There's a commotion in the small crowd at the bar proper as the minutes tick away, a sudden scuffling and shuffling with wordless expressions of confusion and surprise a few seconds after the door opens and shuts to let in a fresh dose of light. "MY GOLD!" A deep, basso female voice roars, a gnoll woman standing up and throwing her chair back onto the floor with an audible splintering of wood. "WHO? YOU!" A second, startled voice- distinctly human in timber- "Wha? What gold? I just-" interrupted by the meaty smack of a fist against a face. There's a sudden hubbub as people rush to get a better view of the bar fight developing while leaving enough of a circle for the entertainment to not be diminshed, and the clatter of chairs and drinks falling to the floor in the other corner of the room is soon joined by the thick, scuffling sounds of a fight.<br/><br/>"Whew." A much softer, cheery voice breathes from behind Aiyaka. "Megha was more alert than usual. Here, drinks are on me." The human thief, Bella, leans over Aiyaka's shoulder and empties a few golden coins onto the table.<br/><br/><div style="padding: 3px; background-color: #FFFFFF; border: 1px solid #d8d8d8; font-size: 1em;"><div style="text-transform: uppercase; border-bottom: 1px solid #CCCCCC; margin-bottom: 3px; font-size: 0.8em; font-weight: bold; display: block;"><span onclick="if (this.parentNode.parentNode.getElementsByTagName('div')[1].getElementsByTagName('div')[0].style.display != '') {  this.parentNode.parentNode.getElementsByTagName('div')[1].getElementsByTagName('div')[0].style.display = ''; this.innerHTML = '&lt;b&gt;Spoiler: &lt;/b&gt;&lt;a href=\'#\' onClick=\'return false;\'&gt;hide&lt;/a&gt;'; } else { this.parentNode.parentNode.getElementsByTagName('div')[1].getElementsByTagName('div')[0].style.display = 'none'; this.innerHTML = '&lt;b&gt;Spoiler: &lt;/b&gt;&lt;a href=\'#\' onClick=\'return false;\'&gt;show&lt;/a&gt;'; }"><b>Spoiler: </b><a href="#" onclick="return false;">show</a></span></div><div class="quotecontent"><div style="display: none;"><img alt="Image" src="http://i.imgur.com/Bd8w7yL.jpg"/></div></div></div><br/><br/>Giving everyone gathered a sunny grin, she stays bent over as she adds, "Megha and Kofi both owe me money. I figure I can get some of one debt from her, and the other..." she shrugs. "There's always other ways to pay debts, you know? Easy as taking a pie from a window." She stands next to the table, long pale neck craned to look over at the fight; there's a sudden shriek of fear and a shout of glee from the spectators, and soon a human body rises partway above the crowd flailing wildly and being lowered into... presumably Megha. "I hope she had the sense to take the valuable pieces off him first," Bella muses. "I was counting on her to pawn those off to finish paying me. Oh well. She'll just have to keep owing if not, but she'll have a full stomach to do it on and that's what counts, isn't it?"<br/><br/>Bella lingers by the table, putting away her thin pouch-slitting knife and giving everyone the once over. Crossing the table, she bends down and gives Felicity a quick peck on the cheek. "Felicity! Love, good to see you're keeping your skills up, it's been a while since the last time you had anything for me to pawn, I'm happy you kept me in mind! And this must be the knight you mentioned," she gives Vormitraax a curtsy and presents her own hand, adding, "He's more handsome than you said, and I'm sure he's just as brave! We'll need that." Moving on, Aiyaka gets a quick hug- "The shipment of... herbs I sent you was satisfactory, I hope? The mushrooms were a gift, since I figured you'd know how to use them better than I would, I never had the taste for being so direct. And you two..." She eyes Nanami and Lamya, and says, "I never had the pleasure of doing business with either of you, so I'm happy this first attempt could be one that'd let us all retire. Let's get to know each other a little better. If you don't mind, since there aren't any chairs..." Bella walks over and lowers herself to a sitting position in Lamya's coils, scooting back until the fringed ruffles on her back tickle the 'monster's' chest- clearly not disgusted by non-humans, at least. She smells... like strawberries. Very intensely, in fact, and it's enough to make the serpent-woman's stomach grumble eagerly at the same time a pair of jaws clacking shut echoes around the tavern to general cheers as Megha wins her little bar fight. Bella doesn't seem put off by either of these events.<br/><br/>"So, dears, as some of you've probably guessed, I have a line on the location of the," she waves her hand negligently, before lowering it to casually stroke the side of Lamya's tail beneath her, "White Seraph's Spear. I also, happily enough, have a buyer already lined up once we deliver it." She looks around, and lowers her voice to intone, "One hundred and fifty thousand gold. Split six ways, that's twenty five thousand each. Lot of people work their whole lives without ever seeing that much at once- not quite enough to buy a castle, but enough to outfit an entire new small pirate ship, for instance?" She bats her eyes at Felicity, "Or whatever else you might do with more money than some entire towns can scratch together. Me, I have my eye on a comfortable manor house closer to civilization, so I can have the local squires and adventurers fight over my hand." Bella giggles, shaking her head slightly. "Anyway, when I got the information, I thought of a few of you first and asked you here. Interested? There'll be enemies, but nothing I think you and I together can't handle, dears."<br/><br/>[[Bella has the known aspects of "Party-loving Master Thief" and "Knows Everyone Who's Everyone", with other ones not known at this time.]]