2nd adventure: Proxy War

10:23 AM, 5th of August
Highwind, Free Feathers

The 113th Adjunct has been recalled to the Coins' office of Highspring to meet with Sonlake Dermold and receive their new mission. However, their handler is currently briefing another Adjunct. The receptionist invited the party members to wait in the lobby until they are called. Breeze cheerfully voiced her agreement, approached the nearest chair she could find and swiftly plopped down on it. She is now sitting on the edge of the subjectively enormous chair, flapping her legs into the air. Even after three months, the receptionist cannot help but give a few glances at the fairy.

As for Fedler, she put her bow up against the wall, and took the seat next to Breeze. She hasn't said much since you all joined up this morning; in fact, she hasn't said much at all for the last three months. However, since the bandit attack on the coastline caravan, she has made a few efforts to engage with the rest of the party by participating in card games, engaging in small talk, and sometimes, even chuckling at one of Breeze's display of silliness. Despite her recent shift in personality, the most apparent change is physical; in the last three months, her hair have grown at an unnatural speed, and have now reached her shoulder blade. Konrad and Steve noticed it only recently, while Mihai did quite a few weeks ago.

"Hey guys," asks Breeze, "what do you think our new mission is going to be? I bet we're gonna have to protect something, or someone."

"We're being contracted to hunt down some vandal who's been spreading lewd poems around." - Mihai replies casually.

"I'm looking forward to it," adds Fedler.

"Hey!" protests Breeze. "If Steve is hunted down for no good reason, we should let him go and lie to Sonlake about what happened!"

"You do know that his secretary can hear us, right?"

The blue-haired fairy smiles. "We'll just bribe her."

The receptionist stifles a laugh.

"With what, if we lose the bounty?"

Breeze looks expectantly at Konrad and Steve. They still have a lot of money left from the Waterglass contract after all.

Upon entering the lobby, Steve proceeds to make himself at home. He grabs a cushion/pillow from the couch and places it on the floor in such a way that he can use the couch as a back support while sitting on said cushion. Undeterred by the preset setup of the space, he drags the table closer (being as loud as possible) and stacks the books and newspaper into a little neat pile on a corner of the table out of the way and proceeds to spread his parchment and writing kit over the remaining space. He then sets to work on his latest creation.  

"We're being contracted to hunt down some vandal who's been spreading lewd poems around." - Mihai replies casually.

"I'm looking forward to it," adds Fedler.

"Hey!" protests Breeze. "If Steve is hunted down for no good reason, we should let him go and lie to Sonlake about what happened!"

"You do know that his secretary can hear us, right?"

The blue-haired fairy smiles. "We'll just bribe her."

The receptionist stifles a laugh.

"With what, if we lose the bounty?"

Not raising his eyes from his latest "masterpiece", Steve jumps in without missing a beat. "Not all of us live hand to mouth Mihai. Some of us actually know how to budget for the lean times between jobs. And besides, I have no idea what you bandits are talking about and I'd appreciate it if you didn't go around besmirching my good name," says Steve in faux seriousness while twirling his pen in the air for emphasis. "Now what's a good rhyme for 'licking nipples'?"

"What can you do with cripples?"

"How about 'my wife's impulses'?" suggests Breeze.

"Oh no," interrupts the young redhead. "That's enough, from both of you. We can't have more than one lewd poet in this group."

Breeze pouts.

"That's called censorship," retorts the fairy.

"No," replies Fedler. "It's called decency. We're in a public area."

She turns to Konrad, expecting some form of support from him; daring him to speak against her.

"Hmm, cripples. Perhaps sexy cripples? I'm sure that's a thing..." Steve mutters to himself, either missing the point entirely or pretending to. He sets back to work.

For this scene, the players are hearing the first 45 seconds of "Jack Sparrow", which sets the mood rather nicely.


"Hmm?" Konrad notices he's being watched.  "...What? What??" he asks rather innocently, like he's being silently judged.

He makes some sort of motion with his hand to his lips, perhaps some dried leaves contained in thin rolled-up paper, but quickly dispenses with the gesture as he realizes he has nothing to smoke.

"You look good today. There's something different about you too, did you grow your hair out?"

This is a casual genuine comment containing absolutely no ulterior motive.

Fedler sighs, turns her head to look straight ahead of her, crosses her legs, and answers with a flat, "Yes I have."

There are a few seconds of silence during which you can only hear the scratching of the receptionist's quill against a piece of paper, and the clock's invariable swinging.

Right at this moment, the door to Sonlake's office opens, and five armed mercenaries exits through it. Their apparent leader, a middle-aged man encased in plate armor, nods at your group before leaving the building. The secretary gets up, and before she enters her superior's office, turns to the five of you and says, "Please wait here. It won't be long."

She closes the door behind her, just as Fedler gets up her chair and starts pacing around the lobby. As for Breeze, she grows her wings and flies to the receptionist's desk to take a look at what she was writing.

"Now, what have we here...?"

At the nod, Konrad musters a reflexive winning smile back while the fellow adjunct group departs.

"Kid, come on now." Konrad pesters, standing up and crossing over to the table to push the fairy back with gentle-yet-firm telekinesis. "Don't be rude."

(Will Save to resist my ability?)

For some reason, Konrad's telekinesis power is pushed back, leaving the little fairy unaffected. She doesn't seem to have noticed it.

"Oh! Look at that!"

Mihai gets up and casually moves toward the desk, as if just pacing in that general direction. He won't get too close, in case the secretary comes back, but will get as meaningful a glance as he can.

Once he does, if it's anything interesting, he'll tell Breeze - "Memorize it, then come back to the chair. We'll talk about it later."

From what Mihai can see from this distance, this letter is addressed to the Bright Fall institude, or as the party knows it, the mental asylum located in Highspring. That's the only thing Mihai can gather.

"Huh?" ponders Breeze. "They're talking about Saemon."

The door to Sonlake's office opens, and the secretary comes back into the lobby with a concerned look on her face. She doesn't even notice Breeze flying away from her desk, whistling innocently.

"Mr. Sonlake will now receive you."

Fedler takes her bow, and enters the office with Breeze in tow.

Steve methodically puts away his writing kit, though he leaves the parchment on the table to dry and doesn't bother putting the area back together. On his way past the secretary he gives her his most trustworthy smile and says, "Don't worry miss, I'll finish cleaning up after the meeting. I promise."

He'll remove his hat as he enters the office and will sit down in the nearest empty chair if one is offered.

"Thanks."

Mihai walks in.

Konrad is the one caught, with his hand on her desk, and he quickly adjusts himself to appear as though he is simply leaning on it out of boredom, before heading into Sonlake's office.

Roll Deception.

The receptionist nods at Steve, a little distracted by something, and replies with, "Of course. Don't worry about it." She then returns to her desk, oblivious to what just happened.

The party enters the room to find Sonlake sitting behind his desk, with an irate look on his face, and his hands clasped on top of a pile of letters.

Behind him, leaning against the wall with her arms crossed, stands a young woman who wears the armband of a black mage, but with the emblem of the Free Feathers military sewn on it.

They are both looking at Steve.

The mysterious woman:

"Oh, it's you!" says Steve, his mouth open in shock and the commander and where he is completely forgotten. He wasn't really expecting her. The poor bastard is actually happy to see her. "What brings you to Highspring, Zelk?"

The name rings some kind of bell with Mihai, but he can't put his finger on it.

Konrad brims with a relaxed smile at the mention of Zelk's name and raises his hand in greeting, like meeting an old friend for the first time. He gives a little chuckle at the oblivious nature of the question and nudges Steve with his elbow. "That would be us, lad."

Dammit, where did he hear it? He's almost sure he's got it, but it keeps slipping.

The woman's stare doesn't budge from Steve. Contrasted to Sonlake's anger, she seems almost aloof. In fact, she doesn't even respond to the young mage's greeting.

"Konrad is right," says Sonlake with a sharp tone. "She came here on behalf of the Free Feather's military to give the Coins a mission. A mission we will have to complete, free of charge."

He is still glaring.

"Because of you, you stupid kid."

Fedler and Breeze appear a little confused, and are now also looking at Steve.

"Why would we be working for free? That doesn't seem like something a mercenary would do," says Steve, entirely missing the point. He has a stupid grin on his face because he's just SO HAPPY to see Zelk.