Brone Heavyaxe was summoned to Magnolia's bathroom for a simple quest; to rid of whatever peeping tom that continues to appear every so often. As he walked into Bella Missandra's office, he was taken by her beauty. "Brone Heavyaxe of Blue Pegasus, answering a quest post, pleasure to meet ye, miss" he then began a bow.

"Lady Missandra is fine" she smiled, though she had an aura of command, proving her ownership of the bathhouse, "The armor seems a little excessive" She had looked the dwarf over, who was heavily armored from head to toe and carried two large axes on his back, "Though do whatever you can to rid of the peeping tom that has been upsetting and harassing my clients and staff, just make sure you cause no property damage to my establishment... oh and no killing of course" Bella was direct and the look in her eye showed her seriousness, she has already had enough of the peeper and needed the job done as soon as possible.

"Know what the tom looks like?' Brone asked as he removed his helmet, revealing his white hair.

"Unfortunately the only thing I got for a description from a few witnesses has been 'blue hair'" Bella began looking over documentation on her desk.

"Then I'll just patrol until the peeper shows" Brone gave a bow, but before he could leave, Bella gave a suggestion.

"Seeing a heavily armored dwarf may scare off the peeper for the night, I want the rat taken into custody".

"Right" Brone nodded and made his way out of the office and began taking look around the establishment. He was impressed by the workmanship, the majority of the structure made of smooth wood, some areas darker by wood, color and lighting to better the theme and atmosphere. The dwarf needed to scope out the area and get a better feel of where the peeper may show and how to confront the rat.

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The sun sank over the horizon, and at this point, the clientele would begin to increase, however Bella had closed the bathhouse in order for the dwarf to do his business in attempting the confrontation and capture. Brone was walking around the bathhouse, hearing only the sound of his heavy footfall against the wooden floors and his ringmail armor jingling, so he ended up removing his armor and setting it aside so that he avoid giving off hints to his quarry. Given that this was Brone's first time at the bathhouse, the peeper had an advantage over him, and the key in this situation was to avoid being spotted before the peeper is spotted by him.

Brone had dressed down into the nude before he scoped the women's side of the bath. Mostly outdoors, enclosed by stonewalls, seeming naturally made, and the bamboo wall separated the men's bath from the women's side. Obviously the peeper was mostly spotted within the women's bath, so it is where the dwarf began inspecting. From what he was told by one of the staff, the stonewall should be keeping anyone from entering unless they go through the bathhouse entryway. The dwarf ran his hand along the stone blocks that make up the wall, feeling it's make and cut. The stones are indeed strong and the cut was manmade, albeit not as well as dwarven work, but enough to stack to make a wall. Brone scoffed as he looked around, feeling the stone as he followed the wall, the way the stones were cut seem to indicate that somewhere the wall might have cracks; looking a bit closer, the dwarf confirmed this, the cracks and separation between stone blacks, were hidden behind decoration of leaves and acorns. The cracks and separation weren't too big to allow a person through, but there were no patterns, so it was possible somewhere in the wall, there might be a crack that might be large enough for a small person to fit through, at least that is what he figured given his own experience working with his uncles with their masonry.

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Brone placed his towel at the edge of the bath. Luckily the baths were constructed above a magma chamber, they were always heated, so the dwarf didn't have to set it up before hand. The steam filled the area and to limit visibility further, he only allowed two out of the eight lantern lacrimas to be lit. He then walked into the heated bath; a breath of relieve escaping him as he leaned against the edge of the bath, enjoying the heated water to caress him.

His eyes closed for moment, but he quickly got back up, remembering he needed to be vigilant. He kept his back to the edge of the bath that neared the entry of the bathhouse, trying to keep a look out for the walls. Even though his dwarven eyes can pierce the darkness, the steam impeded his sight slightly, though this was part of the plan. If he could barely see, then more than likely the peeping tom would have a much more difficult time trying to do his hobby.

Every so often, Brone would move about, though keeping close to the edge of the bath, creating noise in the water, enough for onlookers to know someone was in the bath.

Time passed and every now and then, the dwarf would exit the bath to keep himself from getting too pruny. He had good grip on his patience but he still wondered how long before the rat shows itself.

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The sound of movement and slight scraping against stone could barely be heard. For the average human, this could be easily missed or overlooked, but Brone, being a dwarf and knowing stone too well, he was on guard, peering through the steam, waiting for someone or something to show itself.

A moment passed and there was silence, save for Brone pretending to wash himself, slowly moving the water, so that the onlooker would hear. The game continued, and Brone was relying heavily on his patience as he looked about the bath until he finally spotted a silhouette through the steam on his left side.

He waited and the onlooker slowly made their way around the pool, trying to get closer; just as Brone had suspected, the lack of light and the steam was making it too difficult for the onlooker to see into the bath. "A little closer" the dwarf thought as he continued to bath, he had let his white hair down as he lowered himself into the water, allowing it to be just above his shoulders, now he waited so he could spring his trap.

* * *

The peeping tom made his way through the crack in the wall and entered the vicinity of the women's bath. He was slightly thrown off due to not hearing any talking and the lack of lighting, but it wasn't too off putting, sometimes women who want to just bathe alone would leave a few lanterns on, but this was the first time only two lanterns were left on. At first this was troubling, but the peeping tom figured if the lighting was this low, he had a better chance to see more up close without being spotted, so long as he kept to the shadows and away from the light.

He crept closer, along the inner part of the wall, but even though he was getting closer, the darkness and the steam was so impeding, he couldn't make out the woman who was bathing, though he could see somewhat of a silhouette near the bathhouse entrance. This was a little risky, but if he could get by the entry to the bathhouse, he would be able to get a close look.

Finally by the entrance, he could see someone dipping their body into the water. He got a little closer, nearing the edge of the bath until he saw long white beautiful hair above the surface of the water. This was the closest he has been to a naked woman and yet she didn't know he was there, his heart beat was so fast his nose began to bleed slightly. Subconsciously he convinced himself to get right by the edge, the steam and the darkness shouldn't reveal him fully even if she spotted him.

"Watch yer lookin' at?" the voice was deep and masculine, which threw off the peeping tom, he nearly jumped back, but a strong thick arm quickly reached out and he was grabbed by his shirt, then pulled into the water.
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The peeping tom was pulled into the water by someone strong, regardless if they were a woman or not, he couldn't be caught, so he panicked and delivered a swift kick to the chest area, a woman's weak point he had heard. But the chest wasn't soft, it was tough, and unluckily it didn't stop the white haired mystery person. The peeping tom was pulled into a bearhug, being held tightly against large pectorals. He now had a perfect chance to see who the person was...

A male dwarf.

"Yer not escaping this collapsed tunnel" Brone joked as he squeezed the blue haired peeping tom within his arms.

"I wasn't peeping! I was inspect- ah!" the peeping tom quickly said in a panic, trying to find any excuse he could think of.

"No can do, blue-hair, no lies, no excuses, yer getting the book thrown at ya" Brone said as he continued to squeeze. The peeping tom felt the pressure and with the heat of the bath, he figured he would pass out soon, so he flailed, he tried another kick, but being this close, he didn't get enough momentum, so he tried something different, he felt around with his feet and felt the edge of the bath, he used all his might to kick off the edge to throw the dwarf off balance, but it felt as if he was trying to push against a boulder.

"Yer fighting a mountain, lad, give up" Brone laughed. Soon after another attempt, the blue haired peeping tom sank in his arms, passed out. With that, the dwarf exited the bath with the blue haired young man thrown over his shoulder.

* * *

Brone, in a bath towel, entered Bella's office, with the blue haired young man in hand, "This him, Lady Missandra?" he tried to sound as polite as possible, a signature trait of Blue Pegasus he needed to remember.

Bella was surprised to see the dwarf had completed the task as she looked upon the blue hair young man who was unconscious. She was also taken by the rippling muscles of the dwarf, "My, my, aren't you a treasure?" she smiled.

"Thank ye, miss" the dwarf couldn't help but blush.

Bella then called for two of her staff members to retrieve the peeping tom, to which then did and left to take him to the authorities. Bella offered a special herbal bath to Brone as a 'thank you' on top of the reward and the dwarf accepted happily. The night continued without a problem. The dwarf remembered falling asleep due to the warm bath and the wonderful scent of whatever herbs Bella had used.

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Total Word count: 1,881

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