Koredrel looks around, but there isn't really anyone that's considered a "servant." Several sweat-covered guards are on a break nearby, clearly having done some physical exercise and enjoying some fresh water. Their posture is relaxed, but still vigilant.
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Tao Lin Chen steps up to his companion.
"Friend Ulfar, violence is the last resort of he who does not control the situation".
"You played your hand, nobody seems to know Garrla, but it would be unwise to attract this type of attention to us.
"But if it were to come to blows, know that I will be with you".
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Lilly Ann playfully sticks out her tongue at the man who refused her flower and then turns as Ulfar starts making his challenge. With a slight giggle she makes her way back and hops up to sit on a crate to the side.
She takes out an apple and starts munching on it, looking back and forth between the soldiers, Ulfar, and Chen, clearly expecting to be entertained.
In between bites she hums loudly to herself, which feels strangely encouraging to both Ulfar and Chen.
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Ulfar snarls at Tao without breaking eye contact from the challenged soldier
"Keep ye monastery wisdom to ye-self, friend. I'll be damned before I step down from a fight challenge!"
More quietly he adds
"I will try to entertain them for a bit, and you go and check around if you can get better look around. And please do tell Petite not to look that suspicious"
He than loosen his weapon belt, and throws it to Koredrel.
"Lets see what you are made of, boy"
With an intense look and deep growl Ulfar moves into the brawl
The officer looks appreciatively at UIfar. "Good. At least you know to pick a fair fight. I was half afraid you'd be dumb enough to one of my veterans. All right, do your worst and we'll see how you fare."
Ulfar and the recruit line up in front of each other, and the recruit says, "Well, I hope you do your best. I won't pull any punches just because you're not one of us."
At the officer's signal, the two combatants jump into action.
Ulfar wins initiative and gives the recruit a powerful punch in the face , but the recruit retaliates with a strong one-two punch and knocks Ulfar out flat in mere seconds.
Several soldiers rush over with a wet blanket and a flask of water and bring Ulfar back to consciousness. The officer walks up to him and shakes Ulfar's hand. "Well, you were warned, but you did get a good hit in, I'll grant you that. Not sure what your plan was with this whole ordeal, but I guess you've taught my men not to underestimate strangers. I'll be sure to drill that in their minds as soon as possible, so I guess you have my thanks. Go take it easy and if you want a position here in the Guard, just join up over there," he points to the sign-in table, "and I'll make sure you'll join my division."
The officer doesn't exactly seem to care for Ulfar in particular, but Ulfar certainly rose in respect, it seems.
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Lilly Ann stops humming with a sharp intake of breath at the two punches that knock Ulfar out. She's silent for a while, watching attentively. Then, as Ulfar is splashed with water, she starts laughing. A soft-pitched giggle that goes on for far too long.
When the officer walks away, she wipes some tears from her eyes, then calls out to Ulfar, her laughter only barely contained in the first sentence:
"Does it hurt? You know...if you apologise for the thing about kids being annoying and noisy... I coooouuuld help you."
She smiles sweetly as she takes another bite out of her apple.
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After coming to sense, Ulfar thanks to the officer
"I will give it a good thought...just after the moment I will be able to think straight again. Thanks ye for the chance to feel like home."
Ulfar spits blood to the floor. Shaking his opponent hand, he goes back to Lilly-Ann, a bit wobbly, but holding his footing.
"If ye would ever hear ye own laughter after being knocked out, ye would know it is impossible to say that children are not annoying!"
He adds a bloody smile and hearty laugh to it.
"Well, there goes your 12 seconds of distraction! I hope ye used it good. Damn that boy smashed hard, and he even wasnt a seasoned soldier. We better watch out, we should definitely avoid any fights with those guys in future. At least now we know how strong they punch...and it is stronger than I would like"
The soldier walks up to Ulfar and says, "Sorry for the punches, but you were literally asking for it. You hit hard for a commoner though, I certainly did not expect that! No hard feelings?" He sticks out his hand, hoping Ulfar will shake it.
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Koredrel uses the time of the fight to look around, but as the fight is over in a few seconds, there is hardly a chance to see something or someone interesting.
"I get the distinct feeling that our Garrla is only a ruse to find smugglers. That means that our friend Flitch is under observation as well."
After having found no sign of Garrla, you make ready to leave to rest up and heal. While you're heading for the exit, one of the Guard passes by and bumps into Ulfar. She apologises and says, "You held yourself well in that fight. You really do have Emerald Guard potential. Perhaps you should sign up after all," then moves towards the recruitment area and relieves the recruiter of his duty.
Everyone except Petite Chenille notices the woman dropped a small piece of paper as she bumped into Ulfar. It's hastily scrawled and simply says, Ready to join.
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Petite Chenille hears from Tao Lin Chen that their quarry is currently a recruiter for the Emerald Guard, and moves out of the shadows to stand in the line.
inner monologue"And thus, a secret message has been passed to us. A clever way of communication, littering in the den of evil; it is such common practice that it is actually expected! Very clever... maybe too clever... We should watch our backs."
The Petite Chenille makes sure he stands in line, but not to close to Ulfar or Tao Lin Chen, just in case they are trying to pick out a group. "Let us not be lambs to the slaughter, but the wolves of justice draped in the rugs of the sheepish corruption."
As Ulfar and Tao Lin reach the front of the queue, the woman gives no hint of recognition. "So, you decided we're good enough for you after all?" She points to her own uniform and says, "If you like it and have what it takes, it can be yours sometime soon. Just tell me the time and the place."
Ulfar recognises the stress Garrla places on "time" and "place" to mean to tell her the rendezvous point.
Garrla leafs through your papers and says nonchalantly, "Says here you're merchants, with a temporary permit to be here. Luckily, people can stay in the city for as long as they're part of the Emerald Guard. You just have to notify the border guard of your change in situation. Hope Ellvard won't be a pain in the behind about it." She produces a small black notebook and slides it over to you. She points to the guard stationed at the entrance and says, "Hope you have what it takes."
As you finish signing up, you see her quickly folding up the papers you've given her and tuck it away in a pocket.
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After handling talk with Garla, stepping out of the line, Ulfar looks to Tao, and jokingly mocks him
"violence is the last resort of he who does not control the situation... Just look where violence led us to! Such an adventure, and just by the cost of bruised jaw and hurt pride."
Ulfar winks at Lao and bump him with a shoulder. After that, Ulfar looks through the black notebook he received, judging whether he should indeed sign up with Guards, just to have less curfew restrictions.
Ulfar takes a quick look through the notebook. An earmarked page contains a signed confession of Ellvard admitting he sold a fake painting to Belimarius. Ulfar realises that they're probably going to be searched when leaving this place, and that this will probably be seized as potential blackmail against the Guard.
Ulfar asks for the training times for the Emerald Guard. They have 12 hours of training a day, which mostly overlaps with curfew times. If you actually sign up, you'll have 2 hours a day available to join the rest of the party.
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"Well, that is quite a tight schedule, I think it will overlap with me Trading responsibilities too much. Will have to give it a pass for now."
Noticing the blackmail document, Ulfar waits for a moment with Pettite while no one is watching them in particular, and gives him the folded paper.
"I think it better if ye take care of this paper for now. I hope you will take safeguard it properly, with all ye special talents"
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When Petite Chenille sees Ulfar waiting for something, he sneakily moves towards him to see what's up. When he sees the ledger, Petite Chenille immediately knows what to do.
Inner Monologue "Ah, precious intelligence. Ulfar must have acquired it most stealthily. And to make sure it cannot be tracked back to him, he wants to pass it on. Very well! The Petite Chenille accepts this mission!
He gets close to Ulfar and takes the ledger, and safely stows it away. "Like a lovable hamster, I have stowed away these villainous fibers in the cheek pouches of justice. And like a hamster, I'll take all of this back to my den!"
The Petite Chenille carefully tucks the notebook away and it is practically invisible unless you know what to look for.
As you leave the Emerald Guardhouse, you indeed get searched again to see if you're smuggling any contraband out of the compound, but the guards don't find the notebook. They're wearing big grins as they're searching Ulfar, but otherwise nothing is out of the ordinary. You get your weapons and equipment back and the guards wish you a good day.
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"That went excellent, far better than expected." the Petite Chenille claims as the party meets up back in town.
He then produces various bandages and tools from his bandolier. "Right then, let's see those cuts and bruises, Ulfar. You played along with them excellenty, you're a natural. But it is better that we treat these injuries quickly. We do not want the poisonous grime of this cespool to infect your wounds. Evil is opportunistic, and we need to make sure our bodies stay in tiptop and valorous shape!"
He lines up the various bandages and tries to decide what to pick. "So Ulfar, what kind of bandage were you looking for? I have several styles, as you can see for yourself. I recommend this one, with the butterfly logo. It is the symbol of the Grand Papillon, you know? Wearing this will certainly make you feel as courageous as the greatest hero that I know!".
He turns to the rest while holding the bandages next to Ulfar. "What do you all think? This is the one, right?"
for of healing.
With Ulfar patched up, you head for Themolin's warehouse. It's perhaps a bit strange that he invited you to a warehouse, rather than his actual house, but you didn't ask during your meeting.
You arrive right on time. It's a big L-shaped building with two doors. One is clearly locked, while the other one does not seem to have a lock on it.
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"I'd say our initial meeting with Themolin went a little side-ways.
And there were prying eyes.
I would advise caution."
He turns to Ulfar :
"All of life is a dream walking, all of death is a going home."
"Let us approach with great silence and vigilance"
Tao Lin tries to open the unlocked (back ?) door, moves in silently and observes his surroundings carefully.
Tao Lin Chen sneaks inside. The warehouse is enormous, with ceilings 30 feet up above. Stacks of crates occupy most of the interior, leaving only narrow walkways in between. He hides behind a few crates as he hears a familiar voice.
"All right Themolin, spill your secrets. Why are you so damn twitchy the last few days? You've been working at the Ministry for years and you've never made a single noise. What are you up to?"
You hear a nervous voice reply: "N-nothing, I swear!"
"Then why are you hiding out in a warehouse like the dirty little weasel you are?"
"I j-just moved house, but the new house doesn't b-become available until next w-week, so I t-thought I'd camp here, I promise!"
Tao Lin looks around a stack of crates and sees Themolin tied up in a chair, covered in bruises. Flanking him are Barralbus and a masked person, someone you'd figure might be an assassin of some sort. They're so busy interrogating poor Themolin that they haven't noticed you approach just yet.
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Seeing familiar combat signs, Ulfar drops to half crouch in order to try to be more stealthy...a feat that is hardly associated with a strongly built bearded tall man. He draws his axes and turns to the group
"Seems like Tao spotted company. The Insides of the warehouse looks quite narrow, I propose flanking with whoever likes his enemy to be in an arm reach. Petite we gonna need that main door open so get ye tools ready. I will follow our monk friend, and we will try to keep them busy while ye get into the flanking position."
Ulfar than starts to move in the warehouse to get into good reach position, but not to expose himself before time is right.
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Upon hearing what's wrong, Koredrel decides to change his blade for his longbow, as his friends are melee specialists already.
He makes his way in, looking for a good spot and finding one on top of some crates, with a view on his targets.
When the attack starts, the assassin will be his first target.
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Petite Chenille hears Ulfar's plan and sees Koredrel and Tao Lin Chen move into the building. He nods to Ulfar and goes towards the locked door, trying to pick it open.
Petite Chenille opens the door quietly and nods to Ulfar, grabs his Halfling Sling Staff, and moves into the warehouse. "Like a mouse, I shall move about in your home, and while you scold the cat, I'll eat all your cheese.