In reply to Ardenas Barehand (msg # 38):

"The deal was... stop with the rats... for my soul, alright? But my gifts continue after I die, there was no clause ending them."

In reply to Alban the lucky (msg # 39):

"The gift of your soul, or their gifts to you?"

"Wait, you'll still be lucky after you die?  How does that work?  Never mind, it's a rhetorical question, though I'm sure the Hadereum would be interested in analyzing that.

"So you gave up your soul, thinking you weren't using it, and thought you'd put one over on Faust and his demon backers with a contract that didn't carry an end clause.  Did you never listen to the stories when you were a child?  Or do they only tell the ones where Jack beats the Devil in your part of town?  Or maybe there are some advantages to growing up Vejovist."

Ardenas shakes his head, then looks at Aoife and Benny.

"So what do we do with him?  Hand him over to the Hadereum?  They'll probably just lose his paperwork or 'accidentally' drop his cell key into his dinner bowl right before a scheduling cross up sends all the guards off shift at once."

"Hmm. Could we negate the contract somehow? Like give this sad sop his soul back? in exchange for his luck?"

Benny calls back just loud enough for the group to hear him, "We'd have to see the contract to discern if there is an escape clause.  There likely isn't.  Ask the young fool if he has the contract, and if his 'luck' innate or bound to an object?"

He turns back to watching the alley entrance for passerbys coming to investigate the shouts for help.
This message was last edited by the player at 18:27, Wed 23 Feb 2022.

In reply to Benny Morales (msg # 43):

Aoife just waits for her previous question to be answered first, before jumping to conclusions. If he is reluctant, she will encourage his with the rats...

Then she will ask about if he has a copy of the contract.

Ardenas will wait for answers to Aoife's questions.

In reply to Ardenas Barehand (msg # 45):

"I don't have the contract, they do. And there is no token or charm, just me."

In reply to Alban the lucky (msg # 46):

"And was your soul the only thing you gave them? Nothing else?"

In reply to Aoife (msg # 47):

"I am missing nothing else."
This message was last edited by the player at 17:34, Tue 01 Mar 2022.

In reply to Alban the lucky (msg # 48):

"Are you sure? You sound like you are not sure about the contract details..."

In reply to Aoife (msg # 49):

that last bit came outvsmall for reasons I don't understand, not because he is mumbling.

He seems confident,  but may not have read all of the details.

In reply to Narrator (msg # 50):

"So you do not know exactly what it has cost you? Does giving up ones soul give someone or something else control over you here and now, does anyone know?"

Ardenas shrugs.

"Never even considered trading mine away.  And not a theological question that arose when I was studying at the Academy -- not exactly couched as a koan, either."

"Damn it, Alban," Mancini says slamming the table. "You of all people should know the house eventually wins. If I could see that contract, I might have seen what tied you to that contract and freed you. As long as that contract is over your head, that demon that owns it controls you."

In reply to Mancini (msg # 53):

"Feed him to rats then?"

"No, not necessarily, Aoife."

 Mancini turns to Alban. "What was the exact wording of the wish?"

Seeing the Aoife was being reigned in and answers were now forthcoming, Benny moves back closer to listen in, but still keeps an eye on the alley entrance.

In reply to Benny Morales (msg # 56):
"That no one, not even death can beat me at cards, and that I have the very luck of the devil."

In reply to Alban the lucky (msg # 57):

"In exchange for what, exactly? How was it worded?"

In reply to Aoife (msg # 58):

"I don't remember! get these rats off of me!"

Ardenas glances between Benny and Kalima.

"Well?  What do we do with him now?  I'm sure there's some advantage for Faust's bosses here, but i don't see what it is.  Maybe they've already gotten what they want -- I've always heard they're after the souls of mortals, though I don't know I've ever heard what they do with them."

In reply to Ardenas Barehand (msg # 60):

"Consider the rats a memory aid..."

Aoife answers curtly.

In reply to Aoife (msg # 61):

the beleaguered gambler flings a rat at the diminutive druid, and it gets caught in her hair.

In reply to Alban the lucky (msg # 62):

"Eat the bastard!" she directs the others in anger, getting the one thrown at her out of her hair to join the feast, before indignantly walking away.