Travis will eye the other group perhaps a bit suspiciously, but not an being overly friendly sort by nature, he doesn't make the first move to say hello. He explores the house a little, except for the proscribed areas, and makes himself available if anyone wants or needs him for anything.
Rose gives her father a kiss on the cheek to say goodbye and practically skips to the chapel to say her prayers.
Hound does seek out Travis.
I heard some of your escape while I was making my own break-out. So how did you come to meet Thorne and his servant?
"We had a visitor, well Sho did, the Lady Tia came to see him. She gave him a magical scarf with some items magically attached to it. When they were separated from the scarf they became real. With the tools we were given, we were able to overcome the guards a few at a time and make our way out of the place. Unfortunately we lost a few of our number along the way. I say unfortunately, but in truth there was one we were just as well rid of. But the dwarf is sorely missed, he would have been a good addition to our little crew. Anyway, the Lady Tia told Sho that when we got free, we were to cross the moor and come to this house. Except for Rose, who apparently has familial relations with the Cardinal, this was our first meeting with Thorne himself. It is quite an honor. Until now, he was just a name I had heard whispered among the faithful."
Travis pauses and looks at Hound a long moment, nods to himself, then asks, "You said you made your own break-out. Alone? I AM impressed, that could not have been easy. Tell me something of your own journey here, Mr. Hound."
The woman, Tia did visit my cell but did not give me anything but said that the eyes of the guards would be turned away, and they were when your group started your escape. I was able to break my chains and the single guard at my cell thought he could handle an unarmed man on his own. Hounds flexes his 'meathooks'. He was wrong. I scaled the walls and fled into the moors. I have training in surviving in the wilderness and those skills served me well as I traveled to this manor. Perhaps it was the..Infernal Father that we now serve that guided me here. Or just luck.
"Ah, I see. We provided a diversion for you then. Very clever. I'm glad you made it. Among the three of us who managed to escape as a group, we have little to no survival skills, but with teamwork, we managed to get across the moors as well. I think perhaps there might have been a guiding hand helping us all in this. But whether it was by design or luck, I'm glad we all made it. I wonder now what plans they have for us, for surely this period of respite is just that - a calm before the storm. What do you think?"
I agree. Partly rest and also sizing us up no doubt. Do you have any interest in the other group? I am wondering if they are allies or just rivals.
"If allies, they will strengthen us. If rivals, striving against them will also strengthen us in the long run. I was waiting to see if they would approach us... but so far, they have made no effort. They may be making the same assumption of us, in which case we may never meet unless another takes the initiative. I wouldn't put it past Sho to do so as he is the gregarious sort, with a silver tongue."
Quite, conversation is not one of my skills so asking Sho to see if he can integrate himself seems a good tactic.
"Perhaps instead of waiting for him to think of it on his own, we should go in search of him and give him a little stimulus to go talk with them, eh?" Travis gives Hound a sort of cross between a grimace and a wink and heads off in search of Sho.
When he finds the young man, hopefully not in flagrante with one of the servants, he approaches him. "Sho, you are undeniably the 'face' of our little group. I was hoping you might take it upon yourself to introduce yourself to this other group and find out what they are about."
While looking for Sho/waiting for Sho to respond/waiting for Sho to talk to the others, Travis turns to Hound and asks, "If it's not too personal, mind telling me how you got into Branderscar in the first place? What was your special crime and how'd you get caught?"
Murder. I murdered the teachers that oversaw the..training of the children of my destroyed clan. After the adults of my clan were out to the sword, the young, including me were deemed 'savable' and were put into an orphanage while our language, faith and culture were stripped away. If you spoke anything but the language you were taught, you were whipped. Eventually either with honeyed words or force, the rest fell into line leaving me.
I went into a blind rage and hacked the teachers to death, I was caught because I was exhausted and wounded after my rampage.
"Ah, a noble uprising and virtuous cause, to slay those who would do such to you and your clan. I am impressed that you succeeded in killing the blaggarts who would so defile your traditions. Of course, I wouldn't call it murder, but justified homicide. Glad you escaped, then, to tell your tale, and take further revenge on those who would wrong you."
Hound nods and the two men feel that they have bro-bonded.
At a point where the slaves see an opportunity to speak to the guests, one manages to come up to each guest and ask them if they have anything they require for the days ahead. If there's anything they require, they ask that they tell them or compile a list so Tiadora may supply them with what they need. She apparently has access to various markets where she can get such supplies.
Greatsword (50)
Scale mail (50)
Club (0)
Backpack (2)
Flint&Steel (1)
2 Torches (2 CP)
2 days rations (1 gp)
Waterskin (1 gp)
Silk rope (10 gp)
Bedroll (1 sp)
84 gp 8 sp 8 cp left
Sholano gives Travis an amused glance over his shoulder as he saunters over to the other group, immediately setting about ingratiating himself with them.
Introducing himself (honestly) and schmoozing shamelessly, his natural charm, and practiced skills, serve him well as he does his best to make some new 'friends'.
Rose spent most of her time in her quarters. She was a hedonist of the worst sort, and when she didn't have to do anything, she was utterly content to laze about in her massive four poster bed.
Hound checks the equipment he has been granted by Thorn, his eye's tracign the blade and givign it some testing swings before he nods and runs a whetstone over it.
Sholano manages to meet most of the members of the other group. Their leader is a beautiful young witch named Elise, who dresses in fur coats despite the weather. Apparently she, as well as the rest of her group are northerners, shipped here to work for the Cardinal. She is friendly in a polite sort of way, hoping to learn about your group as well. There are two other women. One is apparently hiding in her rooms, and is the group's rogue. The other is an aloof mentalist, who speaks in one-word sentences when directly asked questions. She prefers the company of her books to people. There are also a set of identical twins, Tallus or "Trak" and Titus or "Trik" Rackburn. They are easily told apart by their clothes and the fact that Titus is much friendlier than his brother. He is a priest of Asmodeus, and the only one who worships the dark god of their group. He seems to enjoy talking to others, and hopes to meet the rest of the group soon enough. Tallus is some sort of ranger. He spends a lot of time training with the last member of their group, a half-elf man who seems to only spend his time chopping up the training dummies with his greatsword.
All of the equipment requested has been sent.
Hound will go into the training area where Trak is practicing and give him a nod while engaging in abuse of the training dummies. After a warm-up, Hound gets a drink.
A fellow escapee from Talingard? Hound inquires. Perhaps some sparring? Hound nods to some practice swords.
Trak nods, picking up a sword to spar with. "My companions and I are not of this land, we are northerners. The Cardinal has hired us after we managed to desecrate a tomb in our homeland, one of a Mithran knight. He was buried with a great deal of glorious treasure, though most of it was not quite usable by us... however, it attracted the attention of the Cardinal, and I am sure that will lead us to greater glory in this nation. I am hoping to learn more about this oppressive land while here with the Cardinal."
Hound picks up a sword and shifts into a stance as he faces off. Northener? A welcome sight after being buried under thing skinned southeners after all this time. Hound gives Trak's sword some solid strikes and his voice shifts into the particular accent of the northern area. How far? I was originally from the forests closer the the occupied lands, far two close it seems. Hound works up a sweat as he gives a few thumps with the blunted end of his sword.
Good grip and stance there. Hund compliments as they end their match. Any idea what we shall be doing against the Mitrians? A good raid sounds fine to me, about time they fear the night.
Sholano spends an inordinate amount of time chatting with Elise, pretending (mostly) to be enthralled with her beauty. Without spreading any overt lies, he gently coaxes as much information from her as he can while giving away as little as possible. He flits from topic to topic seemingly at random, dodging and deflecting questions like a fencer.
Elise seems a reasonably intelligent young woman, but is perhaps a little easily too flattered. She is a witch, worshiper of a mysterious and powerful entity of winter, harbinger of days of endless snow. She seems to wish to join the Cardinal's plans as she has no love for sun gods, and has great ambition. Perhaps too much. She speaks of the loyalty of her comrades, but hardly mentions any loyalty she has for them. It's clear that the most important person in her life is herself, far beyond any others.
Trak replies, "You did quite well yourself. I'm from past the northern seas. It's a beautiful land there- I knew it quite well before Elise asked my brother and I to join her. She's the leader of our group, the Cardinal only speaks to her. I suppose it's not so with your group." He pauses and thinks about what the missions will entail. "I think the Cardinal's jobs may require a tad more subtlety, but there will be ample opportunity to kill." He smiles slightly at that. "The Cardinal has no small manner of enemies, after all."
Hound nods. Stealth is not really my forte but I can wait for the right time. Perhaps we will be able to combine our strengths on such a mission.
As for our group, it seems Rose has the eye of the Cardinal, what connection they have is unknown to me but it might be revealed in time.
Hound nods in farewell and returns to his quarters for a wash.
Having gotten all the information he feels like obtaining for the moment, Sholano takes note of Elise's love of flattery and starts turning his efforts in a more...personal direction, flirting like mad. He casually fills out his list of needed supplies as he does so, adding an extra bottle of wine to the total with a wink for Elise.
"I see. Well, I'm off to find Elise. I hope to see you later." says Trak before leaving.
Elise responds very well to this new direction. Perhaps too well. As it is, just as she and Sholano are talking, Trak comes to speak to Elise. After a quick, hurried conversation, she returns to Sholano, clearly upset with her companion but she's managed to usher him out of the room, asking him to leave them alone for now. It's clear that her companion is not pleased with Sholano's efforts.
Sholano watches Trak go out of the corner of his eye, making a mental note to butter up the twins later, then focuses his attention back on Elise.
Travis spends his time alternately training and relaxing, exploring the allowed areas of the house. If he runs into any of the other group, he will smile, be polite, but terse, knowing his personality tends to rub people the wrong way.
The house is large and expansive. There's a quite large library containing mainly books of history, sociology, religion, and infernal lore, as well as basic or reference materials on other topics. There's a large training gymnasium as well as a smaller training room with dummies and the like, as well as a few unoccupied studies in case anyone would rather be out of the large library. There are also some smaller sitting rooms, and rooms with instruments and the like. It's not a huge manor, but it's quite large, and has all the things one would need for studying and training, as well as relaxation. Out of the other group, only Titus tries to talk to Travis, and stops after a few friendly pleasantries, probably realizing that he would rather not speak to him.
Elise is not a woman to take the first move in this sort of matter. But it also seems as if she feels she is completely in control. Howvever, once things start to happen, she goes along with them. She does seem to be quite fond of Sholano, regardless of whatever is going on with her and the other member of her band.
Travis will talk with Titus, though his speech and responses will be short and to the point, fearing that saying more will alienate rather than befriend. If Titus is interested in sparring, Travis will express an interest as well, to improve/keep up their respective skills.
During his relaxation time, he will meditate some of the time, and also spend some time in the library. Though not overly learned with a formal education, he is interested in infernal lore and history, and will spend some time reading as well.
Also during this bit of downtime, he will provide a list of his few needs.
sling, 20 bullets
kama (a double chained kama would be nice, but it is listed both as a monk weapon and an exotic weapon - do monks need to take exotic weapon prof to use one? if not, he'd prefer the double chained kama instead of a standard kama)
Backpack
Flint&Steel
5 days rations
Waterskin
Silk rope
Bedroll
Rose spent her time enjoying luxury. She was quite the hedonist. Hours spent in a warm bathtub, or sleeping in, or slowly eating the most decadent deserts the kitchens could make.
She took occasional meals with Tia or her father, but mostly kept to herself until she got bored a few days later and found herself taking her new mission unexpectedly seriously.
From her father's equipment stores brought in for the many teams he employed, she took two supple leather belts and strung them with reinforced pouches, then took her time organizing and filling them with all manor of tools and trinkets that she thought she might use in her fantasies of what her mission might entail.
She probably went a little overboard.
Titus continues to be friendly towards Sholano, but has little interest in sparring. He's seemingly interested in infernal lore, and is also occasionally seen in the library, studying up on religious topics, but also spends a lot of time with those he came here with, speaking with them. He is closest to his brother, and talks about him often.
The home does have such ample supplies in addition to those that Tiadora is able to send over from wherever it is she's getting them. Probably some port, or the capitol. Tiadora is here often, but the Cardinal is not. He is off, doing other things, plotting other plots.
He does, however, manage to send over a gift- one for each of the guests. The gifts contain two items. First, a circlet of wrought iron that magically adjusts itself to fit comfortably around each wearer's head. It most likely has other magical properties. Second, a silver holy symbol of Asmodeus with an adjustable chain. The gifts are brought to the guests by the slaves, who do not know what the items do. They are really of little help.
Rose gleefully put on her new holy symbol, letting the inverted star spin in the light before clasping it around her neck.
"It's so pretty!"
She looked down at it and admired herself in a mirror before remembering her mother's teachings.
Never let the common people know your allegiances.
For a moment there was a translucent second reflection in the mirror, as if a profoundly beautiful woman was standing behind Rose. Given Rose's penchant for low-cut blouses the holy symbol was quite prominently on display.
"Thanks, Mum." she muttered and took the pendant off. Instead she pulled it around her waist and clasped it at it's last link, wearing it slung across the tops of her hips so that the chain would occasionally peek out if her blouse rode up. She tucked the silver pentagram itself into the front of her riding pants and winked at her own reflection.
Then she picked up the circlet. "Wonder what this does. Iron isn't very pretty."
Tiadora is currently in the house, lecturing a slave over a broken pot. "The next time you act so clumsily, it'll be your hands! Do you understand me?" The slave nods, tearing up slightly, but Tiadora looks unmoved at the display. "Oh, shut up." The slave quiets, beginning to pick of shards of pot with his bare hands, and Tiadora turns around to see Rose. "Oh, hello, dearest. You've got your gifts from your father, haven't you? They're custom made, you know- quite unique. But quite useful."
"The pendant is lovely! The circlet though? I'm sure I'm not understanding. Did Daddy say what I was supposed to do with it? It doesn't exactly match any of my outfits."
Travis takes the symbol and slips it around his neck, the inverted pentagram resting on his chest. Then he dons the circlet cautiously, as if uncertain of wearing it, as such things usually connote a status he doesn't have nor would he want. Still he puts it on and closes his eyes, trying to deduce if he feels any changes.
Once he is sure that both gifts are securely in place he goes back to his training.
Hound slips the symbol around his neck, best to keep up apperances. The circlet was something he viewed as undeeded, but as it was a gift from Thorne, he tucked it into his pouch.
"The circlet is magical. It operates on a similar principle to the more commonplace hat of disguise, only it has a different shape. While wearing it, you can also command it to change into any shape you'd like even if you aren't changing your form, so I suppose you'll be able to fit it to match anything you'd prefer to wear." she explains. "I suppose you can do whatever you'd like with it until you leave here on whatever mission, in which case you'll probably need to wear it 24/7, as not to be arrested."
Rose's eyes light up. She hugs Tia and runs off to experiment with her new toy.
I can change clothes as often as I want!
When Sholano's requested supplies finally arrive, his eyes light up, but when he looks inside the parcel, his face falls. The reality of his benefactor's generosity was, it would seem, somewhat short of his hopes. Still, as he begins to arrange the goods, he begins to feel more and more confident. Properly kitted out again, if somewhat sparsely by his standards, he allows himself a sinister little smirk.
The circlet gives him pause for a moment. The circlet is just not his usual style, magic or no, and he decides to wear it for the moment, so as to not offend the Cardinal. Perhaps he can divine a better use for it later.
The amulet, on the other hand, is a problem. There simply isn't a better way to proclaim oneself an enemy of the state, and that's hardly an image Sholano would like to project. After a bit of consideration, he tightens the chain around his forearm, where a bit of subtle wrist action might allow him to slip the star free of his sleeve, or back up around his elbows, as he chose.
Three days pass by quickly. And once they are gone, you are summoned to the Cardinal once again. Tiadora once again leads you to the office at the designated time, and stands behind the Cardinal.
"Ah, it's good to see you again. Have you enjoyed your gifts? The circlets allow you to walk amongst your enemies as one of them, and the amulets will remind you of your true loyalties. You've done well already, accepting my offer. But you are not ready for service. I have my own way of training new recruits. Tiadora will lead you down to the basement. There you will find nine chambers, each more dangerous than the last. Hidden in there is a pendant of silver and sapphire. Return it to me, and let nothing stand in your way."
He turns to the window, and opens the curtain slightly, showing his visitors the hour. On the grey moors, it is almost dusk. "You have until dusk tomorrow to bring me my prize." He closes the curtain, and adds. "Do NOT fail me."
"Finally!" Rose said with a grin. "This is going to be so much fun!"
Hounds nods.
"silver and sapphire pendant, nothing stands in our way, return it to you. Got it."
"Well, if you're ready, then go. Tiadora, would you show them the entrance?"
Tiadora nods and leaves the room, not waiting for others to follow her. She turns left out of the room, goes down the hallway and opens a door. "You may return to the manor if you need to refresh if you find the challenges down there too... difficult... as long as you return by dusk." She smiles a slight, sadistic smile. "Please try not to fail." If nobody has any questions for her, Tiadora quickly leaves.
Beyond the door is a staircase that descends westward into a somewhat brightly lit room. It is unfurnished, and made of stone. There is one door to the west, on the opposite side of the staircase. The only thing in this room, besides the door and a small lantern hung from the exact center of the ceiling, is an inscription at the archway that separates the stairs from the room itself. It reads in a delicate cursive, "Deception
is a tool. Self-deception is death. Deceive always thy enemy but never thyself.”
Hound will warily look around the room, his eyes scanning for any hidden threats.
Sholano smirks at the inscription.
Words to live by.
Since the true nature of their new circlets had been revealed, Sholano had been tinkering. Over the last few minutes, his appearance had been shifting, ever so subtly. If you were watching, almost nothing was noticeable, but should you look away for a few minutes, then you would look back to see a man bearing only the slightest resemblance to the original in his place.
For the moment, he appeared to have settled on a choice. His skin tone is darker, his features more angled, and his hair shorter and differently styled. Even his build seems to have changed, for he stands taller and fills out his shirt with a few more muscles.
He peers around the room, looking for something to indicate the challenge that surely waits somewhere in the room, paying special attention to the archway and door.