(G14 27/06/08 OR)

Well, we went back upstairs and had a bit of a rethink. Some of us wanted to charging in,
I will let you guess as to who that might have been, and some of us wanted to try diplomacy
first.

Eventually we decided to wait in the guild rooms and see who turned up. They must have known
we were there anyway, so it was just a waiting game.

We set some simple alarm traps (broken bottles, buckets etc) at the back door and the trap
door and waited. While we waited I went and looked at the stuffed animals again, but it wasn't
long before a rough looking chap appeared at the back door. Raz and myself tried to talk to
him and his shadowy associate, but they listened, fired their crossbows and ran off. One of
the bolts caught me a glancing blow on the leg. I returned the favour by feathering his back,
but they both leapt down a well and no one had any great desire to follow them.

After a few more hours my stomach was rumbling so I suggested we send out for some food and drink
from the Gull's Nest. Food, ale and two wenches turned up! Raz took one of the lasses to the
bedroom and had his wicked way with her - I think he quiet startled Mr Badgerington who had been
snoozing under the bed! I simply canoodled with the other one in the animal room - had to keep my
mind on the job eh?

A little before midnight a note is slipped under the door with instructions to go to the Hungry
Gorilla, an inn down the street, and we duly do so.

Two rough looking characters are there and we explain the situation to them. One of them is called
Yal. Although I was saying nothing but the truth I had a feeling that the truth was not a coin that
these fellows were used to dealing in. I could see the wheels at work in Yal's head as he tried to
work out what our motives were. In the end I think he was still puzzled but he said he would pass
on the information to his mistress, the Lady of the Lotus.

DAY 17

As we made our way back to the Taxidermist Guilds we noticed a commotion and then that the Guild
was on fire! Those terrible rogues had torched the building!

All of us tried to kick down the front door, but it was Shifty that did in the end, although he
was burnt in the process. I managed to save a couple of the stuffed animals, a civet and a
cockatrice, but by then it was too late.

I summoned two water elementals, but they didn't do much. Nobby tried to help too, but is seemed
that Shifty was the most use as he organised a bucket chain down to the nearby canal.

Raz, the useless lump, just wandered off, but came back with five crossbow bolts sticking out
of him! He had been ambushed from the roof tops apparently.

Lest we were blamed for the blaze we skulked off back to the pie shop.

In the morning there was another note on the door, another warning. But it was going to take more
than notes to stop us now.

All of us now had reasons for being mightily browned off with the Lotus Dragons. All we wanted to
do was talk to Vanthus, but all they seem to want to do is kill us! This sort of unreasonableness
I have no time for so over breakfast we planned our next step.

I was loathe to leave the pie shop undefended to I persuaded Raz and Shifty to wait while myself
and Nobby rode into town on the one remaining horse (that idiot butcher had turned the other
one into pies!) and found Constable Padesh. He was his usual tepid self, I swear, the man is
about as quick witted as Clarky, and he spends twenty-three hours of the day asleep!

Anyway, he seemed to eventually realise that we were fighting criminal elements of the city and
would send along a couple of men to help us for our planned assault on the Lotus Dragons lair.

We popped in past Lady V's and she gave us some more funds for hiring people. Myself and Nobby
then returned to the house and Raz and Shifty went out with the money to hire some more blades.
I asked if they could also look for a down on their luck wizard or such like.

(Incidentally, Bullah informed me, that for reasons only known to himself Shifty had a fight with
a cow while we were out.)

They did very well as they returned with a gnomish sorcerer called Eriss Jaree Lissa Tavartarr and
two fighting sisters, one armed with cutlasses and the other with a trident. There names are
Ayesha and Mashai.
The guards turned up too, names being Dek and Hulog.

We sat down and planned our next move.