Following the trail of the dangerous terrorist gang under the comman of Vizenz Barenzo, also known as the Deck, the group comes to the central city of the Rysallis province, Deepwood city. Their recent defeat of Verholm has not lifted the group's spirits, and, led by the ex-deck member Rei'zel, the party ventures off into the city. Once there, they find the Deck is after an apparently small fry noble known as Faulfurn. With Gaius and Amadea being imperial agents, it is not hard to convince Faulfurn to let the party be his bodyguard's for the upcoming ball, the perfect time and place for the Deck to strike.
Led quickly by Ke'an through the now empty streets of Deepwood, the group ran towards the safe haven offered by the Golden Apple. Every now and then, they were forced to hide by small groups of guards heading towards the palace area, even some of the elite guards, the Greencloaks, which guard the City Under the Tree, could be seen heading towards the palace area to either look for the supposed "assasins" or guard the nobles from further attack. After some 15 minutes of running, the mostly out of breath group finally arrived at the Golden Apple, using a back entrance, Ke'an led the group into the still empty main hall on the first floor, the stuff from the morning was still there, and the two groups finally had time to catch their breath and discuss the situation.
Ke'an pulled up a chair and sat down. "Here we are." He gestured for everyone else to sit.
Hron-bar ignored the panther's gesture, frowning and crossing his arms across his chest.
Saris looked at Ke'an with curiosity, and started inspecting the new people around her, with her eyes as well as her nose. "I guess we'll have some quiet here for a while. Could you explain us now what were you doing at the party and what do you know of the deck?" she asked, not sure who was the leader of this other group.
The first thing
Tylien did was to get upstairs and immediately change into its usual clothes, though it left its wings untied and didn't put on the robe it usually had. That didn't take long and it came quickly back down, looking obviously less female now, though of course still seeming (and smelling) ambiguous. Feeling disgusted and relieved, it stuffed the clothes it had worn into the chest it had taken them from and quietly swore to never wear clothes like that anymore. Having done that, Tylien moved further and unconsciously ended up next to Phy'ramcis. Then it wondered whether it should listen to the others (since it really wasn't much of a talker, especially in front of big groups) or try to talk to the ignean.
Moving into the main hall with the group,
Phy'ramcis stood nearby, choosing to stand for the moment and loosely crossing its arms over its chest. Its eyes moved form one member of the group to the other, observing them quietly before finally giving Tylien the last glance as it returned from upstairs and moved next to it. Offering it a light smile, it returned its attention to Saris as she spoke, wondering if the question concerned it or not. Figuring it would be best to wait for some of the others to answer instead of it, it returned its attention on Tylien, still keeping an ear out for what the others had to say.
Before anything of imprort happened,
Hiro-Matsu left the room to change back into his usual robes and re-done the rest of his normal gear. Coming back into the room, Hiro-Matsu grabbed himself a chair and sat down.
Darius grabbed one of the chairs at the table, and pulled off his robe and draped it across the back of the chair before sitting down himself and began looking around the room for something to eat.
Elise walked in and ran upstairs, she fetched the equipment she had left and got her usual clothes. More comfortable, she went downstairs, the air seemed tense around the two groups as many questions remained unanswered and they still had to decide what they were going to do next.
Amadea found a seat and closed his eyes momentarily, glad to have made it safely through the chaos of the night.
"Nice place" said
Gaius plopping down on a chair, exhausted after the race through the town. "We're agents of Claudia Orator." he said, figuring if they were going to figure out what had happened, they might as well start talking. "And you are?" he asked.
"We were sent by the druid Angkone. Whether or not we can divulge certain information as to why we were sent..."
Ke'an trailed off, unsure as to the trustworthynes
s of the group.
"Agents of Claudia Orator..." mused Hiro-Matsu, "guarding Faulfurn. By the information we were given, we were told Falfurn was planning to commit treason against lady Orator."
"A druid told you that?" Saris asked back at Hiro-Matsu, a little skeptical, since from what she knew, druids weren't the most worried about political problems. She grabbed a chair, as everyone was doing, and sat down. It looked like at least one of the groups had been deceived.
Tylien looked at Gaius slightly concernedly, wondering how the other group would react if they found out about what proof they had – for all it knew they might just as well go on with their initial plan of fighting and after that the group it was with would be screwed. It eyed Hiro-Matsu a bit, wondering where he got that information since it sounded like exaggerating the truth a bit since (as far as Tylien remembered) they only had the paper which showed a connection between Gunang and Faulfurn. It would've said something, had it not been so nervous around the large group. While it didn't speak, it did keep on eyeing Phy'ramcis and made an effort to hide it in fear of seeming a bit too curious.
Amadea wrinkled his forehead, troubled by Ke'an's revelation. "It would be good to know what information you can give us regarding Falfurn's alleged treason, since we have nothing to verify the accuracy of your orders."
Ke'an sighed. "Falfurn's name was found on a list of nobles aligned to a certain, once-powerful theif lord by the name of Gunang. We were hired to kill Gunang by the druid Angkone, and we did so. "
Amadea thought back to their conversation with Makayi and seemed to recall that a couple of the new aces were unknown, one of which was giving out the orders. "Does this Gunang have any titles or other names he might use instead of his name?"
"Not that I know of... why? do you think he could've been one of the deck? Aces always travel with their suit, as far as I know... we would've found other deck members with him..." replied Elise with a shrug. "However I do believe what Angkone told us was right... what bugs me the most is... where is the deck then if not in the party?"
Gaius suddenly stood up and began mumbling something. "Good point..." he said. "It does make sense that Faulfurn would've been angry at the empress.... after all he was recently demoted... we found out about the Deck due to offcial Nervan documents in Verholm's mannor, down in Osvik. Then Rei'zel confirmed it." continued Gaius, adding up the evidence they had so far. "An informant here told us that the deck would be in the ball for sure... that informant seems to be the only weak point in my group's evidence, a man by the name Makayi Darren.... Darius! So... this Gunang's documents, Verholm's documents, and Angkone's testimony all place the Deck in Rysallis... but the only information we had about the Deck being in the actual ball came from one informant... you were after Faulfurn, not the Deck... Darius!" he called immediately aftwerwards to the Lynx. "You've been working for Faulfurn for a short while, did you notice anything about him? any suspicious characters he might've been dealing with?" asked the acolyte.
"Hmmm...I can't remember of anyone off the top of my head, but...I'll have to see if I remember anything now that you bring it up (Knowledge)," Darius responeded to the acolyte, questioning why his name had been brought up so much in his rantings.
"The problem is that Makayi Darren-san is a vassal of my Lord Jiro-Li-sama," stated Hiro-Matsu. "It seems to me the information we recieved from him is false. If it was indeed Makayi-san, he came to us on order from Jiro-Li-sama. More likely however, the man who came to me was impersonating Makayi-san. It seems to me that if this is the case, we need to find out who this person was, and who he serves."
"That may be difficult," said Amadea, recalling the encounter. "The man was a formidable warrior."
"Hm hm..." Virul listened quietly all the while looking out the window in case any unwanted visitors were to arrive. Turning around to face the others momentarily, the thief decided to speak up, "So it seems these Deck fellows have fooled us all and pitted one against the other. I don't suppose, however, that any of thee would know as to why we were chosen to be the pawns for their games?"
Rei, having not paid any attention to the others as they spoke, had instead focused his sights on Tylien in confusion, "The hell?" At first thinking the creature to have been using some sort of illusion spell, the Ignean decided it was better to find out from the source itself. Striding toward it, Rei'zel grumbled out, "'Ey, fruit bag. Weren't yuh' a girl not too long ago? Yuh' a crossdresser?"
As soon as Tylien saw Rei'zel walk toward it, it started backing away almost automatically, letting its head droop down so that its hair fell on its face since it had forgotten to tie it. It also fondled around and grabbed Phy'ramcis's wrist with its other hand. Tylien was obviously even more disoriented when it heard the question; the other party consisted of humans and catfolk and the one who came to ask that kind of things was another planetarii? Tylien's brain locked up a little in addition to being nervous around the others from the beginning and it barely managed to mumble with its ambiguous voice: "N-no... I-I can't be..." It slowly lifted its head to actually look at Rei'zel. "I, uh", it whispered unclearly, "d-don't you..." At that point it had to look at Phy'ramcis, since it was just confused and hoped that the other androgyne could figure out the situation since Tylien obviously hadn't.
Suddenly a rolled up napkin struck the back of Rei'zel's head, falling down harlmessly to the floor afterwards. Elise, who had thrown the napkin in an attempt to get the ignean to back away from her friend, was sitting on the table near Hiro-Matsu and Horn Bar "Both" she said simply with a smile, and winked at Tylien, remembering the time when she has asked it if it was a girl or a guy.
Scratching the back of his head on reflex, Rei turned toward Elise as the young lynx replied before putting on a face of disgust and shaking his head, "So fruit bag here's a she-male!?" Turning once again to the Eolan/Planetarii (though Rei didn't know it's race), the Ignean growled out, "Speak up, yuh' fruit bag pervert! Yur' stuttering makes yuh' sound like a goat." Being the first time that Rei had ever seen an androgyne, he gazed at Tylien with hard and somewhat curious eyes before barking out, "So do yuh' sit or stand up or what?"
Seeing and hearing Elise defend it, Tylien almost managed to smile, but Rei'zel's shouting made it draw back even more and it just whimpered before it hit the wall. That made it startle and the next thing it did was to turn around and run to the stairs. However, when it was close to disappearing from the others' sight, it stopped, turned around again and plopped down to sit on a stair, looking frightenedly at the Ignean. Since Tylien was still mostly just confused at his behavior, it didn't have capacity to be insulted yet. "I'm an... androgyne", it said, slowly and quietly but clearly, pushing aside the question that hurt its privacy and then concentrated on the one thing it didn't understand. "What is... a she-male?"
"What is the point of this?" asked Hiro-Matsu of Rei'zel. "As I understood it we had agreed on momentary peace, and here you act like a common thug. Insults and threatening behaviour are no way to behave in this situation. You behave as if you want us as enemies. Much like a deck spy would behave." he goaded, attempting to either shut Rei'zel up or force his hand.
"Enough of this!" said Gaius, knowing Rei's temper he knew a fight could break out at any second if the ignean was confronted by another hot-tempered fellow. And knowing his bestial strength, he knew Rei was seldom in the receiving end in such fights. "Rei, do you reckon any deck member who specializes in deception, or has a knack for costumes, someone who would also be strong enough to take down a samurai. If what the xiadomian says is true, it would not be unlikely that the Makayi Darren we knew was an imposter from the deck."
Rei's talking about Tylien picked Saris attention. She hadn't cared much about the eolan, but now it was mentioned, it confused her as much as it did Rei. She would have said something, but she understood now wasn't the moment for that kind discussion... and Gaius spoke first. "Then we would all have been deceived. Perhaps they wanted to distract us from something else", she said, thinking.
Darius had been quiet throughout the fight, which was surprising for him, but with the mention of the Eolan's gender it caught his attention, and he tried to catch a whiff of the Eolan's pheremonal scent, and caught a questioning look on his face, not able to distinguish much.
Ke'an had been following the conversation carefully. "But what?" he asked, responding to Saris's comment. "We did get whispers of something larger, when we invaded Gunang's lair. Some papers referring to a "Box" of sorts, or something like that. Armies gathering... I don't really remember much else, we'll have to consult with Angkone, he has the papers."
Amadea ignored the catfolk as they attempted to decipher Tylien. "So what now? Do we hunt down our misinformer or get clarification from their's," he asked Gaius.
"Right now, whatever the Deck is really up to is more worrying to me than the imposter. It is clear that the Deck set us up as a distraction, to draw the city guard towards the palace..." replied Gaius. "But a distraction for what? What did they need to draw guards away from if not the nobles?"
"My family, and any other family not attending the ball," exclaimed Amadea as Gaius's speculation sunk in. "We need to find out who was not there!"
"I have not been with this group long enough to even guess at the deck's motive, however any road that leads me to avenge the slight on my, my lords, and my mentor's honour I will follow to it's end." stated Hiro-Matsu
Saris watched Amadea as he spoke. She didn't know much of the Deck, but she knew they were thieves. There must be something in the city they were interested to take. Saris thought for a while trying to remember what she knew about important and stealable things in Rysallis. (Knowledge)
Saris knew that after the razing of Deepwood by Thadre's armies, many ancestral treasures had been corrupted. However when one heard the words treasure and Rysallis, the City under the tree came to mind immediately. An ancient Nai'ithar city, just like Yath'al near and below Decima, built under Deepwood, and its entrance marked by the giant tree, since the beggining of the line of Orator, entry to both Yath'al and the City Under the Tree had been forbidden unless one had a special permit. Old world relics and beasts hid beneath, so the emperor had always designated elite imperial guards, even some of the Sentinels, to guard it.
"No..." replied simply Gaius, "If the deck wanted to off some nobles, the ball was the perfect opportunity, why use it as a distraction, besides, they had no way of knowing your family was missing the ball unless they had a man inside, and if they did have someone inside, why not use him to do the job..." shrugged the acolyte, they seemed to have reached a dead end.
"I believe Ke'An already put forth the most logical choice," said Hiro-Matsu. It seems this 'Angkone' may have some of the answeres we need. We can discuss all we wish, but if we don't have the information needed, words are useless."
"So shall we go after your Druid you say gave you all of this information, and see what he has to say when confronted? I'd be one to be willing to go forth after this druid and see what he has to say when he's tied to the ground by a series of vines," Darius said, giving a light chuckle to himself, and hoping to not anger Elise in the process, "Though it may be best to leave some of us back here to see if the deck has any plans they are still waiting to carry out here in Deepwood City."
"I'll not leave Deepwood to go chsing after some tree-hugging loon, Kontar!" Hron-bar growled. "If anywhere, the Deck would be stationed in the city!" He folded his arms across his chest, leaning back on a table.
Ke'an jumped up and grabbed Hron-bar's shirt. "How dare you insult Angkone! I'll have your pelt for that!"
Hron-bar growls, grabs the panther like he would a child, and sets him back down into his seat. Yawning contemptuously, Hron refolded his arms, leaning back on the table.
Ke'an sat stunned in the chair.
Darius turned to the two men, "Alright then, if you want to, both of you can stay here and watch over deepwood city, especially if you're going to be brutes towards each other." He stifled a small laugh, and spoke very much under his breath, "Eh, never liked those brutish catfolk anyway."
Saris turned to Darius. "You're a catfolk too" she said in a reproaching tone. "Maybe it's not a bad idea to go and talk to this druid you mentioned" the panther said looking at the stunned Ke'an, and after a pause she added, "though... has any of you heard about the City under the Tree? I don't believe the entrance was left unguarded because of the incident at the ball, but perhaps with less guards than the necessary, so the Deck could have a chance to take them down... if that's the case we should hurry", Saris said.
Darius looked stunned at the fact that Saris had even heard him, "I think you misunderstood what I meant, but I'm not one to try to start anything, so I'll just leave it alone. As for going to the city under the tree, it sounds like an idea."
None too happy at the idea of ignoring Faulfurn and Nethea, especially when they were so close, Virul nevertheless relented to the fact that his revenge will have to wait a little while longer. Having ignored most of the words of the people in the room, the thief did manage to listen to Saris's last statement and turned his head toward the panther, "What is this City under the Tree thou speak of, milady? And why would those Deck scoundrels go there?"
Saris looked at Virul and instantly remembered the wound he made to her as they fought earlier. After a second of doubt to his courteous approach, she decided to answer. "It's a Nai'ithar city... built under Deepwood" she started saying. "The entrance to the city is marked by a giant tree. It is said that old relics and beasts hide there... the entance has been forbidden since the Orator begun to rule, and it's always heavily guarded" she said, and looked around. Going to the City under the Tree would surely be exciting, she thought.
"If it's anything like the other Nai'ithar ruins through old Ravilla, there should be Sentinels guarding the entrance, and I doubt they would budge, even for an attack on the palace..." said Gaius gently stroking his chin once or twice. "Unless.... unless the Deck has become strong enough to take on the Sentinels..." the Acolyte said to himself, a chill running down his spine at the very idea of Sentinels being defeated by a special task force under Nervan command, as the Sentinels had always been Caessen's hidden ace. "But not the Sentinels backed up by the city guard...." he added as if during an epiphany. "Dammit! we've got to move!" concluded Gaius standing up quickly.
Feeling glad and sad simultaneously because it had finally been ignored, Tylien's interest was raised as it heard Nai'ithar being mentioned. It hadn't heard much of the discussion before, though it still wondered why they were so eager to go back to Angkone since he hadn't seemed like he knew anything more and had said that up straight. It still thought that what they needed to do was to take the document to some people that could actually take real action. However, glancing at Rei, it shivered and immediately lost its will to say anything. It couldn't help but wonder why the Ignean hadn't started grilling Phy'ramcis who didn't exactly cover up its body like Tylien did. Nevertheless, it had no courage to speak and just huddled on the stair, looking at Saris from under its hat and waiting for her to say more. It looked startled when Gaius bounced and tried to recall any information about the subject. (Knowledge)
Amadea stood up after Gaius, ready to move out.
Darius, who had already stood up while talking about the city under the tree, readied his gear that he had on him. Adjusting his bracers so the fit more securely, tightening his sheild down on his arm, and grabbing his mace. "Let's go before the deck gets into the city."
Saris was also ready to leave. She was just a bit concerned that if the sentinels were defeated, what chances did this group have against the Deck? She just waited for the group to start moving.
Rei, who was about ready to strike on Hiro-Matsu before Gaius's interruption halted him, let out a 'Hmph' from the Ignean. Not understanding if the acolyte was asking him a question or not, he decided to simply shrug it off and merely opted to glare quizzically at Tylien for the rest of the time until word was mentioned about leaving the safe house. "Ah'right, yuh' scum", he growled aloud to the others, "I'll meet yuh' ahead." Opening the door, Rei immediately went out.
Darius turned to Gaius, "I think I'll follow Rei, just to cover him, I'm sure you'll all catch up shortly enough," before he walked out the door, following Rei.
"They know nothing of the city! How do they think they'll get to the right place?" Saris said and hurried outside after Rei and Darius. She hoped the rest would follow.
"Where are we going, to this underground city, or to Angkone?" asked Hiro-Matsu
Back to Realms of Lemire
P1 P3
Saris Asdar------------
Darius Kontar---------Ke'an Aste
Gaius Varro------------Elise Marass
Amadea Tor-----------Tylien Taiveme'le
Hron-bar Akua--------Toda Hiro-Matsu
Rei'zel Armada--------Virul Bassior
Stumble!