Adrien shuts the door behind everybody. Placing a single chair in the center of the room, he points. "Sit, Taishan. Talk."
Adrien waits for a minute before anybody moves. The silence just continues. This guy has just trailed off into space. Lovely. Now there's a man with the attention span of a toddler. I hope the gods get all their laughs out while they can. Adrien snaps his fingers at Rantin.
"Back here Rantin, focus. Who told you to keep an eye on us?"
Hopefully Vince or Mallichatti are are following. I'd hate to have this guy repeat himself.
"What exactly do you mean by 'clerk'" I ask, "I can't imagine that a rebel organization really keeps a whole lot of paperwork."
"Well, lets start with what's left. Lugen said there's only the five of us agents left. What were we working on?"
Molos made his way to his residence carefully, his senses telling him of any dangers.
Molos opened the door and warily studied the interior.
perception check
Molos spotted a series of books and began to leaf through them carefully looking for something...
Adrien sits in silence for a minute. Taking in all that was just revealed, his frustration wells up again. "This is starting to get ridiculous. Everything is a dead end. How is it possible for someone to cripple us so badly, and at a time so perfect that we're left with nothing but dead ends?"
MAlichatti ignores Adriens outburst and simply asks. "So you knew us? Personally?"
"What was the place and time?" I ask.
Adrien is right. The timing is too perfect. Lugen was ostensibly the only one who had full info, and he clearly didn't betray us. None of us knew enough to betray us. Which means we're dealing with someone who either has powerful magic or a hell of a lot of spies. Or both I suppose. The more I learn about what we're up against, the less confident I feel about our chances of success. We have absolutely zero advantages. We don't even have any areas that could be turned into our advantage. Or if we do, we certainly don't know about it, which just makes whoever our enemy is all the scarier. This is frustrating. Paranoid people live longer and all that, but this is becoming too much. We need some sort of help. Which reminds me.
"Also: the name Dice Drem ring a bell?"
"Good. Also, you didn't say where. This is a chance to do some good ol' espionage, because we desperately need information. Also also, yes please find Mr. Drem. Quickly. Molos is out looking for him at the moment, but he's not exactly the most... tactful... of people," I realize that I'm talking a bit faster than usual. Can't tell if I'm stressed or excited. I need a drink. And a woman.
Which reminds me. Party tonight. Chance to acquire both. Most excellent.
"Now I'm contemplating gutting you." Malichatti says matter-of-factly. "I'm going to be honest here. The trouble with not having one's memorires is that trust is a bit difficult to get. Were we a part of a rebellion? LAtely I've found things that would point to no. You know us. But I've found others who know me. And if I asked them they'd laugh at everything you just said. You know, just before gutting you. So pardon me if I'm not a fan of waiting here for you to bringa highly trained actor, or speical agent to come in here and trick us into doing something incredibly stupid. Haples dupes in some kind of political coup. Yeah, sounds about right. So, what now?"
Molos gingerly studied the books, one seemed to be a tome concerned with the arcane, another the various lower planes, a third was a journal and the 4th had calculations of the arcane variety on its pages. He began to leaf through the journal...
Molos will spend at least two hours studying the journal to recoup lost knowledge.
Well. All sorts of interesting revelations. Note to self. Don't show up Mall with magic. Won't take kindly. Side note: leave all magic enemies to Mall. Will auto-aggro. Boo ya.
More importantly though, is me. Some warning in the back of my mind starts going off.
"Lugen managed to get a lady to trick you into pledging your help to Taishan..."
Lugen. Trick. Lady. Pledge.
I feel weak, shaky, like I'm coming down off a high. Fear hits me, and I don't know why.
I've been tricked. I've been played. Again. How many layers does this thing have? First I think he's using me. Then I think he's on my side. Now, again I'm led to believe that he's playing me.
Fear is washed away by anger. My fists clench in frustration, teeth grinding. No matter what I think, there's always something telling me I'm wrong. But this seems different. Even if he was just being mercenary about the whole thing, and trying to recruit me regardless of the cost, I don't like it. I promised did I? Well. I guess I can fulfill that promise. But never again. After this, after we destroy Thrune, or Egorian, or even all of Cheliax, whatever. After that, Taishan's going down. Dead or alive, I will find Lugen, and he will pay for this. I do not like being blindly manipulated and shackled, even if it's by my own word. Regardless of his reasons or motives, he will pay.
I crack my neck and grin, showing as many teeth as possible.
"Go get Dice. Request a meeting, set up a rendezvous, whatever, I don't care. Just get it done." I wave him away.
"You're not going to let him go alone are you?"
"You're not going to let him go alone are you?"
"Yes. Be patient. You'll see," I reply, "If he's stupid enough to try and play us, I'll hold him down while you skin him if that's what you really want."
"Hmph. I just don't want him coming back trailing a gang of murderers behind him for us. But you know what? That sounds great. Go ahead."
"I would've thought you'd welcome a little stress relief given your constant state of agitation," I reply mildly, leaning back against the wall, "I know I could use a lot more bloodshed in my life."
Molos finished reading the journal and moved on to the book with the arcane calculations.
Adrien sits back and takes in this exchange. This was getting better and better. Thinking on what he'd just said, Adrien remembered the slave trade. Seeing children traded to government officials, brothels, even hell fiends themselves, it only rang true in his mind. He smiled, his hatred renewed. Somehow, some way, despite not having his memories after childhood, he felt a semblance of his personality return. I'll go with him. If anything we need to know what's going on. And anyways....If he is lying, I think I want to eat him." at this, his vampire half overtook him, and his pupils dialated to an abnormal size. His short half-fangs barred at the man. Adrien seemed gone, but something else was there.
Adrien follows him intently.
Molos began the process of ransacking his own home he was trying to find...something.
perception check
Deep breaths. Rantin and Adrien walk out. More deep breaths.
Ok. Here we go.
"Well. Since you already set the bar with some solid sarcasm there, I guess I can't strive for any less. See, the way I had it planned, we would profess our trust and enthusiasm for our current 'fortune', and our dearest Rantin would then trot gleefully off to do whatever things Rantins do. After a brief cautionary period, our vengefully vindictive vampire friend would then follow at a discrete distance. And with utmost caution, he would observe the doings of our clerical acquaintance, after which he would report back to us, informing us whether or not he could be trusted, or was bringing a... how did you say it? 'Gang of murderers?' Yes. That was it. But. This way is much better! Now we have no real way of discerning whether he is friend or foe! I do so love surprises, and they say that anticipation makes the heart grow fonder. I can feel the fondness veritably frothing in my heart. At least I think that's what it is. It might be also be mind-numbing frustration. I'm not sure. They're so similar, you know?" I grace him with my most beneficent of smiles, and wonder how long it will take my hand to uncramp from this fist.
Malichatti shrugs. "Gutting him would have been easier. Everything here stinks of set up."