Nautkia, and the South

[Drannin]

(OOC: Sure thing. I'll start writing here; if you want to move it to PM, give me a heads-up)

"I don't like it here, and I think we need to leave as soon as possible," was Argus' flat response. "This place has given me the creeps since that first priest opened his mouth, and it's just gotten worse. Now, I might just be sensitive from what the last place we visited was like," here Argus shrugged helplessly, "But... Miguel, something is just plain wrong here, and I can't ignore it." Argus stopped and stared off into the distance. "The whole building is practically crackling with magical energy. And there was definitely someone besides me eavesdropping on you earlier."

Argus trailed off. How did one explain that this whole locale reminded him of some of the most unpleasant places in Tsuirakushiti that he had ever been to? It was like the same animal with an entirely different skin...

[Graybeard]

Brother Miguel grimaced. "I don't think we can just up and leave," he said. "For better or worse, these people are of our denomination -- Rose's and mine, that is, not yours. It would look very bad to snub them. Besides, it sounds like at least Kelso has information on Father Egbert, and that's what we're here for, after all."

An idea struck him. "It's probably too late for it now, but if we came back this way after dinner, would you have any spellcraft that might check for underground connections between this farm house and the temple, or anywhere else for that matter? I don't see anything wrong with the place, but I'm with you, it still makes me nervous."

[Sareth]

As Sister Rose was looking thoughtfully towards the hedge, Lillith stirred a bit, nervously. The entire place felt wrong. Really wrong.

"Rose," she said, choosing to forget the honorific titles deliberately. "I may not agree with your faith, but this is wrong. This isn't what you believe in and what I have seen means so much to you. I know I'm apostate to your religion but if there is anything I can"

*SNAP*

The sound of a twig breaking nearby brought her to a halt. She didn't turn her head, but watched out of the corner of her eye as a particularly large and expensive looking flowering bush shivered.

"We're being watched."

[Graybeard]

"I see it too," Sister Rose said sotto voce. "Nothing I wasn't expecting, but it confirms my suspicions. Let's carry on as if nothing had happened." They continued toward the abbot's residence.

However, they didn't make it all the way to the lavishly decorated structure -- they'd have found it incongruous on arrival, but now it just fit in with everything else they'd seen -- before a distraction winged its way in from the north and headed for the stables. "Parrot," Rose said, noting that Miguel and Argus hadn't seen it. "Bad timing. I think I have to go take care of it. Want to come with me, or would you rather get started enjoying Father Nestor's fine food, wine, and hospitality?" The verbal part of the question was delivered blandly, but the look in Rose's eyes as they met Lillith's left no doubt about her expectation of what the half elf's opinion of that "hospitality" was likely to be...

[Drannin]

"Easily done," Argus said to Miguel. He got down and one knee and removed his boot, as if to extricate a pebble. As he did so, Argus extended his senses downwards, into the ground... and went rigid with shock.

"Miguel..." Argus said breathlessly. "It... it's all tunnels down there. There's some form of subterranean complex... how..." the old mage shook his head, suddenly glad that he was low to the ground.

[Graybeard]

"Well, that settles it," Brother Miguel told Argus grimly. "There's no way in hell that I'm meeting Kelso at that place tomorrow, Egbert or no Egbert. This whole setup stinks like a dead fish. If he's not associated with whatever made your underground maze, I should be able to talk him into meeting somewhere else. And if he is..." He let his voice trail off as they returned to walking up the lane.

Apparently Sister Rose and Lillith must have gone into the residence while Argus was preoccupied with the spell and Miguel was watching him; at least they were nowhere in sight. As they watched, Sasha went inside, looking uncomfortable. She was followed in by a small, bespectacled man in what looked like formal attire; nobody that they'd seen before. That appeared to be all. "Let's go eat," Miguel said, really wishing that they'd had a good excuse to turn down a dinner invitation that was looking scarier by the minute.

[Sareth]

"I think I'd much rather hear what the parrot has to say than that pompous, over bre..." Lillith cut herself off. She was already treading on thin ground knowing she was being watched, that she was a half-elf, and that she was apostate. Being rude as well? She needed to be careful. "I'll make sure the horses are being well cared for while you talk with the parrot."

[Graybeard]

"This is very unusual," Sister Rose said as she and Lillith approached the stable. "The carrier parrots aren't really cutting-edge technology any more, but they still don't like to waste them. If I count correctly, this is the third bird today, which is the first time we've seen that many. Wonder what's so important?" Rose checked to make sure there were no obvious onlookers, the formalities were performed (the message being only at the Confidential level, which increased Rose's puzzlement about its urgency), and the bird began to recite.

(UNCLASSIFIED) There has been a possibly important development pertaining to your primary mission that you should know about.

(CONFIDENTIAL) A chance encounter with law-enforcement personnel in Emerylon has revealed that, contrary to our previous belief, Egbert Kankaniel has a second sister in addition to Mildred Hamael, whom you met. This sister, Lucille "Lucy," is several years younger than Egbert, and was apparently overlooked in the screening that occurred when he joined the military. (Privately, this discovery is causing a not-so-minor crapstorm among the people who do those screenings, but that's not your problem.)

(CONFIDENTIAL) What makes this interesting is that Lucy Kankaniel is well known to law enforcement as a, quote, "person of interest" regarding smuggling operations in southern Veracia. Details are lacking; she has not actually been charged with any crime, and there appears to be something of an omerta code among the criminal or even just "shady" elements in the area that interferes with our attempts to gain information. I am told that there is currently an operation to infiltrate these elements with an informant to try to build a legal case against Lucy Kankaniel and other smugglers, but the cop-spooks aren't sharing information with us military-spooks at this time, and I don't know who the informant is. Efforts to obtain some cooperation have commenced, and if they turn up anything, we'll let you know.

(CONFIDENTIAL) The relevance of this information to your search is unclear, but blood is thicker than water. Suggest you keep an eye out for this Lucy Kankaniel, and if you hear anything about her, please report it back to us at the Confidential level. A more highly classified parrot will follow tomorrow morning with information on some other topics of mutual interest, but none are urgent.

Bernie

Rose and Lillith looked at each other, and Lillith started to say something, but Rose motioned her to silence. "Let's go eat." With the parrot secured, they headed for the abbot's house.

[Viking-Sensei]

Sasha still could feel all the hair standing up on the back of her neck, even now that she was well away from the church. Though she'd been asleep most of the ride here, she'd picked up a vibe from the others that there was something very - very - very wrong about this entire setup. But, in the midst of this many unknown elements, how to communicate what she found?

"Hey Argus?" Sasha said, smirking slightly. "Remind me to tell your cousing Harker that I remembered the name of the episode of Magical Starship Sledgehammer that he was trying to remember earlier. It was 'The Trouble with Tefrans'."

Magical Starship Sledgehammer was an old crystal-net show that had been a bit before Sasha's time, but while it had never been translated or exported to other countries (like Veracia), it was pervasive enough in the Tsuirakan culture that just about from there everyone knew of it. The episode in question, of course, was one about a conspiracy where intergalactic weapons dealers were using 'innocent' cute creatures with highly emotive telepathy to screw with the emotions of peaceful planets and incite them into rebellion, thus facilitating their ongoing weapons trade. It was an obscure reference, she knew, but Argus reminded her of several devout Sledgies that she knew and she was hoping he'd - at least partially - get the message.

[Drannin]

Argus' eyes widened slightly, but he quickly suppressed it. A devoted Sledgie (at least until the latter seasons had gotten idiot writers), Argus got the reference at once. Hell, he'd gotten his kids stuffed Tefrans when they were little...

"Good episode," he commented quietly. "We should tell the others about that one. Later. Privately."

Glancing around him, Argus extended his senses and was bowled over by the sheer power of the magical field. The whole building was choked with magic; it was as bad as a Tsuirakuan state building. Sasha glanced at him and looked pointedly at a set of jewels set into the wall. Argus grimaced slightly. It was also roughly as paranoid.