Fourth Adventure 03: Trial's End, Al-Korinth, and Z

The camp had a small Magicite fire so as to produce no smoke and almost no light, useful for staying hidden, and was circled by stones to further mask its presence. Indeed several of you stumble over parts of the camp that you could not see prior to blundering into them. The figure turns and glares at you, moving quickly to replace the displaced items. “There, eat” the figure points in the direction of a pot being held over the Magicite fire. “We are on a bit of a time budget here, so here’s the situation.”

There are several bowls, no utensils to speak of, and the pot is filled with a stew which is bubbling. The scent of potatoes, a sweet meat, and carrots wafts up from it.

"Smells good at least." Hanuel deftly moves through the camp, picking up a bowl and filling it with stew. "So do we get a name to address you by?"

*Grabs whatever food seems a fair share. Sits down on the ground and observes the walking shroud.*

"also why the low profile? if we'ed been told you were staying low we wouldnt have just walked strati into town bold as brass"

"Nice." Kolson picks up a bowl and sits next to Han. He begins blowing it cool and taking careful sips. "Not bad."

Gwydo waits for the rest of the group to eat first, then helps him self to a bowl of the wonderful smelling stew.
Finding a spot by the fire, he patiently waits for the mission briefing.

Rory grabs a bowl and fills it up generously, and proceeds to drink down the soup while chewing on the solid parts while blowing on it. He shamelessly attempts to do so as fast as reasonably possible to save on time while avoiding the hiccups, as well as being scalded by the soup.

“You can call me Z for now. As for the secrecy...” A pause. “The Naverre Military requires a neutral third party to determine the possibility of a saboteur in the area. The saboteur has hit their Bleached Bones fort, about a day northeast of here. There aren’t any other settlements nearby worth noting except for an abandoned mine to the southeast, and a thorpe east of here which has a few farmers and nothing else. I don’t even know the names of either and don’t care.” The figure pauses for a moment to scoop up a bowl of the stew and move restlessly around the camp for a moment before choosing a place to sit where it would be at least a few feet from any one person. “The saboteur is a Sclavi, with obvious Sho implications involved, but the Colonel doesn’t believe it’s that simple and finds it unlikely. She also already caught one Sclavi roaming the area, don’t recall his name, who ended up trying to help in the investigation but ultimately just proved his innocence. He left town a couple days ago.”

The figure fidgets, obviously still uncomfortable.

“The sooner we figure this out the better. The Naverre has good patrols in the region so it’s unlikely our saboteur got out, but the longer we wait the more likely it is he can slip through those cracks.”

"What is the name of this Colonel? Can we expect her cooperation in this matter?"

*Just keeps observing the shrou-- Z. Good name.*

"Colonel Yayojin of Sandfury, and if she can spare any time for us she would help. Hard to get a Colonel's ear after all."

Snarg mentions as an aside to the rest of you that a Colonel is the third highest rank in the Naverre military, usually in charge of a given fleet or army.

Zeiss preferred the others do the talking. But they weren't asking the right questions.

"What kind of sabotage are we talking about?"

The figure turned to stare at Zeiss, though you can't make out the figure's eyes. "Little, deadly stuff at first. Poisoning water supplies, foodstocks, loosing animals out of the holds. Then our saboteur tried bombing the airship docks. That didn't work, so he tried bribing his way in, which worked even less. That's how we have a line on gender and species, though not much in the way of description."

"Bribing? How much gold did he offer?"

"Seems a bit random. Besides the chaos, who would profit from this?"

"I don't know. I imagine a few thousand, but our Sclavi friend underestimated the Naverre military's loyalties. And I have no idea who'd profit from this."

A few thousand golds. It meant that someone was backing that saboteur. Or the saboteur himself had a lot of gold to spare.

"Do you have any lead?"

*Kezrin sits enjoying the stew. Its flavored in a way she's never tasted before.*

"What sort of spices did you use to prepare this? Did you sear the meat before placing it in the stew? The vegetables are quite tender, how long did you simmer them in the broth?"

"Keep the cooking for later Kez."

She really had no common sense.

"If they were able to get a good look at him when he was trying to bribe them, I doubt he'd be hiding in plain sight among the locals, at least no longer," Rory pointed out. "I'd say we should investigate the mine first, but we can't rule out the possibility that this person has set up camp tucked in an obscure location."

Rory glances at Snarg expectantly, hoping the Hyena's expert knowledge of the land would pull through.

"Besides escalating, is there any kind of pattern?"

"you say they want us to confirm a saboteur but it sounds like they know they have one already? are we hear to tell the yes they do or to catch the sab?"

*Kezrin shoots a somewhat perturbed glance at Zeiss.*

what better time is there for discussing food then while one is eating it?

Z harumphs. "A male Sclavi, violet scales, well armed and armored." Z turns to the Olthoi sitting across the camp fire. "Are you seriously asking me about my stew in the middle of a mission? It's just something I threw together with what I had on hand."

Snarg pipes up that he is aware of the fact that in addition to the abandoned mine and the thorpe there is also a large Kodo graveyard which most people don't frequent a ways north of the Fort.

"There is no pattern nor indication that it is just ONE person, nor what their aims are separate or as a group. The Order wants a part in this too. Our aim if you will let me continue," a quick glance at the Olthoi, "without further interruptions, is to capture the saboteur ALIVE at all costs interrogate him and discover his aims, if he is working alone or as a group, the identities of any and all parties involved, and the long term goals of both. Of course," Z adds, "this information is not solely for our client's ears."

Zeiss turned to Higaide.

"Give me the piece of copper."