Goriel and beyond, part 4

[Drusia]

"Of course," she answered.

Oh good.

"We have a stake in this, after all. But at the same time, we're here on a mission of our own, and we have to do that too."

Less good.

"Remember that guy we had to deal with back in your -- home town?" she said. "We're chasing another man that -- seems able to do the same things, only worse. And there seem to be more like him out there. If they all get together -- well, it could be a lot worse than Eli and his people, let's just say that. So we're supposed to keep that from happening, and I have to do that."

I blink. "A coven of death mages?" I ask. Rose hesitates, then nods. I purse my lips.

"Did it occur to you that these incidents may be related?" I ask her. "It seems... unlikely that more than one collection of insane mages is operating in this area. Which means... Eli may have those powers when we encounter him next. That is very good to know in advance."

I suppose it is also possible that it is a coincidence. But, really... how likely is that?

-- Drusia

[Graybeard]

"Did it occur to you that these incidents may be related? It seems... unlikely that more than one collection of insane mages is operating in this area. Which means... Eli may have those powers when we encounter him next. That is very good to know in advance."

Sister Rose had been giving a goodly amount of thought to this possibility; very anxious thought. She had a response ready, and shook her head.

"I don't think they're connected. For one thing, the modus operandi is totally different. On the one hand you have a gross amplification of relatively normal magic; on the other, a capability that no mortal humanoid should have, with no other notable magic skills to go along with it. Think about it: if Wilbur Hamael had had any normal magic skills at all, he'd never have got stuck in the place where he died. Blaise doesn't have any magical skills other than what a senior priest of our church should have, apart from this little matter of people dying when he told them to." (In this she was wrong, although she had no way to know it.) "Very different than what Eli and his mysterious colleague have. For another thing, Blaise came here of his own volition. Eli didn't. He came here because we -- I -- dragged him here. And we don't think that Blaise stayed in town, while Eli seems happy to. Third, on the way to Getsemiel, I had our whole group practice some defensive magic, in case we ran into Blaise and needed to defend against what he does. Eli took to that just as a skilled mage from -- home should, but with absolutely zero pre-knowledge of what he was defending against, unless he was a damn good actor.

"Finally, and this is important: Blaise is on the run from something. We don't know who, or what, or how the something connects with the death mages. But I've seen it before. I told you a little about Father Egbert, the man we'd been looking for just before you and we met, right?" [OOC: I presume that this would have come up, at least in summary, when Dru was traveling with the group. /OOC:] "Same situation with Blaise, and I'd bet my Luminositan robe that Egbert and Blaise are connected. But it's very different with Eli."

She shook her head again. "No, improbable as it seems, I think we're dealing with two different crazy groups here." A faint smile. "I'm not sure whether that's a good thing or not, under the circumstances."

[Drusia]

She shook her head again. "No, improbable as it seems, I think we're dealing with two different crazy groups here." A faint smile. "I'm not sure whether that's a good thing or not, under the circumstances."

I frown some more.

"There are some points you've overlooked," I reply. "The magic amplification amulet might have simply been a lure - something seemingly innocent that would start Eli down the path. He may only now be learning about Death magic - in which case his lack of foreknowledge would make sense. You also assume that Blaize is running away rather than towards. If Blaize is attempting to rejoin the group, then coming here makes sense. Eli, meanwhile, was in communication with members of some organization. He may well have been spying on you - hence being in no hurry to leave. Only when his cover was blown did he depart to join the others."

I pause, thinking. "Yet another possibility is that the groups are rivals of some sort - not affiliated, but connected all the same. Perhaps Blaize was running from Eli's group - which, again, would explain Eli's willingness to remain with you."

I consider her argument some more. "As for different styles, while that does suggest that we may be dealing with two groups, it doesn't necessarily prove it. Organizations often have sub-groups. As I don't understand the details of how Death magic works, I can't guess at the mechanics, but it is likely that some in the group might be skilled with death magic alone, while others used other more advanced magic. Eli had a number of summoned creatures aiding him - I could see an organization where summoners formed a vanguard while death-mages acted as artillery - much as certain military groups will leave cavalry to guard cannons, or assign a healer to their scout unit." I give Rose a pointed look at that last one.

"Still," I say thoughtfully, "Two rival groups does explain things rather well - both the different styles, what Blaize was running from, and why Eli was content to remain with you and search for him."

I shake my head. "It's something to keep in mind at least."

-- Drusia

[Graybeard]

Sister Rose nodded. "Fact is, we just don't know what's going on here. I don't think the groups are related, but we won't know until we make contact with them. That does tell me, though, that we should try to take Eli alive if at all possible, to try to interrogate him." Not to mention that I really don't want to kill a traveling companion. I'm not an elf ... And speaking of which: She produced a curious, hollow laugh. "On the other hand, it may interest you to know that the orders I have from my higher-ups regarding Blaise are of a 'dead or alive' nature. They consider him so dangerous that if he can't be taken alive, well ... so it goes. I never thought I'd see the day when the Church treats one of its own senior people that way." Another hollow laugh. "From which it may be deduced that the Church doesn't consider him one of its own any more."

The Yurkashev compound was showing signs of waking up. Rose hadn't put up the Damping spell -- it hadn't seemed necessary, with nobody else awake except the impressively faithful Kirassia. However, with noises of compound life beginning to filter into the anteroom, things couldn't go on like this for much longer. "I'd better go wake my, ah, husband up," she sighed. "So what next?"

[Drusia]

"I'd better go wake my, ah, husband up," she sighed. "So what next?"

"I'll go with you," I offer.

"Anyway," I continue, "Next... I am unsure why you think Desiree will be at risk. Getera are usually cousins. I was planning on heading over there to introduce Desiree to her father. Unless, of course, Desiree tells me they've slept together - in that case, I won't introduce them. Getera are always given a contraception spell at the start of each evening, so the closeness of a getera's relation to those she serves isn't typically an issue here, but typically parent and child are not paired."

I didn't mean to cause confusion last night. I rather hope that Arman is proud of his daughter's skill and accomplishments. I just hope he hasn't sampled them personally.

-- Drusia

[Graybeard]

"I'm not worried about Desiree being at risk," Sister Rose replied. "I'm worried about you. Clan Duravsky is the most powerful clan in Goriel today, and they like throwing their weight around, in the name of security. We saw them mistreating one of our information sources." There would be a time to discuss Therese with Drusia, but this wasn't the time. "You'll want to approach them carefully. Just the fact that you were well received there thirty years ago doesn't mean it'll still be so."

She turned toward the bedchamber, where baritone snores had given way to a Hygiene spell, then silence. "Argus?" she called through the door. "Are you decent? Drusia is here."

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

Therese was still puzzling over the quirks of "clan Cleiviein" as she left the safe house.

She'd taken the unusual precaution of going over the property's perimeter carefully before leaving, to see just what the curiously commanding nun and her young but earnest underling had been up to when they were "checking the grounds." Something hadn't felt right about that. Not finding anything out of order, she drew the correct conclusion: a private conversation had had to happen. But about what? Something connected with the magic in the toilet? Possibly. She made a mental note to bring it up, carefully and indirectly, with the Cleivieins at some point, when the man she believed had left the magic there was not around. There'd be some risk in doing so, but risks had already been taken with this outfit, and there would have to be others.

Disguise in place, she headed for the compound of a minor clan that was suspected of harboring a kept woman who desperately wanted to escape. This would be a very superficial, external reconnaissance; more couldn't be done this early in the morning. However, it would at least move her into town, and closer to the people she expected to spend most of the day with ... and buy her some time for some more thinking about just how to address them. [OOC: Entirely fine if that "minor clan" is one that others are dealing with in some unrelated capacity; also fine if they're not. For the moment, however, Therese will be avoiding both Clan Duravsky and Clan Yurkashev, until it's time to make contact with the adventurers.]

[Drusia]

"I'm not worried about Desiree being at risk," Sister Rose replied. "I'm worried about you. Clan Duravsky is the most powerful clan in Goriel today, and they like throwing their weight around, in the name of security. We saw them mistreating one of our information sources." There would be a time to discuss Therese with Drusia, but this wasn't the time. "You'll want to approach them carefully. Just the fact that you were well received there thirty years ago doesn't mean it'll still be so."

"It's sweet of you to worry about me," I say. "Also a bit patronizing, but in a cute sort of way."

She turned toward the bedchamber, where baritone snores had given way to a Hygiene spell, then silence. "Argus?" she called through the door. "Are you decent? Drusia is here."

While we await a reply, I continue. "Anyway, I think he got it out of his system back in the day. I mean, I can't imagine he'd want to cut my face up again. He couldn't even get it right the first time."

-- Drusia

[Graybeard]

[OOC: Paging Argus, Lillith and Tim! Rose can't really do much more until one or more of them are awake and ambulatory, and Therese also kinda needs something to play off of, not necessarily those two, but something involving the clans, at least. To keep things moving:]

"Where?" two voices chorused as one.

"Can't tell yet," the first voice said. "The signal is very weak. I could only register it at all because they got back together. They're somewhere up north, that is the best I can do."

"Hmmm -- a problem," one of the other voices said. "We have limited assets there." One of the three speakers knew that wasn't altogether the case, but chose to remain silent; that was information not for sharing with the other two -- of course.

"There are ways," the first speaker said. "I will work on refining the location ... and then, we can have vengeance."

[Drannin]

Argus grumbled sleepily. "Coming, coming..." A few moments later, he was up and blinking awake tiredly. "Hello, Drusia. So, what disaster are we dealing with this morning?"

[Graybeard]

Having established that the minor clan was about to wake up, next Therese headed for the marketplace, to begin the process of breaking into that clan.

Her plan to start infiltrating Clan Chepilesky, to make the contact for the rescue that it was believed needed to happen there, had developed an unexpected snag, she realized. The craftsman whose work she was planning to use to bribe the Chepilesky sentry was the one she'd bought the pewter item from, that she'd shaped, using her own magical resources, into the bait for Clan Duravsky. (She shuddered again at how poorly that had gone, but it was water under the bridge now, thanks be to the Five Great Mothers for that.) From the looks of things, he'd decamped, to be replaced by that weird, talking beaver with the ... uninhibited product line.

Well, might that be the solution to her problem? It made sense. The sentries didn't have particularly sophisticated tastes, to put it mildly. One of the things at that stall might be just the thing to make the approach with. (Besides, as far as she could tell, the beaver worked cheap.)

It was early enough that there wasn't a crowd yet at Harker's stall in the market, just the odd passerby glancing at his handiwork with a smirk. That, Therese could duplicate easily enough. Unlike the others, however, she lingered. As soon as she had the place to herself, she approached Harker.

"Good morning," she said. "Thanks for the help yesterday. I owe you one. How much for this -- little work of art?" She hefted a small wood carving with an -- interesting twist on a standard Gorielian theme involving a wood nymph and a satyr, unaware of how much the nymph resembled Drusia. (Yet.) [OOC: As far as I know, Harker isn't aware yet that Drusia is in town; this is just his imagination at work. However, the possibilities it offers just seem too juicy to pass up! ]