The second floor of the black mirror is an elegant conference room, maybe due to some magical spell of sound proof floors, this room gets none of the noise from the first floor. In the middle of the room there is a long table with a red velvet mantle over it, six elegant blackwood chairs sit on the sides of the table. A large window is on the opposite side of the wall from the door and faces the street, granting a view of the main street of Adjanen. Near the window stands a beautiful Dah'kin woman, she wears a cape with the mark of the spire and only her head is exposed, revealing her soft features and silver Dah'kin hair. Next to ther stands an older Dah'kin, the priestess the party saw earlier and on both sides of the door there are two bulky guards, one human and one Sandlizce.

Time - 10:45 am

---

"Well, you sure took a while to come up here." said the cloaked woman turning to the window, her back towards the party. "What is it that you want?"

"We have letter to give you." Maura said turning around to look at Celena.

"Miss Ari.. we don't have time for these..."
started saying the Priestess but Ari quickly silenced her with a cold glance.

"A letter?" said Ari looking at them carefully, a subtle hand movement could be noticed under the cape. "From who?"

Ke'rodre stayed quiet, still not having an idea about this so-called mission the others seemed to be on, and since no one had wanted to tell her anything, she thought it would be best to just listen. Thus, she stayed back, idle and immobile.

Celena stepped forward producing the letter. "A certain lizardman handed this to me with orders to give it to you sayig that you would give us the answers we wanted."

Ari took the letter eyeing Celena suspiciously, as most people in this continent she had never seen Hauken before, and sat down. She moved cloak and threw it over her shoulder to allow better mobility and revealed a tight black leather outfit with a white sash around the waist, customary of the Shadow Warriors. She blew some silver hair off her eyes and opened the letter, upon reading the first few letters she mumbled. "This is not good Gia'anen" she looked up at the group and then signaled at the Sandlizce to leave, after they were gone and closed the door she stood up again and placed both hands on the table, clutching the letter in the left one. "Very well... who are you and how do you know Zlade? Talk quickly or die quickly, its is your choice."

Raa stood aside because she had no idea who Zlade was. She also waited for answer.

After waiting for someone to tke the spotlight Celena finally broke down and started the story. "This is all I know and can remember. Six of us all woke up in a wagon that was headed towards a temple. While we were in the wagon an envelope was to us from underneath the door inside was six keys. When we got there the lizardmen shackled us and threw us into a cell. We figured that the keys were to unlock the shackles and we were right so we freeded ourselves and then a voice told us to meet him in the stables quickly and we all did. Zlaade returned our equipment to us and then started to explain the background of what was going on. We were soon interrupted by another group of lizardmen. Zlaade said that his position couldn't be compromised and that we had to fight. So we did. Right before the battle started he handed me that letter that I gave to you and instuctions on how to get to the city and who to see once we got here. We were told that we could find you here and here is where we came. That is my part of the story if anyone has anything else to add then that is their story for them to tell."

"Just to say something I have no idea what is going on but I'm here to help them." Celest said from the corner jabbing her thumb in the general direction of everyone else.

"We are going to need all the help we can get" replied Ari grimly. "Have a seat, Zlaade choose you for a reason, and though I find him a bit... blunt, the Spire king hand-picked him so I am no one to doubt him. I will trust Zlade's judgement then. Do you know who I am? Do you know why were all those slaves taken to the temple?"

"No..." Maura admitted.

"My name is Ar'anned, as you might already know, however that name is a pseudonym I use so as to be able to travel freely across the land, without being hindered by an escort, my real name is Ari'ael, commander of the Skarrad Shadow Warriors and younger sister of the Spire King Nim'ael." said Ari as she turned to the window once more and while she stared at the horizon and the endless desert she spoke again, "Now as for the temple, according to Zlade this temple was submerged under the sand a couple of weeks ago, Zlade and several other lizardmen have been working for my brother for a long time, Zlade says they got orders from the late Demon Thadre himself, that they were told exactly were the burrowed temple was and they were to retrieve a coffin from the bottom level of the temple and ship it north to the coastal town of Osvik, that is all they were told, the slaves were captured and taken there to dig the temple out for the lizardmen, some of you, however, were hand-picked by Zlade to be captured, the reason, I do not know, but you were meant to be taken to the camp so he could free you and send you to me." she concluded as she turned back to them, waiting for some sort of reaction.


Celena was a bit surprised at Ari's true identity and a little curious as to what was in the coffin that Thadre wanted so bad. "Why would Thadre need or want this coffin that they're after?"

Ke'rodre raised a rather curious eyebrow at hearing that she was related to the Spire King, and another at hearing that Thadre was rumored to have been giving orders around. Even though she hadn't really cared about what was going on outside her little world of stealing and petty killing, it seemed like it was gradually becoming her business as well – especially due to this current event. Even though Ke'rodre was rather amazed, she hid it, keeping the hood over her head and standing still, she wanted to hear everything Ari had to say before starting to ask questions.

"We don't know... that is the main problem, whatever is in that coffin was extremely important...." replied Ari going silent all of the sudden, she looked up to the group and twisted her mouth a bit. "I need to know... if you... if you could perform a service for me..."

Now Ke'rodre decided she should open her mouth and say something. "That would depend on the exact nature of the service and, of course, the reward", she said firmly without any faltering in her voice, smirking a little. She remained standing perfectly still.

Raa stood aside and giggled in herself. She needed the practice.

"You are indeed a Dah'kin woman!" chuckled Ari walking closer to the group. "You already know where this temple is, am I right? I want you to take me there, we must try to find any clues Zlade might've left there for us ar anything that will help us figure out what was Thadre's objective in that place. How much would you ask for that service?"

"All I need is some money so I can live and I'm in," Celest said, "Though I don't know where this temple is..."

"I have nothing better to do so i guess i'm in." Maura shrugged.

Ke'rodre stood still as Ari spoke and thought about the mission and how hard it would be. Since she didn't really have an idea about it, she just threw an amount she thought she'd need. "Without knowing anything more about this, and not knowing what kind of place the temple is, I'd start with 150 GP." If the rumors were true and Thadre was somehow involved, she thought it could become really serious.

Raa spoke: "I agree with the ladies. I guess we all need some practise." She smiled to herself, what could she have done – she was new in this party, and needed the practise and knowledge.

Ari grinned as she moved her cloak over her shoulders and face once more and threw a large gold bag at the feet of Ker'odre and the others. "150 GP each then. 50 for each one of you now, 100 more when we get to the temple. I'd suggest you equip yourselves the best you can before we leave, come here once you are ready to go."

Ke'rodre grinned at the gold bag Ari threw at her feet. "However", she began, nudging her foot under the bag and kicking it up in the air, catching it from flight, "if the mission proves more difficult than we could have expected, I assume we are entitled to demand some compensation, don't you agree?" Having said that, Ke'rodre took exactly 50 GP from the bag, then handing it to Telemee.

Telemee took the bag from Ke'rodre and fished out 50 GP before handing the bag to Maura.

Maura Took her 50 GP from the bag and handed it to Raa.

Raa took her part from the bag and handed the bag to Celena. "Here you are..." she said.

Celena took her 50 and handed the bag to Celest.

Celest grabbed 50 og the coins and put them in a small leather pouch at her waist and then tossed the bag to Ari once again.

When nobody said anything Maura turned to leave. "I guess i'd better get ready then.."

"We should ready ourselves, eh?" said Ke'rodre, referring to the last bit Ari had said. "In that case, I'm going over to the Bazaar to see whether I could make some proper use of this money..." With that, Ke'rodre walked out and headed to the Bazaar, not really caring if anyone followed.

"Let's go Telemee, Celena." Maura said and walked out the door.

Celest followed her even though she had not been "invited". Her tail twitched slightly in amusment before it disapeared behind the door.

Raa walked behind Celest. She whispered to her: "I see we are not invited." She smiled. "Doesn't matter, I've never been to Bazaar..."

"Come along you two, " said Teleme nodding to Celest and Raa, "thisis no time for bitterness." And with that Telemee headed downstairs.

"Me niether this is the first town I've been to in three years," Celest whispered to Raa before slipping downstais to catch up with Telemee.

Raa followed her as she quickened the pace.

Celena followed the oher to the Bazaar.

---

Celena Astyrial
Telemee
Mela RaaTyalangan
Maura
Celest Kaki
Ke'rodre Lawar'in'ger
Back to Realms of Lemire