#odyssey

She puts a reassuring hand on his arm. "It's not so bad here. Just have to stay alert, watch your wallet, etc. I mean, I wouldn't want to let a mortal girl to walk through here alone at night, but we should be a-okay."

"Fortunately, you've got us" Zane says

Jonas glances over, grunts and nods

A little huff of indignance at Zane - she's a wilder herself and not exactly helpless. What she might accept from Jonas doesn't necessarily go for her cuz... but reminding herself that he's here to help, she smiles instead. "I sure do. So, what are we looking for here?"

Zane says "well, with the power of my leadership, I shall tell you..." Wait, is he deliberately baiting her. A small smile slips from him "Actually I figured you knew Cali better than we do. You still got those instructions?"

She digs into a pocket and finds the note she got from JJJ. "Yeah, right here..."

"Okay... says to avoid that street" he looks down that street "So we keep.. uh oh"

Four Redcaps glance over, their eyes glittering like sharks under too much light

And they start to give a slow, lazy approach

Piper glances around, looking for a potential distraction. A restaurant, a flock of pigeons, even a particularly full dumpster.

They're definitely in a less than friendly part of Oakland. There's a laundry mat , a pawn shop, and, well yes there is a pizza place 'Dominque's Pizza', clearly skirting the dangerous edges of trademark violation.

She taps a hoof, humming, and then singing under her breath, as she wills the redcaps to have a sudden craving for cheese and pepperoni pie instead of satyr and troll.

"Whoah! You're going to eat pizza
Whoah! Back to the pie land
Whoah! You're gonna have a party
Whoah! It comes with double cheese..."

That isn't how anyone else might remember that song going...

For a moment, she's not sure it's going to work...three of the four redcaps eye the pizza place then return their gaze to Piper and her group... but the fourth redcap touches his belly,, and says 'Fuck it..." And moves towards the doors of Dominque's pIzza. This causes the other three to choose to go without their full number , even odds, or follow their corby mate. Redcaps can be fierce, but they prefer an edge in numbers (and might, and weapons) they're pragmatic bullies. So the other three grumble, but go after that fourth

"Okay. I am JONESING for some pizza now" Zane says "But well played"

"I'm craving some cheese and mushroom right now too.. but I'd recommend not checking out that place. It's going to be a mess."

"Mmm" A nod "Let's get on" and so the quest continues, the first obstacle bypassed. Of course, mortals would just say 'we didn't get mugged. Whew' but a changeling knows that everything is a quest, if you look at the right way. Drop a golden apple to stop a woman from running, get a corby craving that meat lover's special... it's all how you look at it

"And if it hadn't worked, I think we could have outrun them." She admits, "Though it could have been tricky. They've gotta know this area better than us." She looks over the instructions.

Keep going straight, then take a narrow alley past the used book store.

"It should be this way..." She spares a glance into the book store as they head that direction.

Inside the book store, she sees a nocker using a book press on some formerly warped libram. It seems otherwise pretty empty

If she catches the fae's glance, she nods in greeting before moving on. But then again, Nockers are generally focused so they might not even look up...

Alas, she does seem focused, cursing as to make the book conforrm

So our heroes move on.

The alley is the sort that makes you think you might get mugged. Ugly, tight... there's graffiti here but not the artistic pretty kind, slurs and simple tags, one of which says 'Necropsis am here' in bright red with a black outlining. They see what must be the trod ahead, a folded over on it's end open dumpter with flickers of Silver...

but as they approach, a voice booms in a deep base "Pay your dross if you would take the trod, or face your doom from it's owner, Thanatos the Black"

Piper backpedals a step, and whispers over to Zane, "Is that, y'know, legal?" Trying to think if she ever heard of Olgar charging for trod access.

"Some nobles do it, it's considered bad manners" Zane mutters "This sounds more like a protection racket or shake down"

"What kind of doom?" she calls back, trying to find the source of the voice.

"Your flesh will riddled with the pox! Your teeth will decay in their gums! Your tears will be eternal, and they will burn"

The voice booming is definitely tinged with glamour, but the source is harder to find... there's the dumpster itself that is the trod entry, there's grafiit, a fallen poster from some old movie, and over there a few board of rotting wood cockeyed.

A whisper to Jonas, "Something smells back here, and it's not the trash. Some Wizard of Oz shenanigan?" She looks at the poster, and trots over to peek behind it.

The piskie childling eeks and nearly drops his mini megaphone, which, in addition to being a minor treasure, is an oxymoron.

She raises a brow as she pulls the poster aside. "Thanatos the Black, I presume?"

"uhm.. yeah... so... you guys seem nice. Only ONE you has to pay dross. More than fair" the piskie boy smiles

"Is there a hook we can hang this kid from?" Zane asks airily

"GEEZ, who does that to a KID? You guys are monsters" The piskie says at Zane's threat

"You're the one trying to extort dross from folk who need to use the trod." She kenns the kid, checking to see if he seems low on glamour himself, or possibly just opportunistic.

Actually pretty low, odd for one so close to a trod

She considers this. "It's a pretty good racket, except too easy to find your hiding spot. Tell you what, I'll make you a deal. Instead of working on shake-downs, you could try being a doorman instead. Keep the way clear but hidden, and accept tips." She leans in to add, in a quiet voice, "And if anyone happens to drop anything on their way through, well, you can hold onto it. If they don't come back, finders keepers."

Straightening. "And in return, I won't tell the Rovers that you're infringing on their territory."

"Doorman, that sounds like work... "A frown "Why do I HAFTA to do anything? Why is it everyone expects me to DO can't I just be?"

but the mention of the rovers has him gulp a bit

"Oh, you can just be... but just abiding doesn't pay the bills, does it?" Sympathetic.

A sigh "Okay..."

"Then again, going on the straight means that you don't have to worry about what happens if you try to con the wrong fae and they get mad."

"You can also take bribes, you know. Like, if I said, if those redcaps I saw down on Dexter Street came looking for me, tell them I went down the other path."

She digs through her pocket, and finds a small baggie of coconut cookies, parting gift when she left the Lake. She drops a bit of glamour into one, and offers them out.

"Yeah? " He takes the cookie, "Thanks" ANd chomps it, "You going in that trod ? Be careful. I'm nicer than the guy waiting there"

"What guy?" Zane asks

"Grudo.." The boy says "Even the corby is cautious about him"

"What can you tell me about him?"

"BIG Troll, unseelie, almost thallian, but not... he beats people up, takes their stuff. Has good veiling magic"

"Maybe we should veil ourselves?" Zane offers "Sneak past his ambush? Unless you two want a fight?"