The other  Riders   chuckled  as the man in question looked surprised.

  you must not  be from around here  then?  Us riders  spread ourselves  around! lots of Laughter  as the men seemed to  study  Alyna more,

 Dala  looked at  Luthien as the rider  spoke and gave him an eyeroll, and went back to eating.

"You've already seen enough of that.

Luthien from his table keeps an eye on Alyna, but as long as she's able to handle the leering of lustful men, he'll stand down.

He does keep his other sight open...if auras darken enough to make him suspect assault of some kind, then he'll have to get involved.

"No, I'm not from around here," she answered honestly. "Just a small town girl, doing some traveling, and looking to see some new things," and telling a straight faced lie in that second bit.

"It's got to be exciting soaring through the skies.  And it must take a lot of guts to climb up on the back of a wyvern.  How does such an aggressive creature come to accept you?  Is it because they're trained from birth?"   

  The Rider  smiled,ahh.. 'tis that Lass.  yer  beast flies  and doved, all types of  feeligns go through ya, but the best feeling is hwen you neet the    Eagle  Ridfers   from Hargen... ya see.. them Hargen folks , they don't  like Wyverns..and  they break the eggs  when they  can..so's  we  bring the  Eggs  and  we  raises then up. and then we  fly patrols.. sometimes   we have to fight  Dragons. but most time we  run from them. But the Eagles  will take them and the  riders down, when ever we  can.

 most times, the  beasties  learn..some times we get a  odd  one and we  takes it up   the  Mountain and let it go free, so it  can help  kill  eagle riders  on thier own..the  real bad one, we have Ta kill, so's they don't hurt our people.

"Dragons!  Aye, I'd want to escape those too!"   Then her expression darkened.

"Hargenites," she said the word like a curse, "Such a murderous, low life brood they are! I've heard there are some here in Yad.  Which scares me some.  I wish there was some way to spot them, or know where they're staying, so I could be sure to stay away from them."

Luthien cannot help but grin. She's got this entirely covered, and all without having to make a spectacle out honor and knighthood.

Admittedly he's also curious about the dragons. That's also up his alley, and he's even got an axe designed for the task.

   The   Riders just  laughed  a Bit.Hargenities seem to have  the feeling that  they own the whole of the realms`

 There are  fights, with HArgenites  and   those who live under the Empire's shadow. The Guards   wil be harder on the Hargenites, but  they must punish other too, soe hargen does  not  think we are ....unkind.

more laughter.

  They have   these , grans  Cows  and  wonderous  deer on that side of the Mountain, chances you will see..The Hargen 'betters' wearing    leather  armor and  such  crafted with those animal's leathers... working folks, might have  belts  or  boots..They are  also ...fascinated.. by the Ironwood  elves. They cannot understand  why the Black Timber elves
 are so selfish with  thier  wood, when it would  aid the Empire?..Me?  It's their wood, to give or hold.

Dala's feathers  were getting ruffled.

Luthien understands why Dala is starting to get that righteous wrath going. But he shakes his head.

Whispering: "Anyone with enough rope can hang themselves. Patience. Alyna is doing well. "

Alyna continued to placidly play her part, unflapped by the manner and responses of the men.

Had anyone known the company she'd been keeping these past few years, and her job with them, up until a fortnight ago, it would've been none surprising.

She made note of the comment regarding the elves.  Though it wasn't obvious, with her hair down over her ears, she was half-elf.

"Aye?  Not a good idea to hold your wood too long, you know. You'll go blind!" She laughed merrily.

"Do the Hargs have a favored den or watering hole, here in Yad?  Or are they just happy to drop their coin at any place that'll have'em?"   

  The riders  chuckled   about a favored  watering hole.nay Lass, not nored  favorite, but the  stick theoir  nose everywhere.  The town makes  good  coin from thier trade, so we must vbe careful how we handle them

 Dala  looked to  Luthien and  fumed, she know how she would handle a Hargenite.

Luthien is patient still...this guy is giving up plenty of information that can be used to repudiate these guys later. Both they and the town should know better than to accept dirty money.

Whispering: Dirty money. Let's see what else she unearths."

"Aye, trade is trade, that's true.  'Long as the coins in the coffer keep multiplying, what does it matter whose hand they came from.    What do the Hargs mostly buy, here?   Are there goods that Yad offers that the Hargs are scarce of, back home?" 

Unless this next answer prompts another question, I'll probably wrap this up afterward.

  One of the other Riders  broke in,... well?  we're out her  on the edge of the Empire.. we have trade coming down from hargen,'cause there  the  towns  out there that send things  down...and we have  those  folks   to the  north east, who belong to the Empire, and all those  lands  who don't belong to either place, so we deal..but the hargens  want us  bad. they  could shut a lot of trade off to alot  of the Empire here.

Luthien considers what the rider says. Is that pragmatism? Or cowardice?

Whispering, "He says that, but cutting off trade like that would provoke open war."

The only way to truly free people from Hargenite oppression...would require open war.

They had learned some interesting, perhaps useful, information.    But in terms of being able to locate the Hargs inside of Yag, it didn't seem the riders were going to be too much of a source for that.

She stayed with them a bit longer, laughing at this and that, making general conversation, just so it didn't seem she'd only come over to speak about the Harganites.   And then:

"Well, it's been fun!  I'll see you around later, I'm sure."   She returned to where Luthien and Dala sat.

"Not what I'd hoped for," she said quietly to the pair. "Though, at least, we might try to spot the Hargs' higher-ups by the distinctive leather goods the riders say they wear."   
This message was last edited by the player at 22:31, Fri 03 Mar 2023.

 Dala  frowns,well, do we go for another walk. or what do  we do?

"There's quality information in that leather. And you learned enough to learn where it's made and sold. Moreover, you learned those guys aren't behaving as they should. Their commanding officers will have their hides for that. Disappointing really."

Still...

"Let's try another walk. If we don't see anyone in town, we can head to where they make that leather, and cut that off at the source with the full team.

A new objective wouldn't pay the debt, but it did create a new target.

"Aye, let's do that, then.  We can keep our ears open as we go, and see if the local talk brings us any clues."   

With that, Luthien will escort his subteam back outside. Crucial information is excellent, but he hadn't expected to be here gathering information.

He was sent to find actual Hargenites. It would be nice to do so.

As they stood  in thr street, The group saw IVy and his group, with  5 Hargenite sailors  following them as Ivy and one of them, seemed to be having   a healthy excahnge

"Well there's some Hargs for you," she said softly.  "Do we join our dear lieutenant, or hang here and see what happens?"   
This message was last edited by the player at 18:20, Thu 09 Mar 2023.

"Let's rejoin them. We have information on what to hit next. That's good enough for now."

He will rejoin the main unit with the Hargenites. Being in disguise as they are...his interest may not be immediately noticed.

Alyna nodded, likewise anonymous, with her Arrows insignia stashed in a belt pouch. She followed Luthien, her manner casual, while paying attentions to the Hargs, ready to act if things turned ugly.

Luthien also headed towards the probable trouble

--->West

--->>>  West