First off, a minor congratulations goes to myself. I did indeed shoot the next mage I saw. It was pure chance that he was the same one that attempted to mug us while we were muggin' the police. As it was, Cha-kan and I met up with the others near Stump street down in the Hive - how did that mage get there so quickly?

Lilah shared the loot from my first Sigel muggin' with me - namely hangin' over a simple brass-steel earcuff and a somewhat tarnished copper ring. My right ear now sports the ever-so-stylish earcuff. It was excellent of her to do so, however, I wish she didn't have to tap that awful tail of hers on my shoulder to get my attention. I am still just a smidgeon trigger happy and would just hate to twitch by mistake in her direction...heh heh.

Lets see, in the Hive, briefly saw a mural that had some man steppin' out of a hole. It appeared he was wearin' dull silver armor and carryin' a basket of eggs into the Ward. We talked to Hugh (Cha-kan's partner) and he seems to believe its somethin' to do with the bugs in the Hive. I've seen 'em and can't even begin to do 'em justice with a description. I'll try though...later. If I had to hazard a guess though, I'd say it was that Revolutionary Faction if any. They seem to thrive on chaos and want to tear down everythin' before startin' anew. This would be one way. Mental Note: Find out more about the Revolutionaries...extra carefully.

Cha-kan and Hugh moved off to the side to chit-chat away from the party. I tried to snag into view to get their conversation but Hugh has the lips of a warthog - impossible to read. A short while later, they returned and 'invited' us to wander around the hive and look for the Founder's Fence and the Blue Scarecrow. He supposedly has somethin' we are lookin' for. Of course, it could have somethin' to do with that madman whom USED to sign the abyss lord names and scream when he saw me. He's dead now but I get ahead of myself.

We travelled from there to the Slags. Here, even the ground is hacked. The swath of destruction is more massive than Antrax could have caused let along a small army in a year. I asked Cha-kan about it and he described this vermin ridden region as bein' the location of part of the Bloodwar. Apparently, when the Aybss and Hell were at war, they opened up briefly here. Both Aatezu and Tanar'ri came through and waged full-out devil vs. demon war. The main difference between these chaotic evil and lawful evil creatures isn't easy to tell. The Aatezu use green colored weapons and are hurt only by silver. The Tanar'ri use red colored weapons and are hurt only by iron. There is also a neutral ground called the GreyWastes where the Carsiana Hama (some merc group) lets the two evil minion groups duke it out. They say its good business - what are they nuts??!?! There is no business which is benefited by lettin' demons and devils run amuck beatin' everyone in sight let alone eachother. Mental Note: Do not visit the GreyWastes...no matter WHAT Lilah says.

Anyway, in the slags we see this person wavin' at us. Somethin' seems wrong with him. He's too thin and not movin' much. Cha-kan hunkers up that bold attitude he fronts and marches right over to him. Lilah follows, tail twitchin' - with Valas, myself and Rogan bringin' up the end. We get to this person and Cha-kan describes it as some sick joke by that demon/devil Catix that lives around here. He 'squished' the person down to paper thin and then hung him out to dry. I didn't find it that funny - matter of fact, I think if I see Catix I'll shoot him too...then of course run like a maddened bullywog on fire. Rogan and myself decide to cut him down and ship him off for a decent burial over in the mortuary. I've got the body for now though I don't know when I'll have time to drop it off. At least Cha-kan says I can get some cash for it. I'm still broke. Mental Note: Put somethin' that smells nice in the bag...soon!

Shortly after that, things got weird. Of course, weird is defined by the company I'm keepin'. I'm hangin' with folks I call weird but they seem to think everythin' is normal and then they start callin' it weird. Anyway, Rogan starts gettin' real nervous. He says the hair is standin' up on his neck. He keeps sayin' someone is watchin' us. Well, I set up my crossbow but I'm just too twitchy. Real nervous. Suddenly, the dancin' man jumps out at us again. I fire my bolt but (un)luckily miss. Musta been a bit uptight. Well, he is carpin' away on his usual tirade about abyss lords (snake phalluses...I take this in stride???). Cha-kan and Lilah try to work him over a bit to talk about the Blue Scarecrow but he doesn't change his tune so they show him to me. He naturally screams and tries to run away into some buildings. At this point, several things happen.

Rogan attacks me. Apparently, he wants to know about the "flies in my brain". Not that *I* know either, but he seems to think I have a clue. He throws me up real tight against the wall and pins me down. I know I can't squiggle loose but I thank Flynne he taught me how to avoid these bullies. I kick, screech and bite with such a furry he lets me go. I snarl a brief respite at him that "No one touches me..." - hopefully he'll remember that before he tries its again. I'd hate to have to claw his eyes out.

As soon as this is done, our attention focused to the alley the dancin' man fled into. He was dead and floatin' in space. There were six thug-like mercenaries in chainmail with clubs standin' nearby and a mage. I know it was a mage by the way he was dressed and looked - plus he was the same one that casted a spell on us about an hour ago that got away. I finished cockin' the crossbow and let fly with another bolt that nailed him right in the left shoulder blade. It was a good hit too - of course, he was hit simultaneously by my companions. I saw a pair of small sharp knives sink in as well as a long expensive lookin' dagger. Things then went bad - for us. Instead of droppin' like a large sack of overripe potatoes, he's image wavered and shattered. This creature then spun around. He now looked like some kind of shadowy fiend. His body was nothin' but bones and a dark see-through skin. He had wings and fangs and looked pissed - real pissed. He started chantin' in some strange language and wavin' his hands while his six thugs head out to us. Luckily (for us - finally), Valas spun a sharp edged throwin' star into the shadowy thing and his chant was interrupted.

I nail a thug near point-blank and this time it drops like the hopeful sack I had wished for. I'm feelin' at least a bit normal so reload at only an intense pace - instead of a panic stricken state. Rogan was back behind yellin' out encouragements to us. For some reason, I'm feelin' better when out of the corner of my eye I heard Cha-kan yell out "Company! Gavin - Bug Hunt!". Battered beetle eyes - just what we needed. Those rotten bugs. I take a quick glance around but didn't see any of 'em - I did see though, Cha-kan's ball and chain weapon swin' out and impale the shadowy creature. Hell of a hit too - I'd swear it tore a hole in space as it slammed into the shadow fiend. Shoulda been payin' better attention though. A thug caught me on my left arm with his club. Hurt like a nest of fireants, though it didn't break the skin. I wonder what color my blood is or if it even exists? Mental Note: Remember to check color of any blood...spit becomes visible. Secondary Mental Note: Clean up spit from floor of Cha-kan's room.

Just as I finish reloadin' my trusty crossbow I heard this awful hissin' noise. Sounds like somethin' is real pissed - and it ain't the shadow fiend. Cha-kan finished that shadowfiend off and out of the mist behind him appears this mammoth seven foot tall creature. Its all black skinned with a hard lookin' slimy smooth leathery shell. Its got a long head with I'd guess at least three mouths that keep openin' up and lots of sharp nasty teeth. Sure, its bipedal and stands on two legs but it has a long spiny tail behind it and two huge strong lookin' arms with six fingers on each hand - not to mention two opposable thumbs per hand. Ugly it was. Uglier than even back bottom of a yellow eyed walrus after it had been run over by a barnacle bottomed keel. Fast though - way too fast to even be considered worldly. This thin' leaped into the fray and with one single swipe removed the head off the thug next to Cha-kan. Though he missed Cha-kan with the other swipe its bite sunk into Cha-kan's shoulder and I saw he was in pain.

I sniped my bolt off into its side and it sunk in but out squirted this greenish blood which started hissin' up smoke when it touched the ground. None of it landed on Cha-kan though - at least we had a little bit of luck in our favor. I attempted to reload like a madman. Rogan was still eggin' us on to victory and I felt good but a trace of panic had entered my veins. I heard Lilah and Valas dealin' with somethin' behind me but I was just afraid to look. Even Hugh was out there 'cause I heard the heavy intermittent twang of a large crossbow. Cha-kan swung in with his gauntletted fists and the creature dropped though all this greenish gue stuck to his gauntlets and started up a new strin' of smoke. He looked worried and hurled 'em off to the ground where they slowly started dissolvin'. No wonder the bug was so pissed - if I had acid for blood, I'd be upset too. Mental Note: Don't touch the bugs!

I spun around just in time to see Valas nail another bug with a sickly green glow. It fell to the ground. The remainin' thugs took off runnin'. I tried to finish 'em off but my gang was already runnin' off the street so I let 'em get away. Rats ass - now I really need another disguise.

I caught up to our group. Cha-kan looked torn up but he was still on his feet. Rogan gave him some of that good tastin' liquid and he instantly appeared better. He had also snagged some pouch from the Shadow thin'. It had a bunch of coins (yeah-ha!) some gems (wooo-hooo!) and 2 scary lookin' steel needles. Cha-kan seemed to think they were for somethin' relatin' to mind control. Hugh is goin' to look into it. Cha-kan wanted to find out if the Dancin' Man had one in his head so started to cut his head open right there in the alley. Rogan was ahead of me on that one by turnin' his back and whistlin' to avoid the sounds of hackin' through bone. I didn't. I puked. I seem to be doin' that alot these days. Mental Note: When Cha-kan even tempts to pull out a small knife...don't look.

A pack of ugly questions remains though...its a random group but they really really really need some answers. They are the only things I could think of as I changed into my Loki disguise.

1) Why was the Shadow Fiend after us?

2) Why did the Shadow Fiend kill the dancin' man?

3) What are the needles for?

4) Who put the bugs in the Hive?

5) ...Why?

6) How do I get out of this outfit, go somewhere safe and start up a nice quiet little piracy strin' near some normal islands with beautiful trees where the only two worries are keepin' the authorities clueless what the weather is goin' to be like.

51) Sometime later. Several hours later. I've got good news and bad news. Good news is that I've got the paper from the Governor. Cha-kan gave it to me via my request after him and Rogan visited the prisons. I've now got one contact for practice on signatures. Also good news is we have three complete Harmonia disguise outfits. Bad news is that Tarsticks isn't in the prison. Instead, he has been transferred to somewhere called Vork-a-han. Its the planar stronghold of the Mercy Killers. True, merchants and travellers visit there ever so often but our chances of even gettin' to him to find out where his lab is just dropped five ka-billion percent.

Specifically, Cha-kan and Rogan were dressed up as Harmonia Red Guards and I set up beggin' in some street. Soon the two of 'em came up to me and badgered me about beggin' right in front of two other (real) Harmonia. All four of 'em were chattin' about me though they 'let' me off. The leader of the real patrol though, a real feces-licker, took the 5 bits I had put in my muggin' cup as a fine for beggin'. I've studied his face though - he'll pay eventually. Mental note: Get 'em! Can't steal stuff from beggars and expect to enjoy it...ever.

As of now, we're debatin' on where to go and what to do. Supposedly, Cha-kan wants to bugger around for a bit in the Hive. I don't like the idea one bit but he says it needs to be done and I still owe him enough to wander with him. I'd also like to keep in on that Indepth cure so for now, my companions are chosen for me.