Keeping close to Lothryin as they approach.
Well s#+@, can he not count? Closing her eyes for a moment Shut it!
Quietly mumbling, "Seven."
"Seven!" Jack boomed back to the gatehouse.
"Seven, plus the last man-at-arms we picked up at our last place of rest... forgive us, it has been a long and difficult journey from Daveryn. Our minds are muddled and in need of rest." She shakes her head slowly to play up the exhaustion of their travel, before looking up to the guard at the gate. "Could the mayor not meet us once we've found a place to rest our weary souls? Surely there's no reason for us to wait here at the gates when we could be finding lodging." Soren sighs, speaking softly to her companions.
"There are seven of us, as well as Aurex. We need to be careful, simple slip ups like that are what will bring our ruse crashing to the ground."
The guard shrugs up on the wall, "The hour is so late you'll not find an Inn Keeper awake to rent a room from. The Mayor shall be along shortly".
After ten minutes or so the front gates do indeed open, a band of six men and one woman walk out towards you, "Sir Balin? Well met! I am Mayor Jack Vance. An odd time and place to meet one of your stature, come in. I shall escort you to an Inn where you can rest". He gestures for Sir Balin and his cohort for you to follow him.
"Thank you, Mayor Vance." Sir Balin said "I would rather've met you in the morning when we were all rested, but your men insisted. Our mission is important enough that we have not stopped much. Hence the lateness of the hour."
"If you don't mind, I think introductions can wait until after we are in out of the cold and dark."
The Mayor nods and walks your group through the sleepy empty streets to an Inn which is named Black Ice Lodgings. The building is three stories high and likely one of the largest in this small settlement.
The group with the Mayor seem tired but are all smiling, it seems that Sir Balin is looked up to even this far north.
The Mayor knocks on the door loudly, "James. James!" After a few moments a light flickers on in a second story window. The window opens, "Jack. It's 2 am, why are you waking me?"
The Mayor calls back up, "Guests. Distinguished ones from the Church, they need your rooms right away!"
The Innkeeper frowns and closes the window. Your cold breath and that of the guards dances eerily in the torchlight as you wait for the door to open.
Soon enough you hear the sound of the handle turn, "Fine. Come in. Come in!" He says clearly irritated.
The Mayor pauses, "Your finest rooms!" He turns to "Sir Balin", "I will let you and yours rest, in the 'morrow we shall break our fast together".
Sir Balin tugged his cloak a little tighter around him to ward off the night air but otherwise stoically ignored the cold.
"Our thanks again." he said to the Mayor. "We will see you in the morning."
"That sounds like a plan, and thank you for locating us lodging. May Mitra's light shine bright upon you when you wake," Soren adds, bowing her head and clasping her hands together slightly. "Where shall we meet you in the morning, or shall we simply meet here at a chosen time? Either will work for us, though after such a long period of travel I would prefer to meet later rather than earlier."
Keeping her head down as they walk and her clothing tucked tightly around her. "Thank you sirs." Offering a short bow to both the Mayor and Innkeeper.
Alice murmers a quiet thank you too the mayor and the guards, before gratefully stepping into the warmth of the inn, rubbing her hands vigorously.
The Mayor grins, "I will come by for lunch this way you can sleep in". He and his guard head back to their quarters as they are all clearly freezing out here.
James the Innkeeper turns back to you all with a baleful eye, "Take the second floor, all those rooms are vacant at the moment". He says nothing further as he closes the door and heads back up to his room and the warmth of his bed.
The common room is warm due a large fireplace burning low. No one is down here at the moment.
Nate nods appreciatively to everybody, but keeps his mouth shut. As they get into their room he tosses his stuff down with a sigh. "Should we keep a watch?"
Aurex snorts in disgust at the room. "How do you sleep in these crowded little chambers?"
"I don't think a watch is necessary," Soren says, her voice hushed even once the door closes behind them. "They've fallen for our initial ruse quite easily, I don't think we need to worry about them lurking about investigating us." Soren sighs, clenching her teeth slightly as she thinks. "Still, if we want to set a watch my own magic will enable me to remain awake through the night without any ill effects. If anyone asks, I can tell them I'll explain it when we speak with the mayor; we were worried about those we'd come to find on orders of the Church."
"Speaking of which, now might be the time to lay out our ruse in full. Sir Balin," she says, looking to Grumble Jack, "any time you don't know how to answer a question, simply give some answer that indicates one of us would be better suited to it. I'm well aware I'm not the only one here skilled enough to keep this facade going, so as long as one of us finds an appropriate answer it shouldn't matter. Still, we ought to flesh out the details of what has brought us here. Why did we expect this cult activity, all those little details are what will keep us alive."
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"How was I s'pposed t' know he was gonna start with a question about numbers." Jack scowled.
Well Soren what did you have in mind, as far as I am aware there have been no strange happenings that we can use to target as a reason for cult activity. Perhaps we were hinted by the divine at a presence of unholy activity in these parts and we were tasked to investigate and report. Lothyrin keeps his voice down for fear of eavesdropping.
"Isn't the whole point of cults an' inful-traitors to do whatever you're doin' without anyone knowing you're there? That's what we're doin'. Why would we need to give 'em evidence? Why would there be any yet?"
"Ain't Mitran Inquisitors been trackin' witches and the like without much evidence for a long time?"
Alice massages her temples. "If its the same to you, I'll choose a nights rest. This headache is killing me."
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"Through my network of spies and informants, I came across rumors of a plot to destabilize the wall protecting us from the frigid dangers of the north," Kristos said, pulling the story out of his backsies. "Naturally, being a devout minions, I mean follower, of Mitra, I took this to the church, who charged me with funding an expedition here to root out the nefarious ne'er-do-wells and put an end to their schemes."
The night passes by uneventfully. The next morning you all hear the sounds of chatter coming from the common room below. No one knocks on your doors or even does more than take the stairs up or down near your floors but all the same the energy and voices coming from below you surmise is due to the stories being told of your arrival the night before.
One voice louder than the rest pierces through the din, "James man for God's sake do not wake Sir Balin or his entourage!" The sound of footsteps on the stairs leading up to the second floor stop.
"Jack, I have a breakfast to serve to my other patrons. If they don't get their holy asses down here soon, you'll be breaking your fast with them at Rosie's!"
Pulling her blanket over her head and burrowing deeper into her bed. Wake up! Mumbling into her pillow, "Burn in hell."
Alice groans. She did not want to be the first one to get up. It was nice sleeping in a bed again, but her dreams had been decidedly weird now that her memory block was lifted.
She felt totally not in the mood to talk to nosy strangers.
Nate had been up for the better part of an hour, sitting against the wall and staring blankly into space. He's used to waking up before the sun. As the shouts are heard he snaps back to reality (or as close to it as Nate is likely to get) and starts shoving the others to wake them up.
Aurex rolls over and grumbles, looking very unhappy. "How do you sleep like this?" He exhales sharply, blowing snot from his nose.
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Always an early riser, unless he had company that kept him up late, Vaundour wasn't surprised by the noise coming from below. Making sure his disguise was in place, he hurried downstairs while Nate worked on getting the others awake. Meeting the innkeeper on his way up, he gave the man a jovial grin and said, "Jack, my good man! It is Jack, right? I'm glad I caught you. My group is getting up for the morning, and I wanted to inquire about breakfast. Don't worry about bringing it up, I'll happily do it myself. Not one of those do-nothing nobles you so often come across, no sir! An active body is an active life, bless Mitra. But between you and me, Sir Balin, while one of the nicest men you could ever meet, such a sweet man, willing to give the shirt off his back, can be a bit...grouchy in the mornings before breakfast. Between you and me, I think it's all the late-night raids he performs, the poor man. Works himself much too hard. But Mitra's work is never done, as they say."
Pausing for breath, seemingly the first taken since he started talking, he looked around quickly, as though searching for someone listening in, and whispered, "By the way, you wouldn't happen to have any good fruit juice, would you? We picked up a woman in need a few days ago, and my mother always swore that a good fruit juice could help with anything. Don't want too many people knowing, times being what they are. So9meone might just try to take advantage of the poor dear."
Jack continued to snore loudly upstairs.
Nate scows, then hauls back and kicks Grumble in the ribs. "Up!" Oh gods, I'm turning into my old commander.
Rolling over Lothyrin gazes through his blurry vision at his surroundings. Lothyring stretches and then rubs his eyes just in time to see Nate kick Grumble in the ribs. Lothyrin quickly jumps back into his bed and closes his eyes, he then pretends to be asleep with very convincing snoring sounds. Uh oh, Nate should know that waking up an ogre with a swift kick to the ribs might result in some painful retaliation.
I can hear your companion. They are waking. Quietly growling into her pillow, No. as she tries to cocoon herself.
Grumble was on his feet before he was really awake, holding his head in his meaty arms like he was protecting himself.
"Устао сам, тата! Ја сам горе, не ..."
"I'm up, Pa! I'm up, don't..."
Then confusion set in as Grumble woke up and figured out what was going on.
Then a brief, flickering moment of shame and embarrassment.
Then sudden full-bore blistering fury that ramped up past anything Nate had seen from Grumble before. His pulse pounded in his bloodshot eyes and the room actually got darker an heated up as hellfire gathered in his hands. For a moment it seemed like Grumble was about to attack...
...then an unexpected steely self control took over. In moments it was Sir Balin that stared down at Nate.
"We're in the same Knot. That's what bought you the rest of your life just now. If you ever do that again, I'll rip your leg off and let you choose which hole I cram it into."
Aurex barks a laugh as Nate goes pale and steps back. "Have fun with him but do keep his limbs intact."
James the Innkeeper snorts, "Fruit juice? Up here in the middle of winter? Nobles..." He states as he heads into the kitchen.
Jack the Mayor fumbles a bit, "But... but... Sir Balin promised last night to break his fast with me".
Soren, having spent the night awake and on alert, has her ears perk up with the mayor speaks of Sir Balin. She pokes her head into their room as Jack summons his hellfire; she's about to say something before the half-ogre quells his rage in a surprising show of self-control. She stands with her mouth open for a moment, before shaking her head. "The mayor is waiting for you, Sir Balin. I'll be heading down to let him know you and the others are on your way, but do try to hurry. We don't want to keep the poor man waiting too long." With that, Soren closes the door and double-checks her disguise looks suitable for the moment, then heads down the stairs to speak with the mayor.
"My apologies, Mayor Vance; Sir Balin has been getting some much needed rest from our travels, but he and the rest of our company will be down soon. My magic kept me awake and watchful through the night, so that he might finally have a restful night since we left on our journey. Count Von Struker must have forgotten our promise to break our fast with your this morning; he is a long way from home, and such travels are not so familiar to him as they are to those like Sir Balin and myself. I would imagine it must have just... slipped his mind. Wouldn't you say, Kristos?" She gives Vandour a smile, an action that looks to natural on 'her' face despite what evidence ought to suggest, before shaking her head. "Once you've fetched the girl her juice, do make sure the rest of our company come down with you. I think we've left the mayor waiting long enough."
Turning to Mayor Vance, she extends a hand in greeting. "I don't know that we exchanged introductions; my name is Lydia Kallin, an inquisitor of the Mitran church; I'm Sir Balin's new partner. How are you on this blessed day?"
"Right. Ah, thanks? Lydia?" the words sounded like he was having trouble remembering what they meant.
Jack huffed out the remainder of his anger, shook his head like a big cat with something caught in it's wiskers and took a little time to check himself over and make sure he looked knightly.
"Urm, Alice, can you do that Prestidigithingy on me? I should probably look and smell all clean."
A few minutes later, Sir Balin came down there stairs, surprisingly quiet for such a big man.
"Mayor Jack!" he rumbled in greeting. "I don't get many chances to sleep in a nice bed, so I enjoyed it longer than I should have. You'll have to forgive me. The others aught to be down soon."
"Have you met my partner?"
Alice rolls up in her blankets, but sits up, a bleary eye poking out from between the covers.
"Yah. Sure. Stand still."
Alice waves her hands in a few arcane gestures, and if feels like a dozen small, invisible hands are dusring off Grumble. Straightening his clothes and clearing the air.
"Jussoyouknow. Smelling nice last short. Presto cant fix that for long."
Yawning, alice scoots deeper into her blanket nest, watching how the others prepare and nursing her leftover headache.
Not bothering to pull the blanket off her head but calling out, "Soap and water help the best with that."
Resigning herself to not longer being in a proper bed. Slowly getting up and making sure that her clothing is straightened. Walking over to Alice, "Are you going to be joining us?"
Alice pouts. "Dunno. Its nice and warm and soft. Want to join me in the blanket fort and pretend the world is nice for a while?"
Alice holds open a blanket flap.
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Please do this for me! Closing her eyes for a moment, Pervert. You are even worse as a ghost. Never one to want to face her problems head on Morana crawls under the sheets. "I really do not want to go down there and mess things up."
Waking up for the second time Lothyrin jumps quickly out of bed. Stretching he rubs his eyes as he prepares for the day. Lothyrin analyzes his disguise ensuring it is satisfactory and proceeds to walk to the door. Glancing off to the side he does a double take at Montana and Alice in a blanket fort.What an interesting pair that is. If only Vaundour was here, he would just begging to join in on the fun. Laughing at his own joke Lothyrin strolls outside ready to partake in his breakfast. Walking in just as Soren introduces herself Lothyrin quickly steps up to be next in line. Hello my good sir, my name is Laurence Hail Cleric of Mitra. I am here to provide the healing light of Mitra for my fellow compatriots. I am also here to oversee our penitent who is redeeming herself in the holy light of Mitra.
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"Of course, of course, my dear," Kristos said with a wide smile. "It was simply the excitement of our journey that caused the mental slip." As the others started coming down from the room, minus two, he pardoned himself before going back. Entering the room and seeing the two women hunkered down in the bed surrounded by blankets, Kristos let out an exasperated sigh. "Ladies, unless clothes start coming off while you're in there, we really should head down for breakfast. I mean, far be it for me to get in the way of a good time, but I don't want our cover blown so early. Or at all really. So chop chop, lovelies. We got us some bad things to do."
That one has some great ideas! Sighing and mumbling, "We should get up. Though I could throw my sock at him."
Dragging herself out of bed and offering a hand to Alice before straightening her clothing again and heading down stairs. "My apologies. The beds are quiet comfortable."
Alice sighs too. It was all nice and cozy in the blanket fort.
With some effort she drags herself out of bed and gets dressed.
My aplogies as well." She makes a small bow. "It has been a while since I had such a good nights rest."
Nate and Aurex follow Grumblejack down, no strangers to the early morning and catching sleep however they can. Nate shakes his head at the others. Like a bunch of new recruits. As Grumble introduces himself, Nate is doing his part playing the personal guard. That is, scanning the area with a general guise of awareness while putting on a fake half-smile of courtesy. "Nicholas." He says with a nod of acknowledgement.
Aurex does his best to follow Nate's lead, although he comes off as more or less the loose cannon of the pair. As Nate grunts his alias Aurex follows up. "Patrick." Such a boring name.
The Mayor grins broadly, "Not a problem at all Inquisitor Kallin. Don't mind James, he is a Gods fearing Mitran but a bit churlish".
Though the Innkeeper seems less than pleasant the same thing cannot be said for the breakfast. Porridge, bacon, and eggs all excellently prepared. Sadly, no juice but the water is flavored with sugar. This is perhaps the best meal that many of you have had in months, even better than what the Cardinal served half of the time.
After the Mayor leads with a half-hearted prayer to Mitra he begins his inquiry, though he does try, "Tell me Sir Balin. What brings you and your large entourage so far north? I have heard no rumors of your coming from the King or from the Commander of Balentyne".
Sir Balin pursed his lips and spoke quietly. "Well, you should be the first to know. It's going to hit you and the townsfolk the hardest when word starts to spread."
"The Sons of the Apocalypse are active again. The church believes some of them are here."
The Mayor's face drops, "Sir Balin, I hope that you are simply making a jest at my expense".