<span style="font-style: italic">Arcea and Celrie each gain another bennie due to excellent roleplaying and contributing to the background, doing an excellent job of helping to flesh out the local color! Remember that I'm allowing them to carry over.<br/><br/>Due to her speed, Boudicca will be able to make it to and from the booby trapped track within the timespan of a single 'post'. Several skills could potentially be used but Lockpicking would be the best. I will be taking a rather expansive view of lockpicking and treating it as an all-purpose "offensive mechanical skill". It is a smarts roll with TN 7, failure blows it up.</span><br/><br/>All throughout Arcea's ordeal of wading through the overzealous traders and being made to sample what they had to offer on her little "date" with Celire, she was able to appreciate the subtle, ever-present sensation of a sexy struggling coonie - a female whose initial scrambling efforts at escape quickly degraded into awkward, periodic groping, like a cub trapped in a rabbit burrow and trying to find her way out. She gave a shrill mumbled exclamation of dismay every time the catgirl mentioned digestion - particularly once she had the misfortune to hear that others of her aggressive tribe had suffered the same fate thanks to the ever-predatory vigilance of the sub-chieftess's clanfolk. It provides a lot of entertainment for her and Celrie both... but all good things must come to an end, and it seems the same is true for bad bandit racoons who happen to be providing a good massage at the time...<br/><br/>As it would happen though, just as she is starting to notice that Julie-Ann has gotten so exhausted (or digested) that she's barely even moving, Arcea comes across an old friend and a peculiar new sight.<br/><br/>As Arcea is observing and remarking upon the sight of Trinara (whose back is still turned), the audience gapes in surprise as the film clearly shows Trinara's cute catch landing completely in her stomach. Not yet acknowleding the visitors, the strange bat girl flicked a knob on the device, and the projected image seemed to speed up. The thrashing struggles of the doomed male were shown in hyper-accelerated motion, as were the repeated burps of the catgirl... It was a bit risque even for the rough folk here, but eventually the spectacle of Trinara's naive little victim being digested before their very eyes drew applause and laughter. The Taileton or Hammamat upper class would be scandalized to have such a show taking place in their domain (at least in public), but these low-class vagabonds and nomads seemed to be warming up to it.<br/><br/>Trinara glanced over her shoulder at the sound of a familiar voice, her ear flicking. "Hmmm? Is that young Arcea I hear back there? Excuse me, Miss Yvonne?" she said to the bat, who for her pert still seemed engrossed in her work. "Might we take a break here, for the moment? I'm, uhh, not quite comfortable with showing this particular scene all the way to the end, at least, not in front of such a crowd." She glanced over her shoulder bashfully and saw, on the black-and-white screen, that (past) her was now relaxing on a bed and batting around a tiny little bulge of pudge on her belly rapidly. The past-Trinara's lips moved, and suddenly the screen flashed to a black title card with a rendition of the dialogue on it: 'Having a good time in there Milos? You were always so eager to make a name for yourself, at least this way you'll always be part of a famous tushy. Mrrrr, you still feel insubordinate though. Time to show you your place once and for all, and make you walk the poop deck!'<br/><br/>"Ahhhh! Oh my! Movie over!" Trinara put her hands down over the beam of light shining into her and stepped away from the camera - the audience found this to be an entertaining end to the show and kept chuckling and gossiping among themselves. Without any further warning she bounced up and gave Arcea a big, fully-embracing hug, nuzzling her neck affectionately. "Didja miss me? I just got back from my trading expedition over at the Skadi lodge up at Hammarfast in the north. I've brought those 'special orders' that the Chieftan requested and some gifts for you all besides! Heheh, that... that stuff you saw on the silver screen wasn't from this trip. I've been to quite a few places... Pretty nifty creation there though, isn't it? I have to admit, seeing that scene again after all this time made me hungry."<br/><br/>She then got a naughty glint in her eye and reached down to give Arcea's still-bulging belly a squeeze with her paw. Her next question was spoken in the same gleeful, conspiratorial whisper that a tribeswoman might get when asking another if she'd gotten a new lover; "So... who was it? Looks like you've gotten a nice lunch of more than the usual game there, Arcea! Oooh, was it Krello? You owe me one if it was, because I've had my eye on him for a long time, heheheh~" She turned and glanced at Celrie and flicked her tail in aroused curiosity. "Mrrrr, if you did snack on my favorite stud behind my back, I'd be glad for you to pay me back by letting me get to mEAT your glamorous friend here!" She stuck her tongue out and wiggled it a little as if straining to get a taste of Celrie.<br/><br/>Meanwhile, the bat woman gave a satisfied nod and flicked her machine off - as she did, it gave off a spooky, almost human-sounding moan. When she spoke it was in slow, unhurried, contralto tones. "Ah... Is that an educated tongue I hear whispering to me?" She turned to Sevana and regarded her with a quick, shrill squeak. By their nature, the bats of the Bucovina family and branches delighted in deceiving the senses of other beings, and so they sometimes used their sonar to make sure someone wasn't using a magical disguise, or just out of habit. "If you know enough to recognize such a contrivance... then you should know that 'theoretical' is merely a word meaning something no motivated person has put their mind to yet. Side effects? Perhaps... but there are always new places for my traveling theatre of the soul to set up a screening or two. I believe in bringing new ways of experiencing the world to low places as well as high. But enough of my projector - you are far more interesting yourself." This bat - Yvonne, apparently - stepped closer to Sevana, regarding her with a palpable intensity. Sevana had been eyed by hungry preds before, and this didn't seem like that... not precisely, anyway.<br/><br/>"A clockmaker from a far distant land, by the looks of her. Hmmm... Oh yes. You have an incredible screen presence, my dear mysterious stranger..." she purred to Sevana in dulcet tones. "A rugged yet clever and sophisticated heroine, yes... wearing her pistols on her hip to show that she is no stranger to dangerous situations, mm, yet the confident, perceptive glint in her eyes shows that her mind is her sharpest weapon. Optimistic and ready to explore the mysteries of the world... even the darker ones that others would shy away from." She chuckled as if thinking of a private joke.<br/><br/>"Mmmm... I believe there was word posted that this territory would be under the governance of several new countesses soon? Might it be too much to hope that you are among them, or one of their attendants? You see, I was asked to leave Catspaw... in rather<span style="font-style: italic">strong</span>terms. I think the reason behind that request would be of great interest to anyone coming to that town for the first time. I should not say too much, but suffice to say that my projector revealed a bit more than the<span style="font-style: italic">current</span>rulers of that village were comfortable with. There are certain webs of corruption in this world just waiting for an unaware lawgiver or three to stumble into them. Not that I am<span style="font-style: italic">necessarily</span>saying the quaint little village up the mountain is such a dark den, of course." she said with a little conspiratorial chuckle, giving Sevana a meaningful look. "Perhaps you could introduce me to the delightful feline warrior lady that my latest subject seems to know so well? I think she, too, could make in interesting co-star for the tale of magic and intrigue that shall soon unfold at Catspaw village. Once all is said and done, I would most like to see it for myself. In in return, I could answer a few questions that newcomers might have, having just come from there myself..."<br/><br/><br/>---------------------<br/><br/>Yasha didn't know whether to be insulted or relieved that the merchants were all overlooking her in their rush to get the attention of what they presumed to be wealthy travelers. The well-traveled squirrel blended in too well to show up on their radar as a potential customer or mark... even though she was carrying at least as much coin as the rest of them. Looking inconspicuous despite having a large quantity of valuables tucked away on your person had served her invaluably as a pirate. Of course, the particular lapine girl that she'd run into seemed to be very much the exception to this rule.<br/><br/>In fact, Lady Bobtail's enthusiasm for serving this visitor proved to be quite distracting - so much so that the seasoned air pirate might not be as savvy to having picked up a shadow as she normally would be.<br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic">Yasha and her new friend may each roll their Notice (smarts) with a -2 penalty, and a TN of 8. Suceeding gives the following:</span><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;">There is an inconspicuous human man with a weathered complexion and a short handlebar moustache hanging around the perimeter, just close enough to keep an eye on Yasha - he's been following her since she got here. Since he's wearing an all-encompassing grey trenchcoat, no other details can be seen save his leather boots. If Yasha notices him, she feels like she faintly recognizes him, but she can't be sure with just a quick glimpse... if she were to confront him face to face she'd know for sure if she'd seen him before.</div></div></div>