The tavern known as The Blunt Fist is nearly bursting at the seams in the town of Westwatch. A fight club and gambling hall, the place has it's share of rough and tumble mercenaries, mixtures of sights and smells and mixed sounds of meaty fists pounding into bodies over the clamour of shouts, cheers and vulgar language. A bouncer with a neck as thick as an average mans waist keeps watch over the place though one can't help but wonder if it's just for show given some of th clients here. Westwatch, located near the northern border of the recently liberated Neshumai, attracts all manner of would be fighters, martial artist and more looking to find work throughout Neshumai which is still rife with bandits, and the occasional trouble in the south lands.. but it's getting much better now that the Abyssals have been driven out.

         One corner of the tavern is strangely empty though, devoid of much activity save for an enormous shape leaning back in the shadows as he watches over the rest of the room. The exact scale and size of this individual is hard to determine though his rough facial features and scruffy appearence is occasionaly under lit by the flare of a smoke pipe dangling from his mouth.

         Yet another burly, brutish mercenary in a crowd hardly makes a stir, and so it is that Third Eye Blind enters the tavern largely unnoticed. Never mind that his huge feet make stomping sounds on the floor, clearing the slush from the soles; there are huger feet here. It is, in fact, the owner of the largest feet of all that the man gravitates towards, after the obligatory acquisition of some terrible ale, two mugs. He doesn't even glance at its contents, though he does give the fighting pit a long, steady look. At last he's at the biggest man's table, and sets down the extra glass. "Can I join ya?" he asks in Riverspeak.

It's a good thing to be able to enter some place and not stand out or be too noticable. Nevertheless, Third Eye Blind does attract some attention as people size him up upon his passing, as if sensing another predator and one worth not tangling with. The giant, Fudou, that is approached seems to not take notice at first though, letting a plume of smoke emit from his nostrils and then swirl about his head giving his body a brief volcanic appearence. He cuts unusually luminous eyes over at Third Eye and eyes him balefully from across his table..and then finally gestures and indicates a seat though he doesn't speak yet.

         The burly man, often the largest person in a room and today utterly dwarfed, doesn't seem particularly offput by the poor reception, and plunks his mass into the indicated seat. "If you're Fudou the Mountain, then I apologize for intrudin' on your territory, and I'm honored to be in yur presence." That's said very quietly, easily masked by the rowdy sounds of tavern life. "Butcha need to know what I hunted in the Firewander District the other night," he grunts, his voice gravelly and thuggish. "The same sort of thing as ya. Different or the same, I dunno. Was hopin' we could compare notes, decide if we have a dead-coming-to-life sichuashun," horribly mangled drawl, "Or a two abominations in one district in the same month deal." From his tone, he finds the odds of the latter astronomical.

The words seem to draw some attention from the giant and his eyes light up slightly at the implication of your words. He studies you a little more closely now, albiet remaining shrouded in shadow a little while longer. Finally he looms forward and folds his arms across the table infront of him..creaking forward and looming out of the shadows into the dim lighting of the tavern, "Speak." he rumbles, bassy voice literally shaking the empty glasses nearby and his voice lacking any drawl in comparison to your own though one wouldn't assume so given how he looks. "I am listening."

         "Well," says the fellow darkly, remembering the moment, "An associate and myself were wandering through the district. He was ambushed by a constantly mutating, shifting creature. It favored forms insectoid, like a bizarre centipede, and once a lion with wings and a scorpion's tail. Sound at all familiar?" His elbow knocks his glass, spilling a few drops, and with his finger, he traces the foam on the table into a symbol in claw-speak: chimera. Other than using the beer as a mode of communication, he doesn't seem especially interested in drinking the stuff. "At any rate, we put it down, collected all the remains we could find, isolated them with salt, burned 'em and blessed 'em. Hopefully that'll speed its spirit, on its way to its next host."

Fudou leans backward and sinks somewhat into the indention he had caused in the walls and in the seat by how long he had been sitting there before your arrival. He balls a huge hand up and slowly sinks his chin down into it, clearly thinking as he rests his other hand on the table. "I see. This not simply lax and laziness in the part of those who are sent to collect new exalts. Perhaps something in Firewander is attracting their attention? Nexus is known for it's wyld taints. Still, that seems almost to simple an answer." He lowers his hand and leans forward on an elbow, his impossibly huge torso squashing down slightly as his weight resettles, "Does the name Million Klaives mean anything t'you?"

         Third Eye Blind shakes his head, beard waggling. It is full of gross chunks of week-old food and worse things. "It does not. Could you answer my question, please? Did your hunt involve similar forms, or totally different?" Seemingly absently, he swills the dregs of his beer around again, and more drops plop onto the table, swiftly reshaped into an introduction: 'Third Eye Blind', 'Changing Moon', 'Sword of Luna'. Once Fudou has glanced at it, he sweeps the beer away with a meaty fist.

The same." rumbles Fudou, shaply at first and looking momentarily irrate at being disturbed from his thinking. More of a doer then a thinker, such situations like this trouble him greatly due to a feeling of impotence. For all his power, eh's unsure how to proceed yet. This is ..new to him. The same." he repeats, softening his tone, and sighing now as his irritation is not towards you and was misplaced. "I was hoping, perhaps, that there was simply more then one but I see now that this same beast is somehow returning. And in addition to that I likewise burned and salted the body when I dealt with it the first time.. We have no choice but to presume that it may return. It was resilient to the strikes from the Solar named Prince of Revels - but my grand goremaul ended it, at the time."

         "Ah," exhales Third Eye Blind with comprehension. "I was afraid of that..." He shakes his head. "I think it's possible that if it's... rebuilding itself somehow... it takes time to return to full strength, because the creature that challenged you was ended by me and an ally with relative efficiency, and I'm not in your league." With a matching sigh, he stretches his bulky form with a couple of cracks to his back. "There's nothing for it," he says with finality, "I'll go back to Firewander and keep an eye on things. Someone has to."

"Some means must be devised in order to destroy it. I know someone who may be versed in matters of lore. They may be able to discern a way to deal with it." says Fudou. He looks over the remains of the spilled drink but does not bother to use clawspeak. You know who he is obviously and the nature of the conversation is far to high concept to even be eavesdropped on by those others in this tavern, Instead, he begins to rise..slowly creaking his vast body up to its full height. Towering overhead and shrouding his upper torso in shadow as his head height nearly reaches the lower support beams of the high vaulted ceiling. his body creaks as he steps around the table..seemingly interested in seeing you out and making haste in his own way, "If I find anything out I'll send word to Firewander."

         Third Eye Blind gets to his feet as well, leaving a few rusty coins on the table for the keeper of the place. He glances up at Fudou-- up and up and up, and grins a bit wryly. "Thank you, honored one," he grunts, before allowing himself to be seen out. A ways away, under shroud of darkness, he turns into a bird and flies away, great wingbeats taking him in one direction and one only: back to Nexus.