[Game Thread] Chapter 6d: A Blight Upon the Earth

[Makenshi]

Seeing the 'commons' of Jharaverd Leon understood why Marcel had sent him to look into things. Unlike what he had heard of the other cities under attack Gula's Fiends were much more spread out, as were the soldiers fighting them, but more importantly they had all the signs of looking for something or someone. Alainn and Jaan both had their hands full healing the sick that were piling up due to Gula and his ilk, but fortunately a mysterious blond haired man had shown up to keep the Lord of Excess himself busy, but that still left his Fiends and followers.

Leon was tailing one such group, although he had truthfully only stumbled on their true nature by accident, having heard their hushed discussion as he was skulking around looking for anything out of the ordinary. That they hadn't noticed him then certainly wasn't an accident of course, and it wasn't an accident that he had managed to trail them on their own search although the twisting narrow streets of the commons meant he had to stick closer than he ordinarily would have liked, especially since he couldn't trust invisibility in case they could see through it (they were looking for something or someone themselves after all).

There was four of them in total, all of them wearing commoner's clothing, mostly shirts and breeches although one wore a tattered robe and he had seen fleeting hints and signs of armour and hidden weapons on most of them. Enough that he didn't want to confront them by himself. Not on equal terms at least.

OOC Once Blue is back I'll drop Mrith into events too. For now though, Leon's tailing options are to follow behind them or to roof hop (which was no more than 20ft apart in most places, sometimes even as narrow as 10ftquite easy due to the cramped nature of the buildings here. I didn't want to presume what his preferred style would be. Basically, his choice is greater chance of discovery from flying Fiends but less from who he's tailing (roofs) or greater chance of discovery from who he's tailing byt less from flying Fiens (behind).

~MTWC

[Battlechaser]

Interesting. Léon merged with the shadows in a small nook where one shack leaned precariously against the other. As a fiend flew over the alley, the spy slowly moved back an inch or two. He had learned the hard way that some of the fliers were attracted by Not unlike other predators, hence the survival of the slow moving Sloth. If I assume to much, just let me know and I'll adjust.sudden movements. So no tailing from up the roofs. Léon could not keep up the necessary pace to follow the disguised fiends.

Drawing his small hand-crossbow, the thief exerted a minor pressure on a shallow depression in the handgrip and as the arms twanged to the sides a translucent red bolt formed itself into its barrel. It might have cost him a lot, but this baby did not make a sound and it had taken care of more fiends than Léon cared to count.

When his targets continued their search, Léon decided to follow them from a short distance - who knew where they would lead him. And if necessary he could contact Morgan's girlfriend to get back-up. Staying close to the buildings, darting from hiding place to hiding place, when no fliers were to be seen, the spy kept a tail on the posse.

 

Active buffs: touchsight, steadfast perception, detect hostile intent, escape detection
Rolls

[Makenshi]

Fortunately for Leon, the group he was tailing weren't moving at a great pace themselves, since they were obviously searching for something or someone themselves in the cramped and confused streets of the commons. Unfortunately however, he was forced to keep back far enough that he could only get the gist of their hushed conversations which confirmed what he had expected - that he was dealing with cultists - as well as revealing that the robed one was a Leon would need to make a Knowledge check to fully understand what this meansLakarn of Gluttony by the name of Layva, who also turned out to be a short, black-haired woman wearing armour under the robes. The slightly taller of the other three, a brown-haired and bearded man called Rude, sounded like a local (Quallish) and seemed the most worried about discovery due to his 'position'. The shortest of the others, a blond called Nykan, had a few small scars on his face including A DC 15 Knowledge Local check to recognise that this means he is most likely Tyyrykantwo notched eyebrows and seemed to be the almost as impatient as Rude was and often fingered one of many daggers the spy had spotted on his person. The last, an auburn-haired Elf-touched called Mutt, was the one that worried Leon the most, as he was by far the most observant of the four, often keeping out of their discussions and even outright ignoring the others in order to look around for potential danger. He was lightly armoured but had several daggers on his person as well.

From what he had overheard they were looking both for a place and a person, or rather, they were looking for a place where a person would be, a safe-house of some description according to Rude who seemed to be the most knowledgeable on the matter and the area. In fact, the more he spoke the more he got the impression that Rude was an outsider of the group, perhaps even a mercenary or at the very least not an especially devout cultist.

Before Leon had time to formulate a plan they seemed to find their target, with Mutt pointing out a building with a a DC 10 Knowledge (religion) check reveals this as the holy symbol of Inanna, although given how openly it is displayed it is more likely (in Leon's experience) that this is a brothela stylised heart with one half of it repeatedly scratched as if to 'colour it in' to Rude who seemed to nod his head in agreement, or perhaps confirmation, before the four of them pushed their way in.

If Leon wanted to confront the four of them then he'd need help, which meant either contacting Marcel or Zilira.

~MTWC

[Battlechaser]

The spy wasted no time and contacted Zilira. Found a death-squad, sent to take out somebody in a brothel. Léon was not surprised at the location of of the safehouse. Sometimes the best way to hide someone was in plain sight. Three cultists. Of which one Lakarn of Gluttony, a guy that looks like a half-elf version of me, and a notched eyebrows fellow. Accompanied by a local merc. Need assistance. Now! Léon knew he was not following proper formalities, but something about this group grated his nerves.

Fading into the shadows, he slipped in behind the cultists and readied a smokestick, while waiting for that cavalry to arrive.

[Makenshi]

Lakarn of Gluttony Leon is more than familiar with the dangers that Lakarns of Gluttony pose, giving him yet another reason to keep his distance less she suck the life out of him by her mere presence.

OOC Just to clarify, is Leon slipping into the brothel behind them or is he behind them as in 'just outside the brothel'?

~MTWC

[Battlechaser]

Ooc Considering the aura the more careful thing would be to wait outside, so Léon is going in.

[Makenshi]

Leon gives it a bit of time before opening the door a crack - the windows of the narrow-looking building were blocked so he couldn't look in - in order to get a better idea of what was going on inside without actually popping his head in. With his touchsight, the crack was enough to tell that although narrow, the building went far enough back that he couldn't sense it all, that there was a staircase going up and another going down, and that there were more than just those four inside. With the door only open a crack, it wasn't enough to detect any hostility however.

"-bit strange that this place is still open despite what's going on outside?" Leon heard one of the patrons mutter.

"Nah." Snorted another. "With those guards on the doors and elsewhere this is safer than most places. Besides, why would the Fiends waste time with us when there's defenceless folk wandering about?"

Evidently, the brothel was still open as usual (or 'as usual' enough), so going in shouldn't attract too much attention, but with not only the four people he was tracking in there but an indeterminate number of 'guards', not to mention the other patrons, he didn't fancy going in there by himself. Before he had the chance to ask Zilira about those 'reinforcements' though he saw the shadows swell out of the corner of his eyes, with a quick scan of the surroundings showing that there wasn't anyone to witness the strange arrival of Misa Serokai and a woman Leon recognised as Mrith Jen'la, the 'sister' of Nevh Rudaa and a Humanborn Emerald Dragon of some arcane skill. Both of them had obviously been advised of the area they were coming into, dressed in more common fare than their station would indicate although their exotic appearance could prove either a pain or a boon depending on how the Elernan thought to play his hand.

"So what's going on?" Misa whispered after giving Leon a poignant look to close the door despite her milky white eyes (another oddity that could draw attention for the wrong or right reasons). At least with her around Leon had even less reason to worry about being caught unaware.

~MTWC

[Battlechaser]

As he closed the door -like he was planning to do before the ladies barged in - Léon quickly briefed his companions. "A Lakarn of Gluttony has entered this building with two other cultists, one of which is a spy. They're accompanied by a local merc. I suspect their target is inside. Problem is I don't know what he or she looks like nor how many guards are inside." The thief looked the girls over. "Before we go in, just a bit of advice. They won't believe your customers, so if someone asks: you're whores looking for a safe brothel after the last got burned down by the fiends. Mrith, you'll draw a lot of attention. Teenage girls tend to be rather popular. So try to not get offended and burn somebody's face off. And Misa, don't look at anything. Remember you're blind, so at least try to act like one."

[Makenshi]

Originally Posted by Misa

"Remember you're blind."

Misa raises an eyebrow as her lip quirks into a smile. "Well, I'm glad you're here to remind me, I was getting all panicked and scared because everything was so dark." Her tone was playful rather than spiteful, as if she was poking fun at his choice of words rather than genuinely annoyed. "And as for your plan..." She glances unblinkingly towards Mrith, who doesn't seem to like the idea at all. "...I'm not sure that is entirely feasible. My accent is distinctly not that of a commoner and unlike Didina I don't have a talent with mimicry. If you're trying to spare my blushes then it might be handy to know that the reason Didina won't 'have dinner' with you is because of me." She quirks an eyebrow as if to say 'pick your words carefully' with this revelation. "Anyway, I can act the part of the curious noble or well to do merchant's daughter well enough, and it'd be closer to the truth, especially if you do most of the talking as my 'bodyguard'. What do you think?"

~MTWC

[Battlechaser]

And with just one remark Léon's eyebrows found themselves on the back of his head. How do women do that? Blood ****ing .... With a deep breath the thief steadied himself. "Right, just let me do the talking. Keep to dimwitted remarks. People here have a certain stereotype image of nobles. And coming to a brothel in the middle of a war exactly fits that image."

[Makenshi]

If anything, Misa seems a little embarrassed by Leon's eventual reaction, but she doesn't press the issue any further. "If we're going for nobility then I guess that would make Mrith my the more common form of 'Ladies-in-waiting', being paid to provide companionship for a higher ranking noblewoman, rather than doing so for political/familial favour or for greater marriage prospectslady's companion." Misa pauses just before they enter. "Oh, and just to make it clear, I've no intention of actually doing anything with anyone in there. If we're playing the noble card and we're not sure who we're going for, then why not try for meeting the owner, or did you have another idea?" It was somewhat surprising to see the blind Serokai scheming, as nothing Leon knew of her suggested she would be skilled at it, but then again, considering how much time she spent with Didina it'd make sense that she's picked up a few things.

~MTWC

[Battlechaser]

"If you want to meet the owner, we've got to make him an offer he can't refuse." Léon flashed a grin towards the ladies. "Why don't you buy the brothel? Consider it a way to expand your merchant empire."

[Makenshi]

"I don't think they would be convinced by that, or more accurately, by me trying to act the part. If you don't think we could meet with the owner for such a 'delicate' negotiation, then do you have any other ideas? This sort of thing isn't exactly a strength of mine, but Didina is too distinctive and would have difficulty in close quarters." The blind woman frowns in thought. "Oh, if it has to something to grab his attention then what about my looking for a 'companion' with enough graces that they could pass as a lady's companion to polite society? Would that work?"

~MTWC

[Battlechaser]

"What would Didina have to say about that?" Léon smirked. He scratched the stuble on his chin. "And yet... It might work. So I'll lead on." If no one objects, Léon would go deeper into the bowels of the brothel looking around and regarding everybody suspiciously. Nothing new there. He chuckled silently.

[Blue]

Mrith was confused by the entire idea of making some kind of cover.
"Can someone enlighten me as to why we worry about these details? These guys are wrecking everything without need of a cover. We go in there and we obliterate them before they find whoever they are in to get. Someone else gets in the way, we ignore them. If we really have to go in there all cloak and dagger then I can play whichever part you want me to play. I could always just present myself as who I am and demand their products as would any other patrons. People rarely insist for details when they know they are dealing with a rich dragon."

Either way, she would follow them. It reminisced her of her little walk in the slums of Halva, but more lively with all the chaos. Well. More chaos than usual, she guess.