pushed off the table by Andy, everything except the candle, the 2nd arrest warrant, the two suspect reports and the iron shackles. Andy then began to hold one of the reports over the candle's flame, it was the report on Cirali. Within a few second that too was burned to ashes, which Andy then began to furiously rub into the table. With his hands and the top of the table covered in the black ash, Andy just sat in silence.

Wondering what that Cirali was up to, and more importantly wondering if Cirali had any friends or relatives in the Cyrodil High Council, or any other possible reason why Andy's superiors would have him drop the case.
After a month tailing Cirali closely and over six months of research on the guy, they tell him to forget it. Whats even worse is that Andy has been warned to back off and forget about Cirali all together or there will be consequences, losing his commission and reputation for starters. "I wonder if Cirali knows about it" he thought "What does the High Council want him left alone for"........

Neekum-Kai finished his wine, and got up from his high bar stool. He walked towards AndyTbone. "Hello" he said courteously. He sat opposite AndyTbone, without asking for permission and lowered his voice to a whisper. "I notice you were after that vile creature too. I'm giving you a warning. Back away. He's mine. I'm about to get promoted in the Order Of The Virtuous Blood, and I don't want you messing it up. I don't know if you're some sort of mercenary, or just a no-good fortune hunter, but that filthy beast is mine." Neekum-Kai lifted his cloak to reveal what appeared to be a regular iron dagger, slightly rusted. "After all, you don't want to become too friendly with Ol' Rusty here. He's got an awful temper, and his bite is much worse than his bark. So, what's your answer"?, the Argonian enquired...

"I am no longer hunting that....creature. I work for the Cyrodil High Councl, well, contracted by them. They laughed at me when I said I could find him" AndyTbone says, or mumbles as if in a daze, "they laughed when I said I could find him, they all laughed, but I knew, I knew I could, and I did. I found him over and over again, and when I'm staying in the same Inn as he is......They call me off!!!

Andy starts yelling at the ash smeared table "They don't want me to go near him! They want me to just drop it! After seven months, just drop it....

AndyTbone looks up "The Council want him for something, I don't know what, but it's something big.....thats why I burned his arrest warrant and report, they told me to. They made me!.....And now if I did want to get him, I could be arrested! Just because I don't have a liitle piece of paper to prove who I am, and that I have the authority to throw him off a cliff if I wanted to.....but they want me to stop.....so I will....I'll get a drink and stay at this Inn for a week to cool off. Then maybe I'll find this other rat bag on my list.... ...

Andy looks back down at the shackles "looks like he wont be wearing these for the rest of his life after all........

He stands up, walks to the bar and gets a bottle of Ale and sits back in his seat.

After his little act, Cirali grew impatient outside the Inn. AndyTBone must either not be as stupid as he'd thought, or perhaps something had happened.

Staring in through a secluded window, he noticed a paper being burned - His face. An arrest warrant! So Andy must have been told to discontinue his pursuit. But... the Argonian again? Well, Cirali thought, looks like I'll have to do a bit more plotting.

Cirali was not an idiot. He knew that a Virtuous Blood spy would be tough and, since they were independant, he would not back off anytime soon. It burned up his insides! He hadn't ever killed anyone, but people still hate Vampires. Perhaps because he's 'stealing' blood? Maybe, but that was not his priority right now.

He remembered his rule: No more running from these two. He decided to try his plan with the spy instead.

Cirali strode in once more. He expected most of the Inn's customers must think him stupid, going in and out, in and out the bar. He sat down, right next to the hunter's conversations. A bit of irritating the creature might be a fun start.

"Hey, Scaleface. Why arn't you bathing in your scum pond?" sneered the High Elf. "Oh, I forgot - Pretending to be all big and tough is the favourite pastime now, isn't it?" he continued, displaying his fangs as he delivered the racist remarks.

"Oh I wouldn't take that if I were you! AndyTbone says between drinks "Not from a........ELF!
His head swaying about, obviously very drunk "ELF! ELF! ELF! He says over and over again, being so drunk that he likes how the word elf sounds. "ELF ELF ELF ELFY-PELFY"

While being intoxicated, he didn't even care that Cirali was here, just thought 'elf' sounded funny. "Buuurp!

Neekum-Kai sat in his chair, absolutely fuming. Yet he also had a sense of superiority about him. He knew that with that bounty hunter out of the way, there was nothing to stop him. He had aways hated Altmer, ever since one attempted to take him as a child for the slave trade, until his mother placed a blade in the stupid elf's temple. This would make the kill even more pleasurable. Neekum-Kai removed his blade and pierced his arm. A trickle of blood streamed onto the blade. Neekum-Kai looked at his dagger curiously and then held it under the nose of Cirali. He knew that if he licked the blade, he could snap his neck, there and then. The Order had very high-standing Council Members, who could dispatch of any legal implications. After all, this was a vampire. They're animals anyway, who cares if they're slain? He saw the Altmer swallow audibly, and he smiled to himself, as Cirali grew more and more uncomfortable...

Cirali looked carefully at the blade. He swallowed. Cheap trick, he thought. Cirali knew that he couldn't resist, so he held up a hand, smiled at the spy, and cast a Charm spell. Then he licked the blade, relishing the taste. But hoping that his spell had done the trick.

" Oh yew, is, is that blood" says Andy, so drunk he's nearly sliding off his chair, " thats, thats horrible sir, *Burp, are you...you..a Arg-Arg-Arg-onian....and an Elfy"

"I was...uh looking for an Elf, have either of you, uh seen, an elf? I think I ,huh lost my elf"....'Buurp'

" The elf that, i was, uh, trying to find, is named, um 'burp' uh, Cile, or ah, Cine...I had his name-ah on a paper, but, i uh, I lost it....

While all this happened, Elithaule, seeing no-one pay attention to him, restored his composure and sat back down again. He was alert for any sign of the poisoner.
He stared around the room again paying specific attention to an orc with a scythe that had been frozen in suspended animation at the door for ages, Link (though he knew not his name), and a strange Altmer who kept going out of the inn. Upon looking closely, he saw that the Altmer appeared to be a vampire.
Uncomfortably, he remembered that he had been responsible for the disappearances of more than a few vampires and it would be wise if he left, and he went up the stairs. No-one appeared to notice, so he went quickly to a spare bed, and slumped down and fell to sleep.
But in the corner of his room, his summoned clannfear skulked, staying on guard for any intruders.

Link crept upstairs after Elithaule, sticking to the shadows that the light sources had generated.
He saw him conjure a Clannfear before he slept, Link would have to deal with that before he could get to the sleeper. Link noticed venison cooking on the stove, he picked it up and tore it into little pieces then placed them as a trail leading out the window.
The clannfear noticed the meat and started to follow the trail, while it done this Link crept into the room, poisened knife at the ready.

OOC: MAKE YOUR GUY WAKE UP!!!

Cirali waited until his spell wore off. It was one of his powerful custom spells - Instead of an ordinary Captivate spell, his new spell simply made the target oblivious to everything around them and showed them the image of a different outcome that would benefit the caster more- For example, if someone was being chased by a wolf, then the spell would show the wolf a fat deer in the distance that disappears over a hill as the spell ends. The wolf thinks it is real and hurtles off in the direction. In fact, when Cirali felt sad, he would often use the spell on himself because of how relaxing it was. But it uses up a lot of Magicka and energy, and could only be used once every three days - only for emergencies. It had taken all of Cirali's Illusion expertise to create.

The Argonian had been shown an image of the Vampire wiping the blood off with a knapkin. He didn't even know the spell had been cast. Eventually the spell ended.

"Yes, I can resist it" lied Cirali. "Do you wish to end my life? Well, listen here, Scaley - I hate you as much as you hate me. I could run from you for eternity if I wanted, but in all honesty I don't want to. If you want to kill me, then you will meet me at a fort to the south east of this Inn tomorrow morning, named Blueblood. There, we shall dual. Be there, or you shall never find me again."

And with that, Cirali went upstairs to sleep back his energy, for the next morning.

Upon awakening on the inn floor after being drunk Serpine overheard the conversation between the Vampire and the Vampire Hunter he had always hated how they seemed to take pleasure out of killing, and he had seen Cirali at the University once or twice he didn`t hate vampires he actually appreciated how they lived. So he decided to approach the Vampire when he was unseen and ask if he could help him dual and when he saw him go upstairs he knew he had a chance, so he quickly cast a 30 second Invisibility spell and crept up the stairs silently and walked in Ciralis room quietly and woke him up.

"Sorry for disturbing you but I have an offer I would like you to accept. I will help you tomorrow at fort blueblood and help you hide the evidence after, then help you hide if you do a small favour for me. So waddya say Vampire?"

OOC: Its really your choice.

The moment Cirali disappeared up the stairs, AndyTbone, still sitting across from Neekum-Kai, took a sip of his Ale and leaned over to Neekum-Kai.

"You, know, you should be a little nicer to, um, that elf......I've been, ah, following him, 'cos thats my job, for the past, um uh, six, no, seven months..*burp* and you know, he's really not such a bad guy, uh, and a lot of people I have, uh, talked to about him, huh *buuurp* they don't have much bad stuff to, ahh, say about.......him.."

At which point, AndyTbone, drunk out of his skull, thinks it might be a good idea to shackle himself to the table with one of the pairs of wrist irons.

When he was fully aroused from his sleep, Cirali laughed at Serpine's statement.

"Disturbed me? No, you actually saved me from the start of another twelve hours of painful nightmares."

Cirali frowned at Serpine as the Vampire listened to what he had to say.

"You want to help a Vampire? That makes a nice change. But Vampire Hunters are powerful, and if he kills me, then you will be arrested for helping me."

The Altmer sighed.

"Very well, then. I may need all the help I can get. Get some sleep, and we'll meet outside at 9:00 AM.

Used to having danger near at hand constantly from sleeping in the wild, Elithaule did not completely trust the clannfear's protection, especially as someone had attempted to kill him, so he slept lightly, on guard even when asleep.
But it was not Link who gave it away; Link was so quiet that Elithaule would have been hard pressed to hear his footsteps even if he was awake.
It was the Clannfear's steps that woke Elithaule; he had used magic to ensure that the clannfear stayed still unless it seemed there was danger, and the Clannfear's steps, while quiet, were not quiet enough for Elithaule.
His eyes came open but he stayed still; to all appearances deep in sleep.
But his eyes darted around the room and took in the missing clannfear, and then he saw a dark figure sneaking towards him, with a dagger poised to strike.
He let it come closer, and then rolled off the bed onto the floor, longsword in hand.
He leapt at the figure before he had time to react and they both fell to the floor. As he fell, he realised it was the man from downstairs, and they wrestled, both sides struggling to gain the upper hand and strike with their weapons.
Elithaule seemed to be gaining the upper hand, but Link kicked him, hard, and he rolled to the side of the room, gasping in pain. Then Link's vision blurred as he went to strike, and Elithaule appeared to the left of him, hands gleaming from the spell he had just cast and longsword about to come down on Link.

Downstairs, a cloaked figure crept behind Neekum-Kai, who seemed to be distracted. His hand reached out, searching for any item of value to steal.

OOC: I avoided saying "Elithaule suddenly woke up."

A well-dressed Khajiit threw open the door and strolled in. "Good morning fellow patrons!" he said merrily. "A good morning is what I wish of you, because it is not a good night!" "Some bandits nearly killed me out in the woods!" He bowed, as if he had put on a performance, and walked over to the bar counter. "Cyrodillic Brandy, please!" With his drink in hand, he walzted over to a table where some Nords' were gambling. "Good morning to you!" he exclaimed. He sat down by a sour-faced Nord, and joined the game.

After hearing what the Altmer said Serpine chuckled.

"Thank you, but being an ArchMage has its perks you see. There will be more than two of us my friend, I shall rest after getting our allies. Goodbye Cirali I shall see you in our battle against the Hunter."

And with that Serpine bacame invisible.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! A drunk Argonian rolled down the stairs. He had tried to get to his bed, but slipped on his own tail. After a few moments of laying there in pain, he got up, and sat at the bar counter...Then passed out.

A few hours later, the Argonian woke up..."Sand in skies..." he muttered. "Tumors, hard labor, dead, screams in the dark, Only-He-Stands-There, rescue, safety, jail, second time." The Argonian appears to be insane. He passes out a minute later.

Suddenly, a lowly Khajiit wanders in, wearing only a Sack Cloth shirt, Sack Cloth trousers and matching sandals. He sits down at the bar and puts 100 septims on top of it, grinning manically, as he had just stolen it. Upon seeing the unconcious Argonian, he grinned once more and began rythmically kicking the body.