Saus

[Drannin]

(OOC: High speed on an old computer is annoying, but functional. Righto...)

Argus frowned again. "I never thought of it like that. At first I wondered if they might be Kitaura's, but that doesn't seem likely after all, now that you mention it. Of course, they could just be a couple of rude youngsters..." Argus trailed off, and Brother Miguel raised an eyebrow. Argus chuckled. "Heh. No. Not a chance. But if they are following me... I'm not really sure who for."

He leaned back and pondered for a bit. "Short of outright intimidation, I'm not really sure how to get information out of those two, and sweet-talking was never exactly my strong point." Although Cirella might have disagreed... focus, dammit! "The question is, do we really want to put a scare into two teenagers? It could be just a misunderstanding. And if we get aggressive, it could draw some unwanted attention." Still, Miguel had piqued his interest, and Argus wanted some answers...

[Graybeard]

Before Brother Miguel could answer, Sister Hortense poked her head into the room and announced, "Gentlemen, there's a Mr. Grumiel here to see you." The Farrelite strode into the room moments later. He's quite a bit taller and younger in person than he looked on that surveillance video, Miguel thought.

"My nephew and niece said you were waiting for me," Grumiel said as he made himself comfortable. "I hope I didn't keep you waiting too long. What can I do for you?"

[Drannin]

Argus extended a hand to the man. "Thank you very much for coming, Mr. Grumiel. I'm truly sorry to keep pestering you like this, but we've recently uncovered some new information regarding our vanishing priest, and were wondering if you'd remembered anything else of import." Argus shrugged. "Since I was in the area, I figured it couldn't hurt to ask."

Wait... were my watchers his nephew and niece? Something to ask about later on.

[Graybeard]

"I don't think I know any more than you do," Grumiel said. "As I said earlier, our conversation in the gate was not particularly revealing, although it certainly had its odd moments. The man was certainly spooked about something, I'm sure of that. I wish I knew what he meant about not going to Hell; that was really the only remotely unusual thing that I remember him saying. Why would a priest in the Veracian Church say something like that?"

"Why, indeed," said Brother Miguel, who'd been looking increasingly uncomfortable as Grumiel spoke. "That's been bothering me ever since he said it. Permit me a brief foray into Veracian theology here..."

The two other men exchanged a look and a subtle nod, which Miguel took as an okay to proceed. "Our church holds, in all of its several branches, that after death, the righteous are gathered into Luminosita's Presence for all of eternity. I won't bore you with the doctrinal differences as to exactly what that implies; suffice it to say that some branches view that Presence as a physical phenomenon rooted in the same material world that we inhabit during life, while the Mystical branch, among others, contend that the Presence is in some alternate reality that we can't fully conceive of. There are also doctrinal differences as to just how righteous one has to be during life to qualify for this eternal reward. In the past, there were actually civil wars fought over that question; fortunately, we've come a long way since then, and now the different branches basically agree to disagree."

"I think I've heard all that before," Grumiel interrupted. "It's interesting stuff, even for an agnostic like me, but what does it have to do with Father Egbert?"

"Well, I was just getting to the important part," Miguel said. "So there's basically some consensus on what happens to the righteous. As regards the damned, however, there are king-size differences among the branches. They've actually never been quite as divisive in the church as the disagreements about Luminosita's Presence, because whatever happens to the damned, it's pretty well guaranteed to be bad, and we're all agreed that we're here to try to save people from it, so why worry about the details?"

"Seems reasonable enough," Grumiel opined. "But I still don't get the connection to Father Egbert."

"The connection is this: The Millenarian tradition, which is practiced in the temple that sent us Father Egbert, doesn't believe in Hell. In that tradition, the eternal separation from Luminosita's Presence is considered to be a devastating thing all by itself, so there's no need for a Hell to punish the damned in. They don't even recognize the teachings of the prophets that other traditions, like my own -- I'm Reformed -- view as the last word on what Hell is like. The concept simply isn't valid for them." He paused for a minute to let the implications of that sink in.

"So just what did cause Father Egbert to answer you that way? If we can figure that out, I'd bet five tsuis that we can find him." He was finally done, but he didn't look a bit more comfortable than he had earlier in the conversation.

[Drannin]

Argus stared as the implications settled in. "Wait. Things aren't adding up. So, first, other Egbert mentions a Hell that, by all rights, he shouldn't even believe in-" he stopped flat in midsentence. "No. First... back in Kiyoka, when we were discussing Lucas Ravanel, he mentioned that the Ravanel name had negative implications for people of his faith. And yet no one else at the mission had the slightest clue what he was talking about." This fact hit the table like a thunderbolt. The three men were silent for a moment, just staring at each other.

"I want to know something: just what are Father Egbert's beliefs? Brother Miguel..." here Argus turned to the aforementioned man, "Do you know where Father Egbert... well... came from in the first place?"

[Graybeard]

The longer the conversation lasted, the more uncomfortable Brother Miguel looked, and when Argus asked him about Father Egbert's origins, he looked like he'd swallowed a watermelon whole. After a moment of pained contemplation, he answered, "I don't know, and it's a very good question that I think we'd better set about answering. As I said, he came to our mission by way of the Millenarians, who are, if not exactly a 'mainstream' denomination within the Veracian Church, at least orthodox enough that nobody except the real fringe groups distrust them. This sister of his that Sister Margaret mentioned in her letter seems to live not too far from here, if the picture with the north side of the Sleeping Sexton is to be trusted." He watched Grumiel's reaction to the name of the rock formation out of the corner of his eye; when none was forthcoming, he continued, "Most likely, that means he's from around here somewhere. I'll try to get a message back to the mission to get more background. Thank you for your help, Mr. Grumiel; Dr. Cleiviein, if you'll accompany me, I'll take you to this church's library and we can get into the belief question."

He rose to go, but Grumiel wouldn't be put off so easily. He held a hand up, motioning Miguel to wait, and said, "Glad to help, but if I might ask your indulgence, my colleagues in Rinkael and I have an interest in a successful resolution of this mystery too. There's a great deal of concern about what we might be getting into if we put a warp gate in our own city. I'm no longer able to travel on the spur of the moment owing to the weight of my position in the city, but would it be possible for my niece and nephew to join in your investigations? Their names are Leo and Leilani, they're twins, and I can vouch for their good character. They also have some tracking skills from a childhood spent in the countryside. I think you'd find them very helpful."

Argus was about to say something, but Miguel cut him off. "I'm not sure whether we can do that, Mr. Grumiel. I'm under instructions from the church to keep this investigation closely held. But I'll check. You're staying at the guest suites at the main temple, right? I'll send word as soon as I get permission from my superiors. Your endorsement of the twins' character may be enough to carry the day here."

Grumiel didn't seem satisfied with that answer, but he sensed that it was the best he was going to get. Contact information was exchanged and the men shook hands as Sister Hortense came to escort Grumiel out.

-------------

Once ensconced in the library, Miguel said, "Excuse me for a second," and muttered a quick spell. The air seemed to get mildly greasy, in a way that Argus remembered from the smiting ceremony; it looked like Miguel had cast the same kind of damping effects that were used there. He still motioned Argus to sit close to him and spoke sotto voce even though the library was empty.

"Argus, I'm getting really spooked about this. I don't know about you, but I'm practically certain that that man was not the Gordon Grumiel we saw on that security camera. If you'll excuse my language, just what the hell is going on here? And my denomination does believe in Hell, make no mistake about that..."

[Drannin]

"So you saw it, too..." Argus muttered. "I thought it was just my imagination, but he's too young, and the build is off just so..." The old mage pondered for a bit. "You're spooked? I'm fascinated. This is arguably one of the most compelling cases I've ever come across. Father Egbert was keeping secrets, and they were important enough to warrant his disappearance, and apparently getting spied on by an imposter. I'm eager to perform some more interviews and find out just what other information was being kept quiet."

Argus shuddered. "It could be worse, anyway. If this was an investigation into the Mesuinu family, the two of us probably would have run away screaming by now." He shuddered again, more violently this time. "Even my wife kept at least 100 meters between herself and Saiko Mesuinu at all times. Terrifying..."

Miguel raised an eyebrow but said nothing. Argus looked at the man and realized that 'terrified' was indeed starting to sum up Brother Miguel's feelings on the matter. "Look at it this way," Argus said helpfully. "This is probably information that could be of benefit to the people of Veracia as a whole, if we have indeed stumbled across something important. And I really don't think we have much to worry about. If we are, in fact being spied on, it means that someone doesn't want to kill us!"

Brother Miguel's reaction said that, once again, Argus had blown the the 'cheering up game' royally. She was always a lot better at talking to people.

[Graybeard]

"That's remarkably comforting," Brother Miguel said dryly. "I guess you're right that all of this suggests that if there's some evil conspiracy out there somewhere, at least they're not so evil that they'd rather kill us than watch us. I wouldn't take that for granted, though. If that wasn't the real Gordon Grumiel that we were talking to just now, then where is he? I don't think we're going to like the answer."

Novices from the temple were beginning to appear in the library, and one looked in Miguel's and Argus' direction with a puzzled expression on his face. "Company," Miguel said. "I better take the damping off. Let's continue this conversation in the garden."

----------

A few minutes later, Miguel and Argus found themselves standing in the highest accessible level of the temple's bell tower. "What's this about?" Argus asked. "There's some garden annex up here or something?"

Miguel sighed. "You disappoint me. That was misdirection, pure and simple. I don't think any of those novices were spying on us, but just in case, let's send them to somewhere where we're not. We're much less likely to be overheard, let alone, shall we say, interrupted, up here, and since we have a view of the garden, we can see whether someone was going to be watching us there."

Miguel extracted a writing tablet from his robes. "I think it's time to start planning what we do next. Let's make a list... In addition to the sisters in Emerylon and Father Egbert's sister on the way, we now have a couple of other things to do. I'd really like to pay a courtesy call to the Millenarian temple and see what they've got on Father Egbert's background. That'll take some time, and some tact, to set up; as far as I know, they don't know he's disappeared, and their reaction if we break the news might be unpredictable. The good news is that their denomination maintains the genealogical library for the entire Veracian Church. Once we do get in there, his past should be an open book to us. I'll ask Father Reynard to make arrangements."

There was movement in the garden, as two or three novices went wandering through the hedges, but they looked normal enough and were out of earshot anyway, so Miguel continued, "I also told a minor fib to our false Gordon Grumiel. Don't report me to Sister Margaret ... Judging from that picture, Father Egbert's sister and family live on the south side of the Sleeping Sexton. I thought it might not be a bad idea to send them barking up the wrong tree to start with, to give us a bit of a head start." (Argus' expression suggested that he agreed.) "The other thing is that on the north side of the Sleeping Sexton, where I directed that guy, there's a ... military base of sorts. I know their commander; we might talk to him tomorrow and see whether three Farrelites, two of them alleged to be 'twins,' have been poking around there.

"So starting tomorrow, I think we have a lot on our plates. However, there's still the rest of this afternoon for us to spend usefully. Any ideas?"

[Drannin]

Argus crossed his arms and thought. "There is one thing I'd like to do. Lately, it seems that people have been sneaking up on me an awful lot lately. That's troubling. If it's not..." Argus fell silent as a Nun passed by across the way, then resumed, "...not battlemages sneaking into my room or psychopaths with stealth magic, it's young children shadowing me. I'm not as alert as I should be, and that's a problem. I'm going to spend this afternoon creating a couple of wards; more like small runes that I can wear under my clothes. They'll resonate if someone starts paying an inordinate amount of attention to me, a small vibration under my clothing that only I can pick up."

Brother Miguel looked impressed. "Not a bad idea. Why didn't you make some of these earlier?"

Argus looked uncomfortable. "Well... as with all such things, they take time and energy to produce, not to mention rare materials, of which I don't have much available. The best I can do is put together a few 'early alert' runes, which are a little tiring to produce. They need to be recharged every 24 hours or so, and will disintegrate in two weeks in any case. Plus, I'll need to get rid of them before we hit Emerylon in any case, just to be safe." Argus shrugged helplessly. "And then there's the fact that in these circumstances, they won't be 100% reliable. Still, any port in a storm. I'm working with very limited means here."

(The 'not 100% reliable' enables the GM some room to maneuver, should it be important to the story. Also, I'm getting mixed up to where everything is. The sisters are in Emerylon, the military base and Egbert's sister are on the way... what about the Millenarian temple? Thanks.)

[LordofNightmares]

The scene was picturesque as the setting sun gave the city of Saus a warm red and orange color. As the airship landed at the port with two tired passengers. "Now we need to get to an Inn we can stay at and plan the job." I said looking at Kureji "and some where to get the tools for all the work that needs to be done."
Grabbing my luggage, and walking to the boarding ladder. I paused and asked "First things first we need to get past customs."
"But First thing I have to do is set my eyes and ears in the sky," with a snap of my fingers Huggun and Muggun flew up in to the skyline of Saus and took the form of of doves.