2nd adventure: Proxy War

Steve takes off his shoes as asked and can already feel his feet becoming cold. Sigh. "A pleasure to meet you, sir. Thank you."

He'll take a seat in the middle across from a Lorinthian guard. He'll look up and down the line before saying to the guard with a nod and a heavily sarcastic tone, "'Sup?"

The Lorinthian guard is in fact a rough looking middle-aged woman. She replies with a deadpan tone, "Sup."

Konrad just looks down at the food, back at the gathered mercenaries - his eyes burn with vengeance when they light upon Kira - and looks back at the man who is clearly the real master of this...dojo. He does not sit down - at least, not yet.

In the most clear-headed manner that he can muster, he replies with a casual smoothness (not pretending to be happy or content), "I will not turn down your generous offer, master; however, please be aware that we have some serious fucking business with the guests who are already seated."

In spite of his clear hatred and violent intentions toward the people seated, he chooses patience and tranquility in the current situation.

"Kira. So wonderful to finally see you again, how I've missed you," he greets her with mock joy. She'll stay right where she is if she knows what's good for her.

Diplomacy vs Master
You see? I'm a nice, calm, open and honest individual. Very Stoic.

Mihai will sit last. He's not very hungry.

The man keeps smiling.

"Thank you for being so reasonable," he calmly says. "I'm sure you can understand we know nothing about any of you, which is why we have to take those precautions. Please, sit."

The Master guides everyone to a seat, while Konrad approaches Kira Paddle.

"Kira. So wonderful to finally see you again, how I've missed you," he greets her with mock joy.

The woman gauges the red mage standing in front of her, and asks, "Do we know each other?"

_____________

Fedler sits down besides Mihai, wary of the other "guests", then looks back at him. She doesn't say anything, and puts her hand on his.

Konrad's smile turns upside down. "Hmph. No, sorry, I thought you were someone else." I don't think we ever knew each other, really.

He decides to sit down and start eating. He wastes no time getting food inside his mouth, washing it down with whatever is provided for him to drink in the nearest cup. Probably water.

Spellcraft
Any effects within the area I should know about?

Kira finally realizes. "Oh, you're the one with the mask."

She doesn't give it much thought, and goes back to waiting for the food to be served, while keeping a close eye on the other guests.

Konrad:

Mihai jerks ever so slightly. He looks at Fedler and says something in a hushed voice, which she reciprocates with a hint of caution, looking at the other guests. Mihai seems to share in the sentiment.

Konrad then asks the master, "This is a lovely home. Did you build it yourself?"

Steve pulls out some paper and his writing kit. He starts writing something.

"Oh no," he replies. "This was built over a century ago by our predecessors. Oh, what am I doing? Silly me. Please, wait while I go get your meal."

The master gestures at the boy, and both of them leave the dinner area to disappear into the left wing of the monastery. The pirates and the Lorinthians are quiet, their eyes fixated on the other group, as the monks do the same to everyone in the room. Breeze lands on the adjunct's table.

"You'll see, these waffles are exceptional!" declares Old Master Breeze, who acts even more out-of-character than before now that the boy isn't here. She suddenly joins Steve, and helps him with his mysterious project.

The squad members are just as tense as the enemies sitting right in front of them. The master of this monastery comes back into the room with four plates in his arms, perfectly balancing them so they don't fall on the ground. The teenager finds this task a little more difficult.

"Please, feel free to dig in," encourages the master. "Here's some maple syrup, chocolate, strawberries, and apples. I hope you enjoy it."

His head abruptly turns towards the entrance of the monastery. None of you has heard anything, but something has caught his attention.

"Excuse me," he tells the group before he leaves the room, and then the building itself.

The other "guests" start to eat just has their host suggested, and for the next few minutes, nothing unusual happens. Until the master comes back, with another person in tow.

"Please, come in," he says, happy as always. "I would usually tell you to leave your shoes at the door, but I see you don't have any."

The man in rags enters the room, and he frowns at the sight presented to his eyes. The pirates, the Lorinthians, the squad members and Fedler all stop eating to focus on the last guest who just arrived.

Breeze keeps revising what Steve wrote until now.

The blackmage doesn't look up from his writing but he does ask, "Why are you guys staring at each other? It's rude."

He looks up at Rags and smiles at him. "I'm Steve, nice to meet you." He'll go back to his writing with the occasional pick at his waffles and fruit.

Mihai nods at Rags.

Breeze follow suit with Steve's greeting, and happily waves at the man in rags. He notices Mihai's nod, but doesn't respond to it. After a moment of consideration, the new guest simply says, "I'm Conan."

He sits down at one of the last two remaining tables, right in the middle of the room, where everyone can see him. Zelk's eyes are fixated on the man from the coffin, and she leans towards Adam to whisper something none of you can make out. Adam nods. The master speaks up.

"Whenever one of you has finished eating, and wishes to go rest from your tumultuous trip, please inform me, and I will guide you to your own room. We have a merchant vessel coming in tomorrow, at noon."

Conan starts eating the precious waffles, while the pirates and the Lorinthians take up the master's offer, and quickly leave the room. They're guided into the left wing.

OOC:

"Oh that's a relief. Those guys are a bunch of buzz kills. They absorb fun and expel awkward silence, right Zelk?" He gives her a pointed look about the whispers but says nothing directly. He then puts down his pen and sits up, in effect rejoining the group. "How are you liking the waffles Conan?"

Having just finished eating, Fedler and Mihai get up and go to talk to the master, after which they leave for the south wing, the opposite of where the pirates and Lorinthians went.

To Steve's comment, Zelk's reply is... awkward silence. Her eyes are fixated on the man in rags. Steve recognizes that look, dating back to their Citadel years; she is planning several moves ahead. "They're good," replies Conan. "Better than what they fed me with."

He hasn't looked up from his plate.

OOC:

"That's good. You mean the Lorinthians right? Why did they do that to you?" He'll carefully fold the pen into the note, so that no one can read it and so the pen won't fall out easily. He'll lean over to whoever is next to him and whisper, "Pass it to Zelk."

Note:

Think, think, think. Debate, debate, debate. There seems to be plenty of time to do this, as Konrad carefully places bite after bite of waffle in his mouth, followed by water to wash it down, and apple. When the pirates get up to leave, he tenses up, but this subsides.

"Well, master, if that is your real name," he smirks with dry wit to defuse the awkward tension, "I must say I'm impressed with the level of care your people have taken to keeping this place clean and orderly. In truth, this is my first visit to a Stoic monastery. Would you mind showing us around on a tour?"

Steve:

"Call me Avalon," says the master to Konrad. "And normally, I would gladly offer you a tour of our residence, but it would be unwise to do so in the current situation. I'm sure you can see why."

Conan keeps chewing on his breakfast, apparently not giving too much attention to Steve's questions, but nevertheless answering them. "It was the woman and her crew," he replies. "And you'll have ask them why."

Breeze slowly floats towards him, lands in front of his plate, and waves at him with a big smile.

"Hi! I'm Breeze the- Oh!" she realizes she still has the wig and fake beard on, and removes them. "Let me try that again. Hi! I'm Breeze the Fairy! So you've found the monastery too, uh?"

Conan examines the little creature in front of him, and hesitantly answers with, "...Yes."

"Great! Are you okay? Sorry if our rescue mission kind of took a squid turn, but I swear we did our best!"

"...Rescue mission?"

"Well, we were supposed to recover an artifact, but you're not one, are you?" Then like if she just noticed something, she puts a finger on her lips, and looks at the man in rags with perplexity. "I can't feel your thoughts."

Conan's expression is still aloof, but that last comment made Zelk frown. She gestures at her squad members to follow her as she gets up, and then approaches Master Avalon. She gives a discreet kick at Konrad's back as she passes by him so he follows her.

"Thank you for this wonderful meal," she says in a grateful tone. "Could you take us to our room?"

"Of course," replies Master Avalon. "Follow me."

They disappear into the south wing.

Steve will try to sense the elements in Conan.

In the meantime he'll keep the conversation going. "Yes that's right, we were very surprised when you broke your way out of that coffin. We were expecting an object, not a man. How did you come to be inside that thing anyway? And where were you before?"

Steve:

Breeze sits down on the table and crosses her legs, very interested in the answer. The man in rags slowly stops chewing, his eyes locked on his plate. Then for the first time since Steve started talking to him, Conan looks back at the young mage.

"I was forced into that coffin because they do not understand me," he answers, almost mechanically. "Are you and your companions planning to do the same?"

He peers at Steve, who alongside Conan, Breeze, the monks and their master, are the only people left in the room.

OOC:

"I'm not, so no need to worry about me. A coffin isn't a place for a living man after all. How about you Breeze?"

After she answers. "But why don't they understand you? Didn't they try to talk like we are doing right now? Did they really never think to just ask you?"

Konrad frowns at Avalon's answer. "Yes, I suppose so."

When Zelk kicks him, he stirs, thinks about getting up, but decides to let Steve lead. Or perhaps I'll take the initiative, but let us see where this goes first.

At Conan's question, he grins. "You're a very strong man, Conan. I'm not sure I want to test that. At least, not yet. If you come with us, I promise we'll treat you more fairly, or we'll try. Breeze used to live locked up and neglected, and then we found her. Her kind are also like you: new to the world, strangers, misunderstood; however, they did have each other when they were born. I understand completely. You feel like you're stranded - perhaps that's too literal, but like there's no one you can really trust. You have my word, we are people worth trusting."

Diplomacy
Coax some trust from Conan. I don't know what to do with him, but I value his freedom. If he is the "artifact" we're after, I want to persuade him to join us freely, and try to ensure he's dealt with kindly. It is what anyone would want in his position, after all.

"Yes, what my friend said. If you want to come with us we'll be sure to do everything we can to help you."

Diplomacy
I'll use Aid Another to help Rory.

Conan let his gaze linger on Konrad for a long moment, and without saying a word, he then stands up from his table. Breeze is surprised at that, and starts floating in the air again, as she looks at the man in rags approach Master Avalon and thank him for breakfast.

"I am glad you liked it," responds the monk. "Where would you prefer to sleep for tonight?"

"The same room as these two," says Conan, as he points to Konrad and Steve.

"Oh, I sleep in the same room!" hastily points out Breeze.

"The same room as these three then."

"Then let me guide you," replies Avalon, who then turns towards the teenager. "Volwind, please clear the table. Then go check on your sister."

"Yes master," says the boy with a nod.

The master then proceeds to wait for Steve and Konrad to follow him. Breeze is already on Conan's shoulder, smiling at him.