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<span class="mu-b"><span class="mu-s">Winners:</span></span> Context and the King
<span class="mu-r"><span class="mu-s">13 + 21 = 34 Intimidate vs. DC 35</span></span>
"Damien," you lean in close and growl his name into his ear. He swallows hard, your behavior continuing to catch him off guard. You have shown your irritation with him before, but you always made sure to be reasonable. Right now, you are not feeling particularly reasonable. "My <span class="mu-i">job</span> is to ensure the safety of this diplomatic mission. I can't do that if you continue to be cagey about where we're going. I assure you that whatever you think might upset me cannot make me angrier than I am right now."
"I wouldn't be too sure about-" Damien starts saying something smooth, but you <span class="mu-s"><span class="mu-g">won't have it</span></span>. Your fist slams into the wall again, right next to his ear, cracking the plaster and revealing some of the brickwork beneath it.
"<span class="mu-i">Damien!</span>" you hiss, your patience at its limit. The rage of your forefathers boils in your blood, threating to spill over, your cursed eye blazing with emerald light beneath the eyepatch "Context. NOW!"
Damien takes a deep breath, before saying. "Alright. Fine. I don't even know the half of it anyways, Arthur doesn't like sharing his theories when they're half baked. He wants them to have a nice, crispy crust before sending them out. What I did manage to dig up is that the mark on your eye matches the symbol of an old, apocryphal cult. I have a feeling most of their texts can be found in the Papal Archives in Leripol, but a few incomplete fragments can be found if you know where to look. Couldn't find much, but what I did find sounded like they wanted to... the most sensible translation I could piece together was 'Usurp the Authority of the Hungering Maw', but even that was missing several words."
You step away from Damien and fall back into a seat at the table. Rubbing your throbbing temples, you give him an irritated look, "And pray tell, why did you think that I would be upset by this? The apocryphal beliefs of the earliest among the faithful are <span class="mu-i">fascinating</span>, not upsetting..."
"Forgive me for thing the holy maiden knight would not be thrilled to hear that her eye now bore the sigil of a cult dedicated to seizing authority from an evil god," Damiens says with a wide gesture that makes you roll your eyes. He sits down across from you, and conjures himself up a glass of water that he immediately downs in a single gulp. "Half the time that I've been around you, it's been <span class="mu-i">heretic</span> this, <span class="mu-i">apostate</span> that, let's burn down this treasure trove of ancient wisdom because it might have instructions on how to masturbate in a way that conjures up a succubus! <span class="mu-i">Thank you</span> for letting me curate those books before you tossed them into the fire, by the by."
You give him a wry grin. "I'll still be holding you to publishing the Cantos. In fact, you've already worked with the young man I want printing the first run. I heard the Earl gave him enough money to buy the press he's been eying."
