With the so-called guard out of the way, Etzagith took a look at this boarded up door.  There's probably a latch here, or I'll just pull off a board or two.  As silently as possible, he slips inside.

To her credit, she did not furrow her brow.  It was always rather furrowed, but she didn't deepen the expression.

"Then you are not who I was hoping for, and we have already given you much knowledge for free."

She shrugged.

"Knowledge gained is knowledge earned, well done.  The Great Houses all trade in influence and favors, Yisil is no different.  I would hear that which you seek to achieve, and how an Oathsworn might be of assistance."
This message was last edited by the player at 02:00, Fri 22 May 2020.

"A simple task.  but an action of respect, nonetheless."  Ruis said.   "The facility houses the First Sieversi, bound in days for transport aboard the Cormorant.  Attend the Sails, secure the First Siversri and deliver it to the master of the Cormorant.  In exchange, a boon of commensurate stature will be acknowledged and abided."

"There is no presence in Druvir. Only the First Siversrsi, the legacy.  Swear an Oath to keep it safe until aboard the Cormorant and respect will be returned in equal measure."

The man leaned back, a small gurgle leaking from his mouth, which hung open, slackening.   "This vessel fades.  Act or do not;  It will be so.  The legacy remains."

"Well, that sounds fun!"  Brollox said, his stinking breath all too near Manaolama's shoulder.   "What the hell is a Seversi?"

And as the man slumped back, his head dipping down, the cowled woman returned.  She stopped in the doorway of the tavern, her brows furrowed together momentarily over the two wooden cups.   She scowled, making her face unpleasant with sourness.

And across the street, the fight that had begun in the doorway of the Blue Sails had almost as quickly quelled to quiet.   One of the dice-playing guards appeared to have been injured, and a small group--including the blue-coat who'd pounced on the event--seemed to be tending to the guard's wound.

'Ola does not flinch at Brollox's proximity, nor does he move yet. If Brollox thinks about getting much closer to Cara, though, things will change.

"Do you know this overinquisitive man?"

Cara inquired with a tilt of her head to Manaolana, wiping her hands as clearing them of the business she had just conducted.

"Nobody of concern." Brollox said with a smile and a slight flourish.  "It ain't everyday you see a body-leap in play!  And in publicno less!  Those who weren't curious?  They'd be fools."

Manaolana breaks his stony stance and nods, shifting a step away from Brollox. "Indeed, we are acquainted. Brollox, this is my compatriot Cara. Cara, Brollox. Brollox, while I am certain this is fascinating, we would appreciate a moment of privacy in this conversation." His tone is calm but his eyes are steely, as are the sinews throughout his tense frame. Brollox might remember the discomfort of having the fists attached to those steel-coil muscles smash into him.

Brollox offers a low whistle, then gives a deep nod, the grin never leaving his face.   "My deepest apologies.  I'll take my leave, then."

And he moved off the patio and walked away, towards the Blue Sails Warehousde, where Migram was talking with one of the youths nearby.

It looked like the warehouse keeper had paid the boy a coin or two, then the boy went running off, carrying a wooden bucket.
This message was last updated by the player at 08:08, Sun 24 May 2020.

"This session ends." Ruis said faintly. "One hopes the legacy will remain."

And the body Ruis inhabited slumped back, slack-jawed and blank-eyed.

The cowled woman also came forward.  She stopped a respectful distance away, eyed Manaolama with some trepidation, then  offered. "If I may.  He sometimes needs sttimulation to come back.  Specifically after so long a visit.   May I?   He's too heavy for me to douse him elsewhere."  she lifted on of the cups and took a brief sip.

Cara rose.

"By all means, attend to your companion."

She gathered her belongings, sheathing her blades.  She drew closer to Manaolana, dropping her voice so that no others might hear her.

"Whatever Ruis was, that was not an Ember Blade, which means our business here is unresolved.  Without knowing how the others fare, I think it best we continue along the path set before us, and seek to meet this Seversi.  I will swear no more Oaths without knowing more, but this is too interesting to let past."

Indeed, such a thing was perhaps the perfect bait for the Oathsworn.  She could not help but investigate it more, and it was only convenient that in doing so she was technically adhering to the arrangement she had made with the other Veiled Hand agents that day.

Manaolana waves for Cara to move to the side with him. He asks seriously, "With respect, does this tie in with our mission? And am I of ongoing use to you in this matter? I will confess that I do not understand much of anything that just occurred." His face is calm and open, though there is a particular tension around the edges of his face.

Cara frowned at Manaolana breaking cover, even for a moment.  They were in public, and any manner of eyes and ears could be tuning in.  Nothing for it then but to commit, and play the role he had laid out for her.  She could spin this.

"Our mission was to make Contact with the Ember Blades.  Something we have thus far failed to do."

She did not know that Brollox was a member of that organization.

"I have been attempting to attract their notice, and I would say that the demonstration we just witnessed is certainly enough to set tongues to wagging.  Sadly, the one who came running was not the one we sought.  I'm curious if Ruis was a representative of the one who conjured the Water Wyrd, or the Thought Form, but they left that question unanswered.  So I pursue the threads that have been laid out to me, and hope that in pulling them we find our true targets, so that we can do what we came here to do."

Which was to be a distraction, and perhaps have an opportunity to interrogate one of the higher ups within the Blades.

Manaolana's eyes glint for a moment at Cara's words. He says, perhaps a bit loudly, "Oh, the Ember Flames, eh? Ah, I think I can help with that. Especially with good coin on the line, this might interest someone.." He shoots Cara a knowing look before strolling out, looking to see where Brollox is.

He looks about for Brollox, to see if he can find him...

Brollox, for his part had made a pretty clear bee-line for the Blue Sails warehouse.     By the time he'd gotten there, the youth had returned with a full bucket, and Migram splashed most of it on the floor in the doroway where one of his guards had not so ceremoniously bled all over it.

Curiously, his dousing was in unison with the woman's dousing of Ruis' speaker.   He shook his head and eyes wet wide as he looked around, clearly disoriented.   "It wasn't me!"  he held his hands up.  glancing at the woman, then back and Cara and Manaolama.  "Whatever I did, whatever I said.  I'm just a hisan, a vessel.     He brought his hands to the nape of his neck, pulled his shirt down to show a brand of a three intertwined circles.  Sigils of distance and communication, luck, shadows and some others were intertwined in such a way that suggested it had been branded into him over several sessions, one on top of the other.

He'd made a deal with someone, somewhere, to trade the use of his body in exchange for payment in luck and circumstance.  Such things were the subject of stories, and the moral of those stories were often that one shouldn't make deals that one doesn't fully understand...
This message was lightly edited by the player at 11:07, Wed 03 June 2020.

"... So, I was told to pick up the first seversi.  Said it's important I keep it safe." Brollox said.

Migram, the portly shop-keeper looked visibly worried.  Without his guardsmen, he fretted visibly.

"so, we make this simple."  Brollox said lightly, even pleasantly.   "Give it over to my keeping, and I'll make sure it gets where it's got to go.  You won't need to fret about it any more."

"Dangerous piece of work that. I've heard that men died to find it, rode others and leapt bodies just to keep it out of the wrong hands.  You wouldn't want that to happen to you, would you?  Let me take that weight off your shoulders.  I mean, we have an understanding, right?  I'm only thinking of your safety, Migram.  You've had a lot of attention today..."

Brollox is clearly intimidating Migram, the Blue Sails shop-keeper.

Etzagith emerged from the warehouse, coming out on one edge of the large freight entrance.  He swiveled to walk along the entrance as he replace the earring, and he visibly transformed into Liza Gallim, lady pirate.  She spotted Cara and Monaolana, and strutted in their direction, but not directly towards them.  I don't want to mess up anything they might have going on.  She sauntered past them, keeping her head straight ahead but meeting their eyes, and continued into the pub that they had just left.  Finding an empty table, she sat down, asked the serving girl for some strong tea, and pulled out the vellum to see what she had.

A firm voice from behind Brollox--a deep tone, resonant--speaks about ten feet from the man. "Or she could not, and you could listen to a better idea."

Brollox turns to fins Manaolana standing there, his somber eyes burning like sunlight through a forest. His chiseled form is less now like a statue and more like a coiled spring, taut, save for his face, which is a curious kind of calm.

"I would have a word, Brollox." There is nothing insincere or sarcastic at all about his tone, indicating that either the Khadidi did not quite understand what he interrupted or simply didn't care.

Cara looked up, to see that her bodyguard had departed, and that the tough he had named appeared to be cutting in on the deal that she had begun to make with the Ruis.  She rose from where she was seated, gathering her ritual equipment with a muttered curse, and stuffing it into her satchel.  That task completed, she stormed across the courtyard to where Manaolana had confronted the man, her coat swirling behind her as she beat a hasty path.  She said nothing as she drew closer, keeping just behind Manaolana.  Instead, she rested her hands upon the pommel of her two dueling blades, and stared pointedly at the man who dared insert himself into House business.
This message was last edited by the player at 00:49, Wed 10 June 2020.

Shifted Manaolama over to the Inside the Wareghouse thread.

@Etzagith
Etzagith / Liza swaggered into the Harpy's Last Note and helped himself to a seat near a window with sufficient angled light to allow him to see what it was he had purloined.

A barrel chested man in his mid forties with a fair paunch and hair tied back into a simple braid stood to one side with a cou0le of patrons, laughing quietly.   A woman bustled in a back-room visible through a pass-through window, as she--presumably--tended the kitchen.

The pages were  long and tedious, full of jargon.  But Etzagith's attention was piqued by some very clear words:  letter of Marque, disposition of prisoners, suspension of tithe.

The signature at the bottom was thick and bold, and more importantly, legible:
Duke Churthen pf East Penryn.

--
OOC: Reminder: He's the husband of Duchess Jaelle, first in line to the throne  (See message #2 in the 00.00 thread

Etzagith gritted his teeth at the evidence of the conspiracy right in front of him.  He glanced around the alehouse and spotted Cara through the window, still standing outside, but Manaolana had moved off.  It was only mid afternoon, so the alehouse was still pretty quiet.  The patrons that were here seemed involved in their own business and the staff were preparing for the rush to come.

One lone drunkard at the bar and one youth sitting lazily in a doorway across the street were the only two that could realistically be lookouts for whatever conspiracy is going on.  As he watched the drunkard through the corner of his eye, the man took what looked like a long pull on his mug, but the level of ale when he set it down had not changed.  So him for sure, then, but maybe also the kid.  I think it's time to ditch this disguise; if they are Ember Blades, they might know me well enough to see through it.  That would be worse than just being here as myself.

Liza spit a mouthful of tea on the floor, then looked down at the cup as if there were a mouse in it.  She grabbed the vellum and strode towards the kitchen, quivering with fury.  She shoved the door open and stomped through it, but her demeanor changed completely as the door closed behind her.  Seeing the serving girl, she said, "The tea was lovely, darling.  I didn't want to leave the coin on the table, there's a dodgy character at the bar and I was worried he might grab it."  She dropped a few coins in the girl's hand, triple the cost of tea, then continued through the kitchen to the back door.

In the alley, Etzagith pulled off the wig and earrings, dropping them into the pouch over the cat figurine.  He pulled out the cloak and tunic that gave Liza hips and breasts, shook them out, and slipped them on.  The entire transformation took barely three seconds.

The Chameleon slipped out of the alley and sidled up to Cara.  Barely above a whisper, he said, "I have the evidence that Duke Churthen is involved, and someone in there is working for him."  He nodded towards the warehouse.  "We have until sundown, when the warehouse involvement, at least, will be over.  There is someone in there who knows the details -- would you rather confront him with force or subterfuge?"  Etzagith regretted that he hadn't picked up a patch with the Duke's symbol.  Maybe I can fashion one quickly -- hmmm, probably not convincingly.  But, oh, this works.  "We can go in as Duke's agents, if you like, I have a chip that will cast an illusion of the Duke's symbol on our cloaks."

@Cara  See last paragraph.
This message was last edited by the GM at 01:59, Wed 17 June 2020.

Cara's eyes narrowed as the woman approached, then relaxed ever so slight as Liza spoke.  She looked away, whispering under her breath.

"Subterfuge.  We have a poacher moving in on our cover, and Manaolana taking umbrage with that fact."

She tilted her chin at the altercation occurring just inside the warehouse, where Manaolana was confronting Brollox.

"Let's slip in unnoticed and find your contact."

She rose, and moved to the open door.

OOC:  Moving to Inside the Warehouse
This message was last edited by the player at 02:03, Sat 13 June 2020.