With lightning speed yet masterful subtlety, Allura tries to peek when Maraki looks.

Something metal... a weapon?

That's all she has time to see before the lid is snapped shut again.

Allura will relax back and look to Maraki, "Is that what you sought ?" especially asked since she did not get a good look.

"It is," he confirms. "And now-- unless you have anything else you wish to say, Thelik? --we shall go."

He prepares to leave (expecting Allura to come with him)...

Allura nods and rises.

Knowing she has to keep options open for learning information she waves behind her wiggling her fingers at Thelik as she departs with Maraki.

As she walks along with Maraki, "That wasn't the reason's for your feud with Karak, was it ?" This said as a whisper just for him to hear.

"No," says Maraki. "On the contrary. Thelik is Karak's son, but I've always been fond of the boy... Certainly I've acted as a father figure to him more often than has his own father... The boy just steals to get attention..." He sighs. "...I suppose 'boy' doesn't fit him as well as it used to. He's growing into a man... Although I do worry a bit about what sort of man he'll be. 'Nothing like his father' is a good start, but... that description still leaves a lot of room for problems as far as the nature of his character..."

"People do a lot for attention and acceptance. Just be careful, and why do you want some filthy Amber thing Maraki ? We should stand as better then that. It was only infighting that cost us the war. They were unified, we weren't."

"As Thelik said, I don't. My superior in the church hierarchy ordered me to just hold onto it for now."



"Ah, but they were motivated by the betrayal of one of their own. That's why they dared to come to us, not anything we did to them. Whereas we, on the other hand, are still not unified as we should be." He frowns as he walks. "Don't misunderstand-- I share your opinion of them. But I can feel disgust for them and dissatisfaction for the state of things on our end at the same time... as, apparently, can you." He stops walking. "...I just realized-- I'm walking back to the cathedral, but I also promised you time after that little errand. Can what you wish to discuss be discussed at the cathedral? Have you had lunch? If not, do you wish to?"

"I am rather hungry, I could do with some lunch. As for meeting at the cathedral, while I have no problem with it. I would rather have our association a more private matter but that is a moot point after we met Thelik since he is Karak's son."

"Hmph! Thelik would rather endure torture than tell his father anything he thinks his father would be interested in, and that certainly includes anything to do with myself. Light torture, anyway. So... lunch? Or cathedral? As a compromise, I can have food brought to the cathedral, of course..."

"Lunch in the cathedral then, and thank you for being a good host, Father Malaki." She bowed her head slightly to him.

"Ah, it's Maraki, actually..." He seems tempted to ask more about what Allura's deal is, but instead he waits until they're in Yeelen's cathedral of the serpent.

Once inside, Maraki gives whispered orders to an underling, who takes the box off somewhere. Then he gives less-whispered orders to another underline, who hurries off.

Then he leads Allura upstairs to the second floor, to a room which is apparently his office. "Now then... about what, precisely, did you with to speak with me?"

"You have a feud with Karak, he has wronged my own in the past and as we have both been so wronged by the man I was hoping I might find an ally in you. To me it is simple, I know you might see it as more complicated then that but it's not. I don't have a lot of people to turn too and the Sawal's are a bit lethal so to be honest I am afraid of simply acting alone lest I end up a corpse."

"I do, in fact, see it as more complicated. First of all, what exactly has Karak done to you and yours?"

"Like his son, he is trying to steal a resource. Unlike his son his attempts have not succeeded but they have caused a lot of damage."

"A... resource? What resource? And what damage?"

"Now Maraki, just like you didn't want your own matters known because they may be embarrassing my own House matters are the same. To ask is, at the least inappropriate bordering on rude. Just know that it is not a trivial matter and already there has been a death. Please, I am sincere I wouldn't come to you if I wasn't. I am new to Yelen, I don't know who to turn to and I can easily have someone hurt me."

(Time to roll Charming...)

12:54, Today: Allura Caryx rolled 9 using 2d6+2.  Charming.

"Ah, but you did become aware of my matters. I merely seek parity."



"...You do not wish the nature of your 'matter' revealed. So be it... for now. What of the death of which you speak? Will you speak of that, perhaps...?"
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:05, Fri 23 July 2021.

"It was a demon, and while they matter little to most, they were someone who might have even become a friend and now I will never know. Yes, I will speak of it. Squig was found dead just this morning."

"Squig? I've heard the name. He was a friend of yours?" Maraki taps his fingers on his desk. "...Is that why you've come to me? For help investigating the truths behind that demon's death? --That is, I understand you also have other reasons for coming to me... but you will not tell me about the larger matter that concerns your House, so am I to take it that this is what you want my help with, directly? I'm guessing that you feel that Karak is implicated in the death of the demon Squig?"

"I doubt a Lord like Karak would have dirtied his own hands but ordered the death yes. I am fairly certain. I can't exact revenge for a demons death not on a Lord at anyrate. I can however hope to stop the harm that, that Lord brings to my family and it's holdings. "

"I have to do some exploring of Yelen soon it seems too."

"What makes you certain? Do you have any evidence? Why would Karak want to do such a thing?"

"Something the deceased said before they became a member of the deceased lead strongly in that direction. The other matters are verified through resources beyond my own. Familial resources that I trust."

"And... what might that have been...?"