March 15th, The Encounter by the Warehouses

Zeiss responds in the same tone the dwarf servant spoke with:

"The matter I bring can only be discussed with Ursolan of Prowler. If I'm right about this, the information I bring will certainly have an impact on Holtburg's prosperity and safety. If I'm wrong, the both of us will probably be admonished by Ursolan of Prowler for waking him up over nothing. I hope I'm wrong, but I have no way to verify the implications of this information other than reporting it directly to your master."

He crosses his arms.

"If you refuse to wake him up, I will go back to my "post", have a good night's sleep and pray that nothing happens until I see him tomorrow at his office."

OOC:

The Dwarf gives the trio, which includes two Humans, a rather disregarding look but at the Diplomacy in Zeiss' words finally nods, courteously. "Very well, I shall awaken the master presently." He bows, low, and allows you into the foyer. It is actually quite well appointed, with marble tiling and polished oaken beams lined with brass and silver, all in designs anyone who understands Drudge might recognize. Given how relatively simple and basic his office is, to see this and the house that lies beyond in such extravagant design is a bit of a variance. Regardless, the Dwarf leaves to wake his master after the trio enters into said foyer, whereupon they notice two Aluvian soldiers guarding it in clever positioning such that they can see out what you, now, recognize were one-way windows and could stop anyone from causing grief upon entering. They look at you with a combination of suspicion, derision, and boredom, especially at the sight of the Humans. They are clad in Steel gear, typical for Aluvian military.

Rory focuses bitterly on a spatial point apart from the soldiers, as if willing the oaken beams to splinter with a stern gaze.

He glances at one of them and averts. "One of those nights?" he asks.

ooc:

The soldier, a Half-Elf Half-Dwarf, turns with a barely concealed sneer towards the Human and says, with surprising diplomacy given his expression, "Nothing I imagine you'd understand."

Higaide can't help but wonder whether it's racism or just general contempt toward anything not wearing their armor.

Not that it matters, it's not like they'll be staying long. One way or the other.

OOC:

Zeiss examines the decoration of the room, seemingly disinterested in Rory's attempt at a conversation. Advoc, however, was openly annoyed by the soldier's attitude but one glance from Zeiss quickly stopped him from making any sort of snappy retort.

Archengeia wrote:The soldier, a Half-Elf Half-Dwarf, turns with a barely concealed sneer towards the Human and says, with surprising diplomacy given his expression, "Nothing I imagine you'd understand."

If Rory was hiding his animosity before, he wasn't anymore. "Well it could always be worse."

Higaide gives Rory a knowing glance of not here, not now, just in case the heavily armored Alluvian soldier decides he doesn't like us.

After a few more minutes of uncomfortable silence, the Drudge (garbed in a simple robe) comes walking out slowly, clearly still fighting off sleep. Zeiss's Knowledge of Politics tells him that this kind of appointment in a house is only reserved for special individuals, though Ursolan himself seems to not even acknowledge the presence of the military or the state of his house. He waves a hand vaguely. "I was told you have urgent business, allies of Aluvia." Though he looks tired, his words are crisp and formal with practiced ease. "Speak, and let us know, for if this is about the trade in question as a negotiation tactic I think I may have to have you ejected." This last line is said with a tone of good humor, rather than menace.

Zeiss smiles lightly.

"I wish that was the reason for our presence. As I said to your servant, you are the only person I can bring this information to."

He glances at the soldiers.

"Are these fine people under your direct command?"

Hoping that Ursolan can read on his lips, and making sure the soldiers can't see him doing so, Zeiss "says": It's about the Aluvian military.

OOC:

Zeiss thinks he stealthily lips something to the Drudge, but regardless the Drudge gives a dismissive gesture. "Whatever you want to share you can do so now, or drop it off at the office in the morning. I have no preference on which." He folds his hands, waiting.

OOC:

Zeiss sighs.

"After I gave one of the managers from my organization the task to negotiate with the Aluvian military to sell them supplies, he was kidnapped in his home by a yellow mage. An investigation was conducted and my subordinate located: the yellow mage Exited both of them at a specific place in the warehouse district. A rescue team was sent through the Veil. Unsurprisingly, near the place where my subordinate was last located, there were armed guards wearing no distinctive armor. The team was detected and the guards called for reinforcements; reinforcements who were wearing Aluvian military armor. Around thirty of them. The team fled the Veil and successfully escaped the apparent Aluvian soldiers. However, following this incident, the soldiers in the warehouse district didn't seem to be in high alert, even though they had good reason to be."

After crossing his arms, Zeiss took a moment to choose his next words carefully.

"Considering how strange these soldiers acted, especially in Holtburg, I can only make uncomfortable conjectures as to what they were doing there. Frankly, I hope the rescue team simply made a mistake and is the one at fault. However, if that's not the case, it would mean a lot of trouble for all of us.

"I see." After a moment's thought, the Drudge rubs his weary eyes. "I will bring this to the attention of my Lord first thing in the morning, undoubtedly this has to do with some enterprising group using stolen uniforms or some such nonsense." His tone is dismissive, though he pauses one second to look at Zeiss directly in the eye before returning to his look of practiced disinterest. "Thank you for the information, ah, I'm afraid payment for such a thing is not on me at this exact moment in time. I shall have one of my servants send it to you in the morning at the usual place, how does that sound?"

The soldiers, since all three are no doubt paying attention to their reactions, are not as good at feigning disinterest as the Drudge is and are listening keenly and with great interest to this entire conversation.

"It is more than acceptable. Thank you for your time."

Zeiss does the usual greeting and shows himself out of the house.

OOC:

Higaide follows suit, like a good little minion.

I pat my favorite minion.

Also, unless Arch posts something that might persuade me of staying in the royal district, I'm going to ask Korben of Nightsong to take me back to the Hidden Veil so I can sleep. The endurance potion must have worn off by now and I'm too tired to do anything anyway.

Everything is going as planned. Didn't even have to roll deception.

Zeiss' expert Knowledge of Politics tells him that the player will have to decide what the meaning behind the gesture was. Ursolan WAS being fairly evasive in his dialogue, but that doesn't require a Deception roll to determine.

After rereading the GM's post, Zeiss can only assume that it was indeed the Aluvian military hiding in the Veil. Or that worries Ursolan more than he shows it. As he takes the taxi back to the Hidden Veil to have a good night sleep, he will ask Korben of Nightsong to make sure they're not followed (after assuring her she will be fairly paid for her services in the coming days). While he sleeps, he will have Advoc guard our headquarters and prepare an escape route through the Veil just in case soldiers come to arrest the party.

EDIT: Going to send Mevrak, the Mosswart thief I hired, to keep under surveillance the place Sareth was Exited to.

When the trio approaches their exit point, which because they have a brain is far from the actual entrance to the Veil, they pay the woman and make their way along the road and towards the more inner-workings of the back alleys where their actual entrance lay. On approach, Higaide and Rory successfully Aware some nightmarish mesh of claws and spikes hovering deftly on nearly invisible and inaudible wings, almost the size of a building, zoom down towards them at alarming speed.

"Almost the size of a building" - does that mean it would have trouble following us if we got lost among the actual buildings, or got into some sneaky underground passage like the Veil? If so, i'm grabbing Zeiss and jumping for the nearest cover.

Also, how similar does it look to the one that skewered Kez?

Nearest cover sounds good. I would like to run down a narrow enough passage, or down a manhole.

It's 3 in the morning and nearly pitch black, you barely succeeded the roll to see the thing at all. As for escape, such a thing might not be dextrous enough to fit in the back alleys.

Yeah, i've a bad feeling about how nimble the ugly bastard can really be, as i doubt anyone with the resources to make and deploy such a thing after us would not have thought of that, but right now it's better than nothing.

I say we make for the nearest narrow streetway available, and try to at least get the terrain on our side before we're forced to fight mini-grievver. Ideally, if we could get back to that manhole cover back into the Veil, that'd be sweet, but i'm not expecting that much luck at this point.

Anyway, immediate action is to grab Zeiss and make for nearest said narrow street or back alley. If he protests, i'll just say "shut up and move", or some equally urgent... urging.

Rory follows quickly and helps Higaide run their Exchange overlord ragged through the back alleys to escape being impaled by claws.