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In the study, he offers another short bow to James Brotie. "I did. Thank you for the moment of your time. It is... a security concern, you might say."
Cassius pauses a moment, ordering his thoughts, before resuming. "I will be surprised if this is truly news to you, for after all, the greatest currency is information, and you are masters of trade... Anyway, to put it quite bluntly, the person known as Zakat has not had the good grace to remain dead."
A moment's pause, watching the Kalistocrat's face (or LaDour's, if Brotie has had him stay in the study) for a sign of reaction before he proceeds.
"He-- manifested-- during our journey here, while we stayed at Citadel of the Scourge. He attacked," Cassius says tersely. "Good soldiers perished in the assault. It seems, inasmuch as we can tell, to have been a strike primarily at my squad in particular. As your guests-- and as your business partners-- it would be extraordinarily poor form of me not to tell you that there is some risk in hosting us, it seems.
"I believe in negotiating in good faith. Forewarned is forearmed, they say; sadly, it is perhaps the best armament I can offer, should disaster strike again."
"Show him," the Kalistocrat orders. You turn to look at the Blackjacket as he removes his signature armor. Scrawled across his torso are... tattoos. You recognize them immediately.
"I also managed to kill him. By accident really, I didn't even know who or what he was at the time. Less than a week later his body disappears from... storage. Tracked him down to Logas. He completely leveled the place. Left me with these," his voice betrays little to no emotion.
"I was and am sorry to hear of the attack," Brotie says, his voice soft.
"That is part of the reason why I worked so hard to keep this arrangement from falling through. Captain LaDour has been my most trusted agent for many years now. I will not tolerate this slight, to him or to me. Outside of perhaps Alkenstar, you Hellknights are likely the only military force in Avistan that is on par with the League. And I believe that it will still require the full force of both our powers to deal with this threat. So. That is the real focus of this... FTX. A training session on how to kill someone like him."
Outside of supporting Cassius' attempt to make conversation Ivari basically keeps relatively quiet but appropriately "attentive" to anyone that wants to chat with him, etc.
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"...I see," he says after a pause of several seconds. "That is... quite the change in the situation."
Questions race through his mind like... well, like lightning; Zakat was able to resurrect even when they held his body? Does LaDour have a similar orb haunting him? What about--
Cassius takes a deep breath. "A deeper exchange of our mutual intelligence would be advisable, I think. I am happy to let it happen during our joint training session, so that all involved can hear at once. I do have one question for this moment, if I may:
"To what extent is the true nature of this operation known among my superiors? I would not wish to jeopardize things by mistakenly speaking out-of-hand to a Hellknight, such as Malachai or Saren, if they are not a part of this arrangement."
"Your Vicarius knows about my idea. He seemed... reticent, for some reason. But he did agree that it would be a wise precaution. Saren knows, but beyond that, I am unaware of any of the other Orders."
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"Very good, then. I thank you for the information. I have-- oh, several hundred questions brewing--" Cassius's dour face twitches into a faint smile, "but I shall save them for the actual training, rather than having to repeat everything thrice over for my squadron. With your leave, I will retire... I am sure tomorrow will be vigorously taxing."
"ATTENTION!" barks Captain LaDour as he walks into the room, trailed by Cassius. The Blackjackets immediately jump to the line, standing at the requested attention.
"This is Acting-Maralictor Thwaite and his squad. Make introductions. Be ready at oh six hundred. At ease.," the Captains orders are quick and succinct, responded to with a chorus of 'Yes sir!'s, with one exception of 'Aye aye Captain!'. A very large tanned man, probably Damian according to the briefings, slaps another grinning man, probably Vince, on the back of the head. Captain LaDour, any irritation expertly hidden, retires to his room.
"So... Hell-" Vince starts to speak again, but is again slapped by Damian, who then steps forward and extends his hand.
"Good evening. I am Sergeant Damian Kallan. It is a pleasure to meet you. The obnoxious one is Vince, the guy with the lute is Corporal Kurt Nissar," the mentioned Blackjaket steps forward and bows.
"And of course you've already met the Captain." the large man smiles easily and pleasantly.
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Cassius offers a small bow to the gathered soldiers. "Gentlemen," he says. "It is an honor."
His formality seems rather stilted in comparison to the teasing and at-ease behavior of the Blacjackets, but Cassius has never been called 'chummy' by those who have known him. Etiquette, however cool, serves him in lieu of being affable.
"Acting-Maralictor Cassius Thwaite, at your service. May I present Signifiers Kayle Lightbringer, Bjorn, Vorgal Veil, and Ivari Thien. I am certain this will be a productive joint endeavor."
If Decibel were still alive, Cassius thinks, the bird would no doubt make some impolitic comment just now. Perhaps it is for the best his familiar is dead. (Not really, he thinks heavily. He could do with even smartass observations.)
He looks over the three Blackjackets with dark eyes, correlating names with the skillsets mentioned in the briefing. Kallan is an alchemist... the Taldan is the one who boosts his allies' skills... and 'Vince' is the fellow with the supposedly deadly falcata.
Well met gentlemen, I look forward to our training together.
Vorgal looks them over, likely too intensely. He think that Vince is probably the most dangerous of the three in a fight, something about the presentation seems like an act.
When Cassius names him, Bjorn bows a little to salute the Blackjackets, althought he does not interrupt his actin-Maralictor like the falcata guy did.
I wonder what made that people to join the Blackjackets? They don't look the military kind.
Ivari simply nods after Bjorn and awaits further instruction...
Kayle awaits further instruction.
I have heard of some military's allowing their special forces more leniency when it comes to disciplinary off the battlefield. I hope this is the case, that these men are the exception and not the rule.
"An honor? Well. We are extremely honorable folks," Vince says. Kurt snorts, trying not to laugh, but Damian just ignores him.
"So I'm not sure how much you know about what's going on tomorrow, considering we were only briefed just a few days ago. Do you have any questions or something I could help you with...?" Damian asks, obviously unused to this sort of situation.
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Cassius smiles thinly at the quips from Vince, inclining his head slightly. He hesitates before answering, however.
"I think that for tonight, we shall leave it at introductions, gentlemen. Tomorrow will have hours enough to ask questions, I think."
Once I've briefed my team as to the real purpose of this exercise, as well.... he thinks.
"How long have you all worked together under Captain LaDour?"
After a few more minutes of only somewhat strained small talk, You excuse yourselves to your quarters to prepare for tomorrows action. The other team nods and bids you good night.
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Back in their suite, Cassius directs a dark look at the accursed orb. He gathers a few heavy, fine-woven blankets from the beds and drapes them over the orb (careful not to touch the orb himself) out of a niggling suspicion that it might serve as a scrying focus. Of course, there's also the possibility that Bjorn himself, with the tattoos, may serve a similar purpose for Zakat, but if so, Cassius reasons fatalistically, there is not much they can do about that. It's not as if they can just avoid talking about their plans in front of Bjorn: he is one of the team, and must be involved.
Still, Cassius gestures the team into a different room than the one housing the now-draped orb before speaking. Without preamble, he launches into a short, terse explanation:
"I spoke with our host and Captain LaDour privately, after the meal. Bjorn: you have a twin, of sorts. Zakat's method of dealing with people who.... annoy him... seems to be a repeated thing: Captain LaDour bears tattoos much like your own, and like yours, he earned his after killing Zakat, once upon a time.
"This is no mere 'joint training' exercise. Or rather, it is precisely that, but with a concrete goal: the Drumans wish to work with us to find some way to defeat Zakat, permanently. The Vicarius and Saren are aware of this... secret mission, or whatever one would like to call it."
He pauses. Cassius is not, by nature, a trusting person, and all sorts of niggling suspicions start to rise in his head: why would the Vicarius not tell them the truth of this mission up front? What would be the point of not being honest with the very team going into danger? Is the Kalistocrat being truthful? He frowns, and makes a mental note to speak with Saren at the soonest opportunity.
"I wished to brief you all as to our true purpose here before we have our actual group meeting tomorrow. Clearly, the situation is more tangled than first we thought-- and Zakat far more powerful, as well. It seems that the last time he was... brought back... whoever did so did not even have his body at hand. So a more potent magic than a mere raising from the dead was at work... perhaps even a true resurrection..." Cassius says, mumbling a little as he considers the logistical problems of such a thing. He shakes himself after a second.
"Are there any questions? I asked few enough of my own, tonight. To be truthful I was somewhat shocked; I also deemed it best to wait until we were gathered together as both teams."
Ivari considers the new information solemnly, Can we assume then that the other squad is as equally informed as we are? I also take it that based on your description that there is a threat of higher power and importance than Zakat himself but that is not our concern?
Bjorn curses to himself - Darn, if I did not even touched him that time. I would enjoyed spilling his blood until the last drop if I knew.
Not sure if not being the only beacon that Zackat can use to find us relieves me or not, but we must take in account that perhaps he is like the devils we use on our final trial to become a Hellknight.
I mean, perhaps he does not need to be resurrected, as he only returns to his native plane when we destroy his "mortal" body, being that body just a husk he possess.
About the training, if it is Zackat specific I will enjoy it twice.
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"It is a possibility," Cassius says slowly to Bjorn's words about Zakat being something so 'other' that perhaps his mortal body is but a shell. "At this point, our intelligence tells us only that he is far more powerful than we originally guessed-- even after we first knew of his resurrection. We got a taste of his true power the night he raided the Citadel..."
Cassius frowns for a moment, his mind working as he tries to knit notions and facts together into a whole.
"...there is much that I do not understand. Judging by the ferocity of his assault on us at the Citadel, I believe that he could just as well have killed us then and there. A single ball of lightning, such as he used in our first fight, would have likely killed several of us outright at the end of things, as wounded as we were. Yet instead he left us the-- orb-- and the taunting message on Bjorn's skin: a claim on Bjorn, a claim that only Zakat might try to kill him.
"Yet, that had no sooner happened than we were assaulted by the unseen archer. Why? Who sent him? Why should Zakat wish to stake a morbid claim on us, then send someone to finish the job with arrows? That makes no sense at all, and begs the notion that the archer was some other player in this drama. Yet who have we acquired as enemies, beyond Zakat himself? The Tower, perhaps...."
Cassius frowns, shaking his head. "I am also concerned as to why the Vicarius did not tell us of the true nature of this training exercise. There are... unanswered questions."
He looks to Ivari. "My instinct is to say that they are, but I did not wish to verify it at the introductory meeting before I had the chance to brief you all. Tomorrow, no doubt it will come clear enough one way or the other. As for a threat beyond Zakat himself... we know Imazi to be intensely powerful, yet she seemed reasonable enough, and the Vicarius does not seem to regard her as a threat, exactly... I don't know. I wish that I did."
I am not sure if i am relived that there is others marked by Zakat and face our same plight, or disturbed that this plot goes deeper than we thought
Kayle pauses for a moment
Should we inform the others about the the unseen assailant. He might strike again and try to sabotage our field excercise.
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"A bit of both seems sensible," Cassius says. "If we are in some deep-reaching war, then best we have allies. As for the archer... yes, I will bring it up tomorrow, though I would be surprised if the other team did not know of it already. They seemed fully cognizant of Zakat's attack on the Citadel.... ignorance is not their problem."
Cassius sighs. "In any case.... we should rest. Tomorrow promises to be intensive, even if we are not, say, interrupted by mad sorcerers or invisible archers. If there are no further questions or concerns, I will retire for the night."
Ivari nods as Cassius indicates the need for rest and exscuses himself to do the same, looking to his ministrations of faith and attending to things like armor maintenance and the like before getting sleep.
Vorgal frowns at Kayle's comment, as he is certainly more concerned at learning about that at least one other has been marked, especially if those marks can lead to compulsion.
The morning finds you in the company of a distressingly cheerful group of Blackjackets (with the obvious exception of Captain LaDour). They laugh and joke heartily as both squads armor up and await the go-ahead to depart. After a relatively brief amount of time the send off delegation arrives; Kalistocrat Brotie escorted by Paralictor Malachai and Maralictor Saren.
Captain LaDour bellows, the sound unbelievably loud from such a slight and soft spoken man.
The Blackjacket squad instantly turns towards the approaching group and kneels, right fist over their hearts and heads bowed, utterly silent and motionless.
The Kalistocrat finishes whatever he was saying to the two Hellknights and then acknowledges the Blackjackets.
"At ease gentlemen," he says, smiling. In nearly perfect unison the Blackjacket squad stands up and goes to parade rest, eyes straight forward and completely emotionless expressions on each of their faces.
"We're just dropping by to see you all off, don't mind us," Brotie says, waving his hand as the room resumes it's activity.
In short order the wagon that will transport you to the FTX is loaded up and ready, and the impressively well armed driver arrives, much to the joy of the Blackjackets, who seem to be familiar with him.
After a final farewell salute to Malachai and Saren, you jump into the back of the transport and depart.
"Maestro, if thou wilt?" Vince says. Kurt nods, pulls out his lute, and begins playing a song that has the entire squad pounding their feet and singing along. During the chorus at least.
"Vince, if you don't mind me asking, do you have any arcane abilities to pair with your blades?" Vorgal ask the question in earnest, despite knowing the answer. As a magic and sometimes weapon wielder he's looking for any advice he can get, especially from someone so impetuous as Vince.
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Cassius sits straight in the back of the wagon, politely bemused at the energetic singing of the Blackjacket squad. He tries to envision anything approaching this taking place back at the Egorian Academy... in the presence of the wizened old professors and masters... The thought makes him smile, faintly. No doubt heart attacks would have threatened, and some irritated silence spells been deployed.
Thoughts of the Academy lead inevitably to thoughts of his familiar, and Cassius's momentary humor fades away again.
When there is a lull in the music, he inclines his head slightly towards Kurt. "That was... resoundingly energetic. I'm not certain we have anything quite like that in Cheliax. Or at least, in the parts of Cheliax from whence I come."
As the songs are sung Ivari contemplates the differences between his order and the Blackjackets. They were well trained according to reputation but lacked a certain stern stoicism that Ivari had found necessary in preparation for and existing in the life of a Hellknight. Was it enough that they fought well together as two groups or would there be conflict around more "peripheral" issues?
Ivari checks his gear as he contemplates the issue...
Well, -says Bjorn to answer Cassius- back in the day at the monastery where I got raised, we made our prayers in a low plain tone that sounded quite harmonious, if that helps you. I can remember the "hummm" that resounded all around the buildings as if it were yesterday.
Vince turns to Vorgal and raises an eyebrow.
"Arcane stuff? Nah. I ain't no bookworm. That's more Kurt's thing," he says, nodding to the bard.
Kurt shrugs, then turns to Cassius.
"In my experience Chelish folk like more... refined music. Isn't opera quite popular there?"
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"Hmnn," Cassius says with a thin smile to Bjorn's words of the harmonious humming of the monastery monks. "That sounds calming... not quite the same thing as our maestro's performance, no?"
He inclines his head towards Kurt. "Yes, the opera is quite popular. War, death, love, ascendancy of House Thrune, all the traditional topics," he deadpans. "But it's all quite... what is the word I want? Formal, perhaps. In comparison to your performance."
He thinks Decibel would have loved the loud enthusiasm. Ah well. "Is your song of Taldane origin, then...?"
Kurt laughs.
"Molthuni actually. You wouldn't think they'd be a particularly artistic bunch, but they have more than their fair share of songs to get the blood pumping. Guess that's what happens when practically your entire country is in the military," he shrugs.
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"Ah. Well, no, I suppose it makes sense. Keep up troop morale, and so forth. It was definitely a... warrior's sort of song."
He falls silent again, his gaze wandering back and forth between the Blackjackets and his own squad. His own team has great potential; the others are, by their files, experts all... but will it be enough? Will two teams of warriors be able to permanently deal with someone who seems to think that death is but a temporary hiccup?
Cassius's expression grows dour again, and he falls silent as the wagon trundles on, mile after mile.
The miles roll by, and the preternaturally cheerful blackjackets keep up a steady stream of either witty banter or loud snores for the duration of the trip. Finally though, you see the complex ahead of you, a small fortress from the looks of it.
"Attention!" barks the Captain, and instantly the conversations and songs stop.
"The first exercise today will focus on bypassing enemy fortifications to strike at individual targets located within. Vince, go make sure everything's set up."
Vince nods and dashes off, slipping past the large open doors of the complex as Captain LaDour returns his attention to you
"There are several components to a successful insertion, but the most important thing to remember is..."