<div class="quoteheader"><div class="topslice_quote">Quote</div></div><blockquote class="bbc_standard_quote">"This scarf is infused with my magic, enhancing one's abilities to dance, entrance, and fascinate.  In the library I read about enchanted garments used by Varisian bards, and figured that I'd try making one.  It looks like I succeeded, and thought that it would make a wonderful gift for you...that is, if you're not mad at me for going along with a lie."</blockquote><div class="quotefooter"><div class="botslice_quote"></div></div><br/>"Of course I'm not mad at you," Menya reassured Alfreldi, "you've been a true friend to me the whole time. I know you've been makinya the best out of a bad situation, and I don't blame you for what you had to do."<br/><br/><div class="quoteheader"><div class="topslice_quote">Quote</div></div><blockquote class="bbc_standard_quote">Alfreldi's eyes light up with joy.  "Oh thank you, thank you, thank you!  You are truly a saint!  I was so afraid that I would lose you as a friend, but now I'm glad I dealt with this guilt.  It can be hard to do the right thing, but I'll remember this day ever since to help steer me on the right path."</blockquote><div class="quotefooter"><div class="botslice_quote"></div></div><br/>Menya looped the scarf once around her otherwise bare hips and gave an experimental twirl, letting the ends flutter freely as she spun around. "I can feel it workinya already... can you?" she whispered, leaning close to Alfreldi, still gyrating her hips. "You're not just my friend, but somethinya more, too..." The two catgirls kissed again, lips locking together for much longer this time, their tongues tasting each another. Hands groped, seeking out soft sensitive bits to squeeze, and legs crisscrossed, each one of them straddling the other's thigh. Bodies pressed tightly together, they squirmed and ground against each other, sharing warmth, passion, and pleasure, until they both reached a mewling climax at the same time.<br/><br/>They remained like that for a little while, catching their breaths. "Oops, sorry I got us all messed up again," Menya giggled. It was while she was cleaning off the sticky juices from her leg that Menya broached the topic of escape. "Thinyas have gotten really bad lately, haven't they? Between Faliensk, Roshul, and assassins, it's gettinya too dangerous around here." She looked around and lowered her voice before continuing, "and that's why we aren't planninya to stay. Me and a couple others, we're goinya to make a break for freedom soon. If you've ever wanted somethinya more, outside these walls... this is your chance."<br/><br/><div class="quoteheader"><div class="topslice_quote">Quote</div></div><blockquote class="bbc_standard_quote">Alfreldi gives a deathly serious look to her, but she nods.  "If you want to, then you have every right.  But for me to come with...?  I don't know, it's a huge proposal.  Where will we go?  What kind of life will I have to live?  I will help you every step of the way, but for me to come as well...give me some time to think, I'll get back in a day or so."</blockquote><div class="quotefooter"><div class="botslice_quote"></div></div><br/>"We all had lives and livinyas before we ended up here, that we'll be returninya to... our lives might not be as opulent outside, but they'll be our own. Bakr came up with a potion that can restore memories; it's how I got back my memories from before I arrived here. If you want, I can convince him to spare a dose for you as well. This'll help, I'm sure." Menya patted the beautifully woven scarf. "The choice is yours and yours alone in the end, but I want you to have the same chance that I got."<br/><br/><hr/><br/><div class="quoteheader"><div class="topslice_quote">Quote</div></div><blockquote class="bbc_standard_quote">Faliensk stares daggers into her rival's eyes, but does not alert the guards.  "Oh hello there, Ms. New Girl Who Ruined My Life!  Did you come to parade your little victory and kick me while I'm already down?  I hope you're happy now; if you thought that I was mean, then wait until you have to deal with Amvi and Roshul!  Your top status just made you a new target."</blockquote><div class="quotefooter"><div class="botslice_quote"></div></div><br/>Faliensk's hostility made Menya feel a little less guilty, as though her rival deserved her fate. "Your own actions led you here," she said coldly, "I merely came down to make sure that you are treated with dignity even in punishment." She glanced around the clean, if sparse, cell. "Which you are, so that's that." With that, she spun around on her heel and left, though she had a few more cryptic parting words to share before she disappeared back upstairs, "I'd keep myself presentable if I were you -<em>Samara-pie</em>might require your company again, sooner rather than later."<br/><br/><hr/><br/><div align="center"><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 14pt;">Twenty-second Day in the Gilded Cage</span></div><br/>Bakr's summons was a happy coincidence and a chance to get the memory potion for Alfreldi. Menya had Bakr wrapped around her little finger and intended to take full advantage of it. The scarf draped over her waist just so, she put a little extra sway in her hips as she entered his office.<br/><br/>"No, no, I should be the one apologizinya," Menya said, waving her hands. "I didn't want to get you in trouble, so I might not have told Garetz the whole truth..." she laughed nervously. "But seriously," she continued in a furtive tone, leaning forward conspiratorially and seizing Bakr's hand, "I sometimes get flashes of thinyas and places I haven't seen before, I think they're from my previous life. It's all muddled though, do you... do you think you can make another dose? To brinya more memories back? If you need anythinya," and she squeezed his hand, "I'm perfectly willinya to help ..." She looked into his eyes with a pleading gaze, biting her lip as she awaited his reply.<br/><br/><hr/><br/>The remainder of the day was spent securing the maps of the palace. Something about Amvi's attitude in their previous exchange seemed off to Menya, the way she seemed so casual about another possible assassination attempt. She couldn't help feeling that this was the calm just before the storm, and they needed to finish their preparations as quickly as possible...<br/><br/><em>Perception: 30 (https://elliquiy.com/forums/dicebot.php?r=78100) and 21 (https://elliquiy.com/forums/dicebot.php?r=78101). Maps complete!</em><br/><br/><hr/><br/><div align="center"><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 14pt;">Twenty-third Day in the Gilded Cage</span></div><br/>With the complete set of maps, Menya and Hanifa were able to work out the probable guard postings and patrols for the palace. It probably helped that the catgirl was much more focused, not letting her thoughts wander off imagining other kinds of head this time around.<br/><br/><em>Knowledge (Engineering): 21. Head count complete! (https://elliquiy.com/forums/dicebot.php?r=78102)</em><br/><br/>Then it was time for one of the riskiest steps of their escape plan: raiding the vault. Somewhat anti-climatically, Menya and Hanifa didn't get very far before they unwittingly stumbled into a patrol. Feigning being lost, Menya managed to talk their way out of their predicament without further consequences. They would have to try again tomorrow, and Menya resolved to be properly prepared next time.<br/><br/><em>Stealth: 15</em>(https://elliquiy.com/forums/dicebot.php?r=78103)<br/><br/><hr/><br/><div align="center"><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 14pt;">Twenty-fourth Day in the Gilded Cage</span></div><br/>Seeing Valerie ink the web-like tattoo on Hanifa's back, Menya had a mischievous glint in her eye and a playful grin on her lips as she realized that Silent Girl couldn't talk back. "You should get a red hourglass tattoo on your butt as well," she teased, adding a playful spank on Hanifa's rump for good measure, "then you can be a black widow spider!"<br/><br/>For herself, Menya chose a tattoo of a single scaly serpent, its long body wrapped around her arms. She flexed her muscles, and the smoky grey snake seemed to slither across her body as she moved.<br/><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Serpentine Tattoo</div><div class="spoiler_body"><br/><em>I imagine it as something like this picture, in a smoky grey colour, a single snake coiled around the arms, with a little bit across the back of her shoulders to bridge the space between her arms but avoiding inking the front of her body.<br/>Technically it's supposed to apply to unarmed strikes, can it be extended to apply to natural attacks (i.e. Menya's claw attacks) as well?</em><br/>(http://i1300.photobucket.com/albums/ag94/Autocad-E/snake_by_clintcearley-d8z8yf2_zpsxbmjjnra.jpg)<br/></div></div><br/><hr/><br/>An invisible Menya and Hanifa snuck past the patrol that stymied them yesterday, and made their way to the vault without any further incident. Menya raised an eyebrow when Hanifa whipped out a couple of coconuts again to take care of the vault guardians, forgetting for a moment that her expression would go unseen while she was still invisible.<br/><br/>"Really, what's with you and coconuts?" she hissed. "Don't tell me you're goinya to use coconut-tipped arrows too..."<br/><br/>Her own spell faded away, as she gazed upon the golden doors. There was no keyhole, so she placed her hands flat against the doors, and as she expected she felt the currents of magic swirling within. "It's magically locked," she conversed casually, as she used little bursts of arcane magic to redirect the flow and trick the wards into thinking that it was al-Samara demanding they open, "luckily, I've seen this sort of thinya befo-"<br/><br/>Menya cut off abruptly, not moving an inch. When she spoke again, her voice was in a terrified whisper. "Oh no. I think I tripped somethinya I shouldn't have."<br/><br/><em>Stealth: 48</em>(https://elliquiy.com/forums/dicebot.php?r=78104)<br/><br/><em>Use Magic Device (with Archaeologist's Luck): natural 1 (17 total)</em>(https://elliquiy.com/forums/dicebot.php?r=78106)