Nodding quietly, Ariana stands back up. "No." She turns to the others. "Let us get Absentia, I think we've gotten enough information?"
That is going to be awfully hard to find someone with ... Freia simply looks at her pen and paper in dismay as 'The Distributor' is described. Perhaps the name is a hint? What would a 'Distributor' distribute? Justice? Punishment? Hmm ...
*Nod*
"Wait! A manifest. Like a shipping manifest? Ask about that..."
Unfortunately, asking about a shipping manifest only confuses her.
Absentia is retrieved easily (and Zayid is fetched from the hall, poke-poke). She enters your room and motions for you to be silent before you can begin your report. She goes through a small ritual of unrecognizeable arcane passes and a gesture or two, then removes her mask.
The contrast between her radiant self and the black robes is jarring. Now, what have we here? She listens to your information intently.
We have an opportunity here. I can obtain a mask easily and without question. I also have the resources to alter her memory of tonight. I will make it so she thinks the theft was a success. She will deliver her package and you will wait in ambush. Subdue the Distributor by any means necessary.
Zayid frowns slightly. "Do you know what his aim is?" he asks quietly, once she's finished. "You suspect Ministrant, no?"
Before answering, she lays a hand on your captive. Claire instantly passes out and starts snoring quietly.
His aim, and he is not alone in this, is to supplant Caligrific and turn this operation into a genuine money-making hell hole. You are not aware of this most likely, but the Order is not a financially charitable organization. We are paid by the City to keep you. We have made concerted efforts to make this more than just another holding pen, but obviously there are more profitable ways of running things. The Distributor and his ilk seek those profits, which would mean a considerable downgrade in your standard of living and upgrade in sentence duration.
I do not wish to get into how he might accomplish this, but if he is not silenced it could get... messy.
She tries and almost succeeds in hiding a smile at Zayid's second question. Ministrant is one of the ones I suspect as.. less than concerned for Tear well being, yes.
"When will she deliver the package?"
Freia asked with a somewhat worried look. Her hands were still sore and she was worn after a long day of work. And she was probably among those in the team in the better shape! And, all this doom and gloom isn't making things better either... She felt like curling into a ball and pulling her sheets over her and just sleeping all the troubles away. Sadly it never seems to work ...
Ann/sentia thinks for a moment.
She will likely deliver it as soon as she obtains it. We have some flexibility there, but I would want to do this by the full moon in five days. You will be on standard schedules until then.
"Ah."
Freia looks visibly relieved and even manages a small smile. With a nod she adds.
"Five days then."
Five days, then we get to fight something that walks trough space and teleports around. Brrr, I hope we manage ...
"Full... moon?" asks Zayid quietly, a note of hesitation in his voice. The blackouts have been happening during full moons... maybe that's a coincidence. Maybe there's nothing to worry about. I don't even know what I'm afraid of.
Yes, the full moon. The light could be a help or a hindrance, so be careful. Also, remember not to kill him. We need him alive. And, if he should escape, return here as quickly as you can. There have been some disappearances among our ranks, and we fear the worst.
"We will do what we can to take him alive. Do you have any methods of blocking teleportation? I suspect he's using some sort of dimensional travel to arrive at the location."
For the first time, Absentia looks a little worried. That means he had grown in power since or last reports. Or you are witnessing an ability that he has kept carefully hidden. I'll see what I can do, but what I can provide will be limited.
And we have to *stop* him/it from teleporting. Hmm ... Freia glanced at Zayid And he seems a bit ... bothered? Nah, I must be imagining things ...
"We could simply strike him and hope it foils his spell?"
Zayid seems to regain most of his composure, though it's not without effort. He nods. "Aboki can try to pin his arms, but... I don't know if that's enough. I don't know how magic like that works."
Absentia shrugs. Without knowing exactly what he's doing I'm afraid there's only one way I know that will certainly lock him down, but we have little time to craft the item. I'll fill you in when I provide it and know more about it's limitations.
"Well, it's something!" Freia exclaims, worn but hopeful.
Noro simply listens then offers her advice, never met anyone that can do magic when unconshcious. put them in a good choke hold and all they can do is gashp for air till itsh lightsh out..
she makes the finger across the throat motion to reinforce her choking unconscious part.
Ariana will spend the next few free days studying her spellbook and plotting out a list of scrolls when they get some more treasure.
Halsanna- The gnomes have laid low since you exiled their boss. With most of their status lost they don't have as much info as they would like, but have noticed several peculiarities. First, the last two batches of "recruits" under Ministrant have felt very much like recruits and less like prisoners. Their presence has only further polarized the prisoner population along new/old lines. The interior of the Order of Tears is becoming a tinderbox.
For the next few days your work is fairly standard fare. The stables are coming along well, but Aboki gets himself banned from the work site after "playing" with one of the animals. Bloody Dismemberment responded and got a good laugh out of the whole thing. To keep the foreman happy he assigns Zayid and his "Kitty" to kitchen duty.
Ariana spends the bare minimum amount of time she can with the workers and makes herself a familiar face at the library and supply shop. She discovers that she is one of the few spell casters here. There are ten in total, and only one with a divine bent.
Halsanna - Your time at the range is nearly matched by the mysterious Eve. She proves to be your equal in skill, though her Elven genes means she has you on experience.
Freia will try and spend some time in the library and archives too, following up on their earlier lead. It would seem as if different Sorrows could approve different batches of 'recruits' and it would be handy to know which tears 'belonged' to whom.
Freia - Though you can't speak to how loyalties have changed dude their arrival, you are able to track down general tendencies. Not all the prisoners' records are available to you and sometimes the recruiting Sorrow is redacted for some reason. However, you notice that Abrasax tends to induct mages and arcane dabblers, Caligrific tends to induct forgers and embezzlers, and Bloody Dismemberment tends to induct high minority races like half-giants and city-bound monsters (like rat folk and mongrelmen.
Ministrant, you notice, tends rather heavily toward the hard cases and is responsible for the majority of the recent influx of violent, hardened criminals. Absentia seems to recruit at random. Try as you might, no pattern to her selections emerges.
It is from these records you learn that, in spite of what you've been lead to believe, it appears that there are only those five Sorrows here in Magnimar.
On the evening of the full moon you are given a assignment outside the base and excused from your daytime tasks. When the time to depart arrives you meet in the atrium and your masks are secured to your faces by Abrasax.
Your assignment is just an address. You head south past Keystone and Rag End toward the Silver Shore. The air is cool and feels close as you leave the ocean's side and walk deeper into the city.
You soon leave the area controlled by the Order the tone changes. People stare at you as you walk past and whisper to their fellows. The guard soon appears and makes no attempt at hiding the fact that is watching you. You'll probably have to lose your tail if you want to pull this off...
Zayid walks along with the others, doing his best to keep his nervousness hidden. What am I going to do? Come on, it's hardly guaranteed that I'll black out... but what if I do? They'll have to carry me back... or leave me, but I don't think they'd do that. It could ruin the whole mission. Maybe I should've... no, I couldn't ask to skip this one... it'd look really bad, and then with my luck nothing would happen and everyone would think I was just shirking.
Letting out a soft sigh, the young man continues on his way.
Only five? They must have quite alot on their hands ... Freia thinks to herself as she heads back to share what she learned with the others.
_____________________________________________
As they walked trough the dusk, Freia felt an uncomfortable but familiar shiver running up her spine. People were staring at her - and they didn't feel friendly! Brr! With a *glup*, she tried to steel herself and straightened her back. You are better then this! Ignore them and *think*! After a few steps, she spoke in a whisper.
"I think I can lose those guys for us, but I'm not sure how to keep us stealthy. Go over the roofs again?"
Noro didn't do much socializing, she kept to herself mostly, but she did what she could to help some of the older tears from troublemakers. She is used to identifying troublemakers by now.
with the potential of an explosive situation developing, it is hard to tell where her loyalties lie. but one thing is certain, she could make for a strong ally.
now to see who will approach her first.
---before---
Noro is not approached by either faction yet. The group's status might be making the factions hesitant to approach her.
"Hmm ..." Freia pondered. Ari *could* probably make us all climb like spiders. If she had time to prepare - and was willing to use alot of energy on it ... No, there must be another way. "We could... Slip down the severs? But we risk getting lost - or worse. Or we could just pick an alley adjacent to the target and simply cover our entry. The illusion doesn't mask sound so we would have to be quiet. And it requires concentration, so I would have to wait outside ..."
"I vote on an alley as well." Ariana will move quickly, dashing into a nearby alley and gesturing behind herself. "Crates or a wall or something then, Freia?"
Zayid walks forward until he's nearly past the alley's mouth, then sidesteps neatly out of the main street to disappear without a trace. Aboki follows suit.
As soon as you all start darting to the side one of the guards yells, Hey!, and the sound of running footsteps rapidly approaches. You have one chance to make this work.
Noro didn't like sneaky business, so to help distract the guards, when they call out she stops and turns to face them.
she simply stands there, arms cross her chest, but unfortunately the mask hides the look on her face, like, "go ahead start trouble"
It only takes a few seconds for the guards to catch up. There are three, teo in heavy arms and armour, one in lighter gear. You spot a scythe, a dire flail, and a pair of inward-curved blades you recognize as kukri.
Where'd your friends go, Teardrop? The flail wielder growls.
Noro simply stands her ground, Shopping she says sternly ready for trouble but not making any threatening moves
Whatever. We both know Tears never shop. Where are you headed?
The two others stand slightly apart from the speaker, clearly positioning in case they have to engage.
really? and how do you shuppose we eat? you think food jusht magically appearsh, as a gift of the godsh?
Noro relaxes a bit (a ruse) in an attempt to prevent violence escalating beshidesh what doesh it matter, we ain't caushing trouble.
Noro- you recognize these three as the elite strike group of the Guard. Known on the street as the Bloody Trinity, they have a history of taking out monsterous threats outside the city, and occasionally a not so monstrous one inside. They are highly effective, and dangerous.
The leader rolls his eyes. He is a Mwangi with chocolate skin and close cropped, military style hair. Two women flank you. The right, with the scythe, is Ulfen and seems to have taken her gender's tendency toward curves as a challenge. The third is also female and Tien. She is more stereotypically female, but there is a deadly grace in the way she glides around.
Listen. I'm gonna be straight with you. We know who you are. The Order's little death squad. Wherever you go, people die. We're just here to make sure things stay cool. Got it?
BTW - People are watching the exchange. Heads peer out windows and lean out of doors all along the street.
Ariana looks around, but doesn't see what Halsanna does. Regardless, she trusts the archer's instincts. "More guards?"
Freia slipped away into the shadows with Zayid and Aboki, but couldn't help but look back once the guards called out. From behind her mundane cover, she bit her lip. I can't make them disappear over there ...
The two larger of the trinity keep their focus on Noro, but the smaller catches Halsanna's eye and, in spite of Halsanna's iffy effort, follows her gaze. Her eyes scan the area a little more carefully. Then she says Cogton factory and the other two look around as well, though very discreetly.
Got it? The leader asks again, though he is saying much more, and not all of it is directed at Noro. They know about the followers, and staying here is a bad idea.
(if the check "fails" she'll use Call to Mind for 1 power point)
Bloody Trinity know result: The Trinity is currently comprised of Marx Right, the dire flail wielder; Halaga Icebrow, the Ulfen, and Whisper Xia, the Tien kukri wielder. Rumor has it that a fourth member was once a part of the group, a huge man named Maka, but he was imprisoned a few years ago for murder and destruction of property.
The group works together almost by magic. They have been known to take down monsters of truly fearsome reputation through precise teamwork and coordinated strikes. To be caught among them is to die quickly.