''By the way, do you prefer we call you Brion or Patterson?'' Talfryn asked, ''Make this conversation a little easier, you know?''

Brion stared at the four of them for a long moment, before slowly taking a drink out of his mug. ''Brion works,'' he muttered, ''What did you want again?''. The look he gave them was full of suspicion.

''We wanted to make you an offer,'' Talfryn said, ''We've heard of your little black market buisness you run on the side. Profitable, probably, and we want to help you out with expanding it.''

Brion gave him an incredulous stare for several long moments, before speaking again. ''Alright, alright, back off a little, okay? Let me get this straight.'' He paused, took a moment to gather his thoughts, before speaking again. ''You guys want to help me with my buisness? Listen, I'm fine with how I am, thank you very much. I'm a small timer, alright? I sell weapons, the occasional magic item, jewelry, the simple stuff, you know? No one bothers me, I just sell the stuff and keep quiet, you know?''

''Keep quiet?'' Talfryn chuckled, ''Brion, I found you incredibly easily. I just asked around on the black market, and you came up as one of the sellers. You're clearly inexperienced at this. You take no steps to cover your tracks, or hide your identity. No masks, none of that. You just assume that laying low is going to prevent anyone from slitting your throat or taking over your buisness, and let me tell you, that isn't going to work.'' He leaned forward a little, his voice taking on a more earnest tone.

''W-what are you getting at?'' Brion asked, a note of worry in his voice.

''What am I getting at? That, no offense Brion, but you're kind of an idiot.'' Talfryn leaned back in his chair. ''You take no precautions, and if I'm going to be honest here, you aren't cut out for the criminal life. You've got no bodyguards, no protection, none of that. You're just a man running criminal deals in your pawn shop, by yourself, thinking you can get away with it. I guarantee you, if you don't accept our offer to help you out, someone else is going to be knocking on your door within the next week, and they won't be nearly so polite as us.''

Brion swallowed nervously, his drink forgotten, sweat beading his forehead. ''W-what do you want?'' he asked finally.

Talfryn's smiled widened. ''We want to help you, obviously. We'll give you advice, bodyguard you, help you expand your buisness, all of that. We'll basicully be your dirty work guys, I guess. What we want in exchange is....10% of the sales you make off your black market deals. That's a nice round percentage, don't you think? Leaves plenty left over for you.''

Brion still looked nervous, but he was saved from answering the question by the sudden roar from the crowd. The crowd in the fight club had suddenly come to their feet, yelling and cheering loudly as they clustered around the fight pit. Clearly, the fights had started.

Talfryn raised an eyebrow. ''Think on it, Brion. We'll ask you after the fight. But really, why do you even come to these fights, anyways?'' He rose to his feet, nodding at Eric, Elain and Siana to follow him.

''Hey, good job.'' Elain said. They were leaning against the railing, squished in with the rest of the crowd, watching the fight pit down below. An announcer had walked into the middle of the pit, walking around the perimeter and talking to the crowd, trying to excite them. Eric had largely tuned him out.

''Seems like I ruined his night, however.'' Talfryn noted, nodding in Brion's direction. The man was currently still sitting at his table, not moving, but staring off into space.

''You did pretty much threaten him,'' Elain noted, ''So I'm not too surprised.''

Talfryn shrugged. ''Well, that's fair. I could have been more gentle about the whole thing, but...'' he trailed off as the fight club announcer started speaking in earnest.

''Good evening!'' the man boomed. He was a tall man, lanky, wearing a variety of expensive clothing that did not fit his skinny frame very well, ''Welcome! For tonights entertainment, we have something...special, for all of you. But first off, please, give a round of applause for our returning champion, Berwyn Vaughan!''

Upon hearing that name, the crowd went wild, applauding and yelling loudly, as a man strode into the pit, entering from one of the pits. He was tall, and strongly built, with a thick mop of red hair. He was wearing what appeared to be leather pants and a leather chestpiece, made in such a way that it left his arms bare. A long, wicked looking spear was in one hand. He took some time to walk around the pit, soaking in all the audience praise.

From her spot beside Eric, Elain sighed. 'Do we really have to stay to watch this fight? I am not a huge fan of needless violence.''

Talfryn shook his head. ''We just need to stay long enough for Brion to make a decision, but I suspect we'll be leaving within the next hour.''

Elain shrugged. ''Alright, than. But let's hurry up with it, alright? I'm attracting a lot of attention.''. Eric could tell why. Elain's red and gold robe looked expensive and regal, like something a noble would wear. In the fight club, where most of the crowd were wearing ragged and cheap clothing, she stood out.

''They probably think you stole that off someone,'' Talfryn noted, ''But as long as you don't stay in any shady corners, I doubt anyone is going to steal it off you.''

''That's reassuring.'' Elain said sarcasticully. Down in the fight pit, the announcer had decided to start the fight. He moved to the edge of a pit, where a ladder was promptly thrown down from him. He grabbed on, quickly climbing out of the pit.

An expectant hush had fallen over the crowd. In the pit, Berwyn took his place at one end of the pit, his spear pointed at the gate on the other side.

''Tonight,'' the announcer proclaimed, ''We have a special treat for all of you. Instead of fighting someone, our champion will be fighting something.''

In the shadows beyond the gate, Eric heard the sound of wheels scraping, and a low growl. Around him, the crowd started whispering among themselves.

''Straight from the Eastern Isles, I give you....the manticore!'' The announcer proclaimed.

The gate slowly creaked open, and four men appear, pulling behind them a large, wheeled cage, lined with steel bars. Something big was in there. Roughly eight feet long, it had the head of what looked like a lion, the body of some large lizard, and a strange, spiked tail. It roared loudly, slamming it's body against the bars.

Upon seeing the creature, the crowd abruptly devolved into shouting once more, pointing at the creature, and loudly conversing among themselves.

'"Seriously?'' Elain asked in disblief, ''He's going to fight that?''

Eric frowned. ''Huh. I always assumed manticores had wings.''

Elain shrugged. ''Sometimes they do. Not all of them though.'' She paused, glancing in Talfryn's direction. ''Hey, Talfryn, you okay? You look kind of pale.''

Talfryn grimaced. ''I'm fine. Just didn't...expect these guys to bring in a manticore as the fight opponent.''

Eric gave Talfryn a look. ''Wait. Does this interfere with the plan in any way?''

Talfryn sighed. ''Hopefully not.''. With those words, he turned his attention back to the pit. Eric and Elain exchanged a concerned look.

Siana suddenly stiffened. ''Brion is getting away.''. Without another word, she turned and walked off into the crowd, shoving aside several people who got in her way.

Talfryn jerked his head up. ''What?''. Eric followed his gaze. Sure enough, the table which Brion had occupied was empty. Siana, however, had managed to catch Brion at the exit of the fight club, and was currently holding him in some sort of grab.

Talfryn sighed. ''Great. I'll handle this.''. Without another word, he jogged off towards the two.

Elain groaned. ''Wow. What a great plan.''

In the pit, Berwyn had settled into a fighting stance, spear pointed at the manticore. Eric had to give him credit; the dude didn't look scared in the least. He actually somehow managed to look confident.

''Are you ready, Berwyn?'' The announcer asked. Berwyn gave the announcer a grin and a nod.

''Than let the fight begin!'' The announcer proclaimed. At those words, three of the four people handling the manticore retreated back behind the gate, vanishing from sight. The last one, however, unlocked a padlock at the front of the cage, before quickly retreating as well.

The manticore seemed to sense that it was now free. It roared, than charge forward, smashing through the now unlocked cage, landing in the middle of the pit. The crowd let out roars of excitement.

Berwyn braced himself, levling his spear at the manticore, a look of concentration on his face.

The manticore, however, didn't bother to size Berwyn up or assess the situation. Half mad with rage, probably from being kept in a cramped cage for such a long period of time, it rushed Berwyn head on.

Berwyn clearly had not expected that. The manticore leaped, probably in an attempt to avoid the spear. Berwyn, meanwhile, turned his spear up. It hit the manticore on it's underbelly, sinking in, but that seemed to only enrage the beast, rather than kill it.

It roared, swiping with one claw, hitting the spear with enough force that it actually managed to break it, leaving Berwyn holding half of a now broken stick.

At that point, Berwyn seemed like he had enough. He turned and tried to run, which was a futile effort, considering the fact that he was in a pit with two closed gates.

The manticore, meanwhile, had recovered from it's injury enough to charge Berwyn. Eric suspected that in most cases it would have played with it's prey a little longer, but that it wasn't in the mood for that in it's current state of rage.

''And it looks like our champion isn't off to a good start!'' The announcer proclaimed, ''Already without a weapon! How is he going to defeat this beast?''

Elain frowned. '"They aren't even going to give him a replacement weapon? Harsh?''

Eric gave her an incredulous look. ''How can you even watch this?'' he whispered to her.

Elain shrugged. ''I don't like it, but in case you forgot, I'm an adventurer. I've seen enough violence that I'm used to it. I don't like this, but I can watch it without throwing up.''

''And you aren't going to help him?'' Eric asked.

Elain glared at him. ''And have this entire crowd mad at us? Just watch the fight for now, he's not in any real danger yet. I'll see about helping him when he is.''

Eric sighed. ''Fine.''

In the pit, Berwyn was doing an alright job avoiding the manticore. The manticore was fast and agile, but so was he, and it was clear now that the injury he had dealt earlier was causing the manticore more trouble than expected. It's movements were slower, and it dragged the broken spear behind it whenever it moved, leaving a trail of green blood.

It seemed pretty clear that Berwyn was trying to tire it out.

Eric frowned, a sudden thought occuring to him. ''Hey, what happened to Talfryn and Siana?''

Elain shrugged. ''They're probably reasoning with Brion somewhere, right now.''

Eric decided to take the oppurtunity to look. Looking for Talfryn and Siana seemed a better option to him than watching a death fight, after all.

He found Talfryn and Siana with little trouble. They were sitting at a new table, Brion with them. Talfryn seemed to have resumed his earnest reasoning with Brion, who still looked scared out of his life.

Eric contemplated joining them. Talking with Brion seemed like a much more preferable option to watching the fight. Suddenly, however, he was jolted back to the fight by a sudden loud roar from the crowd.

Turning back, he saw a horrific sight. Berwyn was on the ground, pinned down by the raging manticore. It had somehow managed to get a hold on him, and it had it's mouth open, saliva dripping on Berwyn's face as he desperately struggled to break free.

Eric turned to Elain, who was watching nervously, biting her lip. ''Help him!'' he demanded.

Elain grimaced. ''I-,''. She never got to finish her sentence.

Suddenly, Eric heard the sound of a door breaking. Metal boots clanked, and the sounds of yelling and swords being drawn was heard. The crowd, intently focused on the fight, now turned to watch as over a dozen men in armour barged into the fight club. In the pit, the manticore seemed to notice the new development, raising it's head.

''Carnasca city guard!'' one of the men roared, ''On your knees, now!''