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As Nyug ties them up, Mattera explains his intentions to the mercenaries. "I'm exceptionally good at hurting people, so I'll leave what kind of injuries you would like up to you. It's your reputation, so however bad you want them to be, you just let me know. Broken bones, gouges, claw marks, bruises, black eyes, the works, name it and you got it. I'm for not doing it at all, but you're the ones who gotta explain it to any future employers." He hoped that if they did find the twelve thousand gold, that they'd keep it instead of leaving it for these punks. Magic or no, it seemed like they at least knew when to quit. Perhaps they weren't as dumb as they let on.
Mattera sized up the man, figuring out that Cladissa had used some magical coercion to make him more pliable. The best play is to get him to consider his losses before Cladissa promises him more of their money. He decides on a more gentle tone than he's used to using, but it ends up being a little more menacing than he'd like. "The problem is that you are all in over your heads. If you don't leave, you won't work again for a different reason. She really is looking out for you because what she suggests is your best choice to make."
"If he's staring and waiting for us, you might be able to get off a hex. Whether it works or not, I'll be right behind you to offer you an escape." It's clear Mattera doesn't like the idea, but he can't deny the effectiveness of the tactic from before. Too much could go wrong with it, he was aware, but he figured he could at least charge in past her and take the brunt of the punishment.
The tian watched as her skillful fingers flitted across his chest. Although he had cool metal in his blood, he wasn't made of stone. "Damn thing didn't even fit." he quipped with a bit of a smirk. As she turned away, he also addressed the imp. "And I wouldn't expect it cost as much as it would to have a man of Argor's stature to do your laundry. Just be glad he didn't charge you for it."
Mattera looked to the shadowy gnome with a hint of a grin. "Two minutes?" Routine was just fine, and he had to admit getting more comfortable in the group because of it. As the scouting commenced, the tian took a look at his bindings. The blood had stopped, due to the first aid and the magic, but it looked an ugly sight. He took out the infernal garment used for the bandage and took it out of the wound, dropping it onto the floor with an unsightly and ungraceful plop. Taking out a handkerchief, he began doing a bit of polishing of the old plate armor as he waited.
As Argor and Rutai work their mundane and magical skill, Mattera complies and assists as best he can. "Thanks for that." He spoke to them. "I'm sure I would have gotten it eventually, but sooner is better when you're losing blood." Once he was sure the wound was closed up, he patted the area gingerly, and then a little harder and judged himself ready to proceed. "Hrim, if you'd like to scout ahead again, I will be ready when you give the go ahead."
Mattera finished his swings, splattering demon against the wall. When the heightened focus of battle faded from his mind, he noticed his wound was still bleeding. He put pressure on it with his hand, trying to get it to stop, but it kept on going. "Well, this is a problem." he spoke rather nonchalantly. No use in increasing his heart rate now, he'd just die faster that way.
Mattera kept his mouth shut at the storm of hypocrisy that just paraded in front of him. Perhaps a conversation at a different time would be useful, but most likely it would not. There was one particular thing that needed to be addressed, but it could at least wait until they were outside the earshot of the enemy. He could easily sense the unease in Nyug, and that softened his attitude a bit. Obviously the group understood their longtime companion more than their new one, it perhaps would take time before they dealt with him in a similar pattern. Addressing the casters, he sighed with a slight amount of impatience. "If you're done with your strategy session, I'll head on down and hit them terribly hard with this weapon, hopefully before I am hit with anything that could inflict a disease. But it still would be much better for them to be attacking me than you lot. That's why I'm here. So I'd appreciate it if there wasn't any more running on ahead and making yourself an easy target, hmm?" After giving Cladissa a pointed glance, he turned and went down after Hrim. He was beginning to wonder if women were worth the trouble.
Mattera begins the count as Hrim scouts. He was always good with numbers, and it did help to have a specific and regular amount of time to be able to do things in concert with others. He fiddled with his bat while he waited, keeping an eye on everything. When Cladissa began her questioning, he made sure he paid enough attention to them to see how they really felt when the responded.
Mattera sighed audibly at the unprofessional bickering. "Why base a plan on on unproved strategy when a normal one will suffice. I'll block the door, Nyug can back me up with his long arm, Hrim can attack from range from without or within, since they won't be able to see him anyway and the two of you can hit them with your magic from range. Breaking a window isn't going to be any quieter than just taking them out, and if we spend any more time talking, we're more likely to try to kill each other than accomplish our objective. That's not to mention the kind of reputation we'll get if this kind of tactic gets out." The tian steps into the room also mindful of the tripline and walks up to the door as Cladissa prepares her hex, rotating the tetsubo in his hand. "So." He began toward the room full of mercenaries. "Are you the special kind of incompetent, or just the regular kind?"
The tian nods to Hrim as the gnome heads in. "Two minutes then." 119, 118, 117, Mattera nodds to Argor. "At your leisure, sir." 111, 110, 109, "If it's up to me," the metal blooded man said as he looked up at Nyug and brandished his starmetal club. "We'll have you home in about an hour. Hopefully it wouldn't have spoiled by then." 94, 93, 92,
"I suppose it would depend on the amount of subtlety you desire. Hrim might be excellent at sneaking and reconnaissance, but it may be less useful to us if I'm pounding the floor with excessively heavy boots. I personally don't mind having them all rush us, but I don't want to keep everyone from using their abilities to their fullest. If you deem it fine, then by all means."
Discreetly wispering back to Cladissa, "He's quite unaware" before the meeting ends, he also gets up and gets ready to go. "It's been a while since I've beaten some humility into some Cheliaxian heads. Failed Hellknights aren't quite as good as the real thing, but I'll be glad to test their mettle."
Before:
Mattera clapped a meaty hand on the gnome's back in a friendly manner. "No need to flirt with the man's sister, Hrim. She likely knows just as little as this gentleman. As she came in later, I'm sure we'll be better off exploring our investigation in another direction." He felt like it had been a bit of a waste of time to come here, but he would rather be away to talk candidly. "Sorry for the waste of time." he told the man, and abruptly left. Early the next morning, Mattera held off going to the kitchen due to the earnest conversation that was in there. It was probably best to let them work it out themselves, as they hadn't seen it necessary for someone to intervene, nor had they asked. But when business came for the Freaks, he followed along and listened to the pitch. The tian remained expressionless throughout, trying to discern the subtleties of the mission. If Hrim was right, it's possible that the young girl was already dead and had been replaced with a demon, or compromised from an early age. Hopefully the vault would be heavily defended. "It's probably a trap. I'm okay with that."
Mettera considered the creature clinging to his arm. She definitely had changed a bit, but she was still the same on the inside. Nothing much had changed there. "A few weeks of difficulty, regardless of the severity, will not change you unless you want to be changed, espeically if magically coerced. People who are trying to control you will tell you things they want you to believe, but they only have as much control over you as you let them." His arm and posture did not change as she leaned on him more and more as if she wasn't a burden to him at all. "My opinion is that you let them have influence over you because you wanted to be a little bad due to your emotional pain, and you wanted to be seen as something he'd miss, to get him back for hurting you. But this is also just a phase. If the serum follows your state of mind, you can look again like an angel if you focus on those kinds of good things for a while." "If we all can change based on our state of mind, just train your mind to be what you want to be and you'll be there. He looked down at her as she steadily lost strength with a bit of sympathy. "And as much as you dislike it, Argor can actually help you with this. He has good control over his transformation and he cares about his appearance more than the others. Nyug is also good at getting what he wants out of the serum, although he's much less interested in his appearance. Hrim takes his new power rather intrinsically, as I suppose I do as well, so I don't expect he'll have more advice than I've already given you, although I might be wrong about that. He is rather mysterious." As they approached her place, the Tian gestured back the way they came. "Your teammates agree that you shouldn't be alone right now, especially since we don't know if those demons might come back for you. Gather up what you need and come back to the mansion, at least for a couple days. Until we can be reasonably sure that you're safe." --------------------- The tian regarded Roald, looking smug in his silk robe. He kind of wanted to punch him in is haughty face. "Our group has encountered demonic activity in the past, and we have reason to believe that it may have been involved in your attack as well. These particular demons have been bothering other people involved with the freaks. We'd like to put an end to them as soon as possible, so any information you might have would be useful for us in that regard."
When Argor asked him about Roald he responded. "Certainly I can see about him, but there is one thing I should deal with first." Mattera held up his hand, gesturing toward Cladissa. "She's fairly exhausted. It's obvious that she will have a better understanding of things when she has settled down emotionally and has had food and rest. I'll escort her to her room and make sure she's safe before I track down the plaintiff." He moved toward her and started ushering her out of the room. "It's not good for any of us to be alone, especially you and now. I think you mentioned something about a roommate?"
Mattera made a movement with his finger as if he were making a mental list. "Talking to Roald might help shed some light on this issue. I'd been meaning to talk to him anyway. The more witnesses we get in on this, the better we'll get to the root of the issue." He hesitated for a moment, as if he weighing his words. "The fault of a person under mind control is merely that they were weak enough to succumb to it, and that is still nothing to be ashamed of when caught unawares."Though he wasn't lying, he offered this piece of solace to see how she would react. He began studying her form, for purely business related issues checking to see if anything were off or something that might clue him in to her identity.
While her height had remained the same, the creature before them was far more voluptuous than the slight frame the tian remembered. There was some definite enhancements, either by infernal power or by the serum he couldn't tell. After a few seconds of study, he leaned over to his employer and whispered in his ear. Argor: "Her shadow looks rather different than her shape. Is that a demonic trait?"
Mattera squinted at the succubus, trying to work out if she was lying or not. "You know my name. Do you claim to know me as well? You certainly aren't acting like anyone I know. You'll need to give us some specifics. There's no impetus for us to help you if we have no reason to do so. How do we know you didn't just pick up our names somewhere and are trying to get out of whatever trouble you've started. "
Mattera wondered what kind of person would call for Argor to help. He didn't really seem like the kind of person who would help someone in a bind, and out of curiosity as much as duty, he followed along behind. He'd met a few Tieflings before, mostly on the streets, and hadn't really found any that he could say that knew him well enough for such a thing, and wondered about the state of their relationship. Perhaps they'd been former lovers or something, and the fact that Argor didn't seem to care one way or the other did seem somewhat suspicious. Perhaps it was a trap, so even though he had to give up his weapon at the door, he was glad he was well versed in unarmed combat to make sure this kind of thing wouldn't be the death of them. He gave the prisoner an appraising eye, making sure he would know just how much deception was in her.
One taste of the frosted cakes was enough for him to realize they weren't something he'd like to try again. "I will admit, that she loved me too does bring me some satisfaction. But also guilt. No doubt she was at least impressed with my constancy. Also, feelings tend to grow from people who are attentive and obviously feel the same way. If I had stayed my affections from the beginning, she would have been far less tempted, and thus her suffering is at least partly my fault." "But don't worry about not having anything to say. There really isn't any more to say. It does feel better just talking about it once." Letting out a bit of a sigh, he looked over the remains of the table for a bit of a distraction. Over all the food wasn't bad, although he wasn't quite filled. He could always get more later if necessary. "As for lunch, it was my pleasure. I suppose we ought to get those samples to the laboratory." The tian man stood and straightened his shirt, resuming his business-like air. He offered his arm politely to the lady. "Shall we?"
Mattera steepled his fingers together, staring intently at the girl in front of him though she refused to look up. "Family often provides a natural buffer in such instances. Rejecting an arranged marriage is understandable, but it still has consequences." He flexed his fingers backwards until they all cracked, and released his fingers onto the table where his hands unconsciously stroked the linen tablecloth. "However in Roald's case, you handled it well. He believed you to be cheap, you disagreed. He likely throws low offers at modest and humble women, hoping their own degree of self worth is low as to give in to his demands. I have encountered his type before. If I saw him do it, I would have likely punched him in the face for the sake of human dignity." While he said this last sentence, he made a meaty fist with his left hand demonstrating his intent to insult rather than kill, if one was familiar with Tian culture. He turned to the side himself, leaning an elbow on the table as he eyed his silverware, wondering if he should have it for dessert. As he fell into his own story, he said it in a detatched manner. His pain was old, and they'd lived together for a long time. "I fell in love with a coworker. But in Druma, relationships, in particular, love, is a terrible expense. As such, it's highly regulated. Since we were of different classes, we could never marry, and she isn't allowed dalliances due to her philosophy. Not to mention other complications that I'd rather not get into." He finished off his glass of wine instead of his fork, and continued. "As long as I was sure that my feelings were not reciprocated, I could merely keep silent. After all, my heart could bear it as long as she was happy. When she fell for me, and was continually pained with my closeness and we were both miserable, it was time for me to leave. I miss her terribly, but it's better for us both this way. I've had to live with the strain for twelve years, while her feelings are relatively recent. It's possible for her to reverse her course, but it's going to take me quite some time. Since I've never loved anyone else, I have no idea how long it will take me to heal." He looked at his empty cup, now completely drained. He set it down and awaited his companion's response. He'd never actually told anyone before, he wondered if he got his point across properly.
A few cheeses later, and several pairings with the Riesling wine left him satisfied as for tastes. He'd never had expensive taste before, but it had definitely grown on him. Popping coins like candy only added to the problem. These cheeses were a fair bit less expensive than that, although it did depend on the denomination. "I am a bit curious about the special today. Hopefully we'll get some red meat or shellfish. I used to eat a fair amount of tuna, but I can't really stomach it anymore." He took another swig of the flinty wine, enjoying the flavor of minerals on his tongue. "Speaking of which, perhaps we should get to the meat of the matter. You were interested in a little bit of commiseration? Perhaps you could tell me your story."
The tian raised an eyebrow. "Don't tell me you actually believe that you failed." He looked at her intently. "You do? That would explain it. I thought you had a good degree of skepticism about the society when you were concerned about Hestram, but I guess that wasn't always the case. You're all fairly competent, and the society knows it. The Venture Captains are always sacrificing promising young talent to discover knowledge of things. It's fully within their wheelhouse to lie to you about your competency to get you to take the serum. I wouldn't be surprised if they neglected even trying to lie to me about it, but that's fairly hard to do and I was willing anyway." He took a sip from his glass. Fairly pleased he was able to do so without breaking it. His fine control was getting better. He had spent the better part of a couple days learning to write again, and it seemed to have quite the impact on other areas as well. He looked around for the waitstaff as he idly considered the wine. "I wonder if they'll have a selection of fairly strong cheeses. I haven't tested them with my new palate yet."
"There are several biological creatures that use and eat metal in their physiology, the most notable of which are dragons. Several outsiders also use it in their physiology, from what I've heard. It seems the changes are suitable, with the one exception, to the the person's identity and skill set. I am slightly pleased to find that my blood doesn't tarnish anymore when exposed to the air. Which means it's likely not silver, but platinum, at least now. When I expressed my discontent on it's value, there may have been some kind of negotiation with it on a visceral level. As you say, it is quite interesting." The tian ate his salad mechanically, obviously not enjoying it, but it wasn't repulsive enough to ditch entirely. "Perhaps after our meal we can head over to the laboratory and donate to the research. If I can adjust things through meditation, I wouldn't be terribly upset. So far, I don't really have any complaints. My lifting strength has nearly doubled, and I'm a fair amount more resilient to damage. But my senses are also sharpened, so I can actually do my job even better than ever before. Are you fairly pleased with your changes as well?"
He sat"I appreciate your thoughtfulness for the invitation. I'm sure we'll be much better company today than yesterday. I for one, did not wish to eat a fine meal without some vigorous scrubbing." Rather than any purplish scars or healing wounds from the day before, the blemishes in his skin from such things were silvered instead, almost looking like expensive body modification despite the magical healing he'd received. He was definitely much more relaxed than usual, draping one arm over the back of his chair behind him as he fiddled with his napkin. There was a particular Galtan way of handling it, but he couldn't remember what it was and then just tossed it in his lap as he put one ankle over his knee. "The serum is still fairly painful, and although it's subsided by at least half, and I believe it will continue to do so, I haven't been sleeping well. But I've lived a life that is well acquainted with pain, so the bigger problem is at the moment how my appetites have changed. I've developed a taste for metals. After my tea this morning, I ate several copper coins like biscuits and thoroughly enjoyed my tea spoon. Argor hasn't said anything, but I've kept a ledger and I'll make sure it's replaced." His eyes showed a bit of annoyance at the inconvenience of it, but it didn't take a large amount of insight to see he was doing his best attempt at fairly dry humor.
As the Tian sipped his tea, the message arrived at the mansion. He gave a look to Argor, fairly smug at the convenience of it, but also fairly pleased that his plans thereof were working so seamlessly. He'd have to thank Cladissa for her thoughtfulness later. Possibly Master Constantine had known the messenger was coming and was giving his permission, and he would likely be taking that tactic regardless of whether or not he knew. Mattera found such things tedious, but perhaps he'd be surprised. "Return to your mistress, tell her I shall be there." Later, after Argor's business and having him safely dropped off at the Laboratory, the bodyguard found his way to the Galtan restaurant. Most Galtan food seemed presumptuous to him, but they did a few things he enjoyed. Well, at least that was before his tastes had changed. He might have quite a bit of experimentation to do himself. "Excuse me, I have a reservation? I'm meeting a Miss Velorryan for a meal today."
Mattera walked through the city after delivering the required information to his faction, ever cryptic about their information. There were rumors of course that the leader of the exchange dabbled in divination, and it was distinctly possible a good amount of the strange and eclectic facts that showed themselves in their briefings was due to that. Regardless, there was certainly a fair amount of success that The Exchange had since he took over, so one could hardly question his methods. The Tian often would go down some of the more crime ridden areas, hoping someone would try to mug him, or pickpocket him so he could let off some steam. But even the criminals were staying away from him today, probably on account of the smell. This left him time to think. Which was a bit of a problem. An off-handed comment meant to comfort and support a coworker had stirred up the pond of memories that had recently become clear. Mae loved him, but she wouldn't allow that to disrupt her business or her philosophy. It would have been easy to become bitter. But he could hardly blame her though, as he understood things much better than anyone. Hundreds, possibly thousands of people relied on her acumen. Because of the way she ran her business, gold exchanged through so many hands. So many mouths were able to be fed because of the business she brought to the area. He saw first hand the families brought out of poverty, the welfare of the city, the children growing strong. If she were selfish, if she neglected her path, all of that became susceptible to chaos and ruin. Could one choose happiness over the welfare of so many? He longed for it regardless. Since coming to the city, his faith in the Prophesies of Kalistrade had started to wane. Perhaps that's why she had gotten so cold. Perhaps that was why she had gotten so distracted from her work. As he wandered, he found himself drawn to her estate, oddly enough a scant quarter mile from Argor's mansion. Feeling a solid amount of homesickness, he wondered how his men were protecting things, and moved into the requisite patrol zone. Within a minute he was confronted by Plebin, one of the Ulfen he'd trained since coming to the city. "Sir!" he nearly trumpeted. Knowing he was doing exactly what he needed to do, and that he had passed a surprise inspection, he was fairly confident in his address. Not letting the details of his dried silver blood and the stench of the sea pass him by, he looked a bit concerned. "How is your leave going? I trust you've been keeping yourself busy?" "Ah, Maggot." he badly feigned surprise. Using his training name playfully as he sometimes did when he was in a good mood, even though he really wasn't. It was at least good to see him. "I was just out for a little stroll. Fancy running into you here. How's business?" Mattera's friendly tone confused the Ulfen, as his commander was not really known for chit-chat. He looked a bot more concerned. "It's not been the same since you've left, sir. You wouldn't by any chance be coming back any time soon, would you?" The tian smiled, which set his former employee further from ease. "I took a temporary position for another resident in the area to help ease the cashflow from the deep investments I've made with my previous wages. I'm living comfortably there, and I'm having to train a whole new set of recruits..." and he stopped there, realizing the issue. "It's that bad, huh?" One look at the Ulfen's face told him that things hadn't improved one bit since he took his leave, and likely business was actually quite worse. Mattera began to doubt his decision, now having actual evidence that it very well could have been a bad one. "Look, sir. I respect you and all you've done for me and the other guys. But you gotta do what you gotta do. Find yourself a girl or something. Get out of town. Don't come back here looking weak. Leave before someone else sees you." The words stung a bit. But they were exactly what he needed. He'd trained them well, he could at least be proud of that. "You and I well know it's too late for that." the tian said cryptically. He turned and walked back away from the estate, throwing a half-hearted wave over his shoulder as a way of saying goodbye. ------------------------------------------ As the Tian sipped his green tea at breakfast, he considered the Arcanist's topic of conversation. It didn't seem at all unusual for Argor to begin this line of questioning. Undoubtedly he knew of the exchange between Mattera and Cladissa and was interested in what might develop between the two of them for his own sake. Tensions between the cat-lady and the aristocrat were not at acceptable levels, and it would behoove the group to come to some sort of understanding. Mattera also knew that, and since they were likely to be put into further difficult situations where their lives were in danger, it only made sense ton have a chat and attempt to make bridges. "I believe I'll be spending some more time getting to know my teammates. I have a fair amount of inexperience with the way all of the rest of you think, and while some are fairly straightforward, others are not. The sooner I feel acclimated the sooner we'll have better synergy." He took another sip of his tea, waiting for a reaction, if any.
Mattera didn't really trust anyone, least of all an employer. He sifted through the words being spoken, the undertext, the body language, the subtle distance between words and the things spoken between them. Cladissa had a suspicion as well, which made his focus especially keen.
After the meeting is over, the Tian man clicked his heels in militaristic fashion and walked out the door. He replayed the response in his head a few times. He might have to dwell on it for a moment. Regardless, he had to visit Aaqir al'Hakam, and soon. A particular leather book as well as the location of a certain skiff were of interest to him. He would receive such shortly, and likely a heavy dose of scrutiny as well. How did he know about the Iron Tide, after all?
The Tian motioned to Nyug after the crabs that were left were scurrying for the corners of the cave, longing for refuge. He tapped a odd-looking brooch on his jacket. "Swarm bane, not too expensive for what it does. Saved my life a half dozen times now. I'd recommend it for anyone who doesn't have magic at the ready for such things." He picked up the body, and put it on his back. Someone had to do it, and it sure wasn't going to be Argor. As they made their report, Mettera was a bit self-conscious of their smell. It wasn't the first time that he'd smelled something rank in the lodge, but it was the first time it was him. However, having a bath before delivering the body seemed a bit odd, as he'd just have to do it again. Idly, he wondered what kind of infernal magic Argor used to keep himself smelling like he just left a perfume shop. Nyug seemed nervous as he left, probably anticipating his lab. He was quite excited about the idea of looking at everyone's blood, he hadn't gotten any new samples that Mettera had seen. Something felt a bit off about that, but he supposed he could ask him later if it continued to be a problem. One didn't want those who were to watch their back to be otherwise occupied. Cladissa, having dealt with the ghosts, seemed a bit perturbed. She seemed somewhat interested in a social call earlier, but he wasn't about to ask a girl to dinner when they both reeked of raw seafood. It did not do much for the appetite. Perhaps, tomorrow.
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