Post by Darius (retired) on May 5, 2019 16:04:41 GMT
“Ta, Gretcha.” Darius nods to the Dwarven warrior as she puts a tankard down in front of him. She grunts, turning away, though seems to stand a little taller as she leaves the mess for the warm sun of the training yard, closing the heavy door behind her.
Darius leans back in his chair, drink in hand, looking across the table at Varis. A slight twitch plays at the corner of the Half-Elf’s mouth, vanishing as his new friends starts to speak.
“Dangerous place, this town. Dangerous people walking around. Least most of them are on your side. That’s changed, though.”
A slight frown creases Varis’s brow, but he waits for the older man to continue. Darius takes a long drink before setting the tankard back on the table and wiping the foam from his beard with the back of his hand.
“There’s people walking around who ain’t what they seem. Not sure how best to describe it. We found some gen that a squad of assassins and spies have got into Daring disguised as who knows what.”
Varis nods slowly. “It wouldn’t be the first time. The plague that devastated the city just before your arrival was given a helping hand by agents of one of the Fey courts. Shapechangers who posed as acolytes of Helm. What do these Elysians want?”
“This has happened before?" Darius raises an eyebrow, “Fool me once and all that.... Well, anyway, these New Elysium posters going up round town were apparently just stage 1 in Randall Salt’s plan; he's the man who set up New Elysium. Stage 2 involved sending his agents into Daring. No idea to what end, though. Bastard’s dead anyhow. Tugark (Retired) caved his head in before we could find out anymore. Gods, that man can fight. They all can: Paw , Grimes , Daisy , Demik / Code . Was good to be around competent fighters again. Nothing good about what we found in New Elysium, though. Place is a mess. Total bloody chaos. Gangs, disease, poverty, anarchy.
The Duchess had asked us to find a way to close the new portal between Daring and that shithole. We met a contact of the Duchess’ who told us where to find the key we needed. Turned out to be a friend of yours: Dorian? They created a diversion for us and we broke in all efficient like. Guards on duty made a right bollocks of it. Bloody amateurs. We were in and out in under 10 minutes. Found the key we needed – and a lot more besides. Some really sick goings on."
Darius pauses a moment for another drink. As he continues, he doesn't look worried or disturbed. Just tired.
"Seems like there’s some mad doctor out there, Issac Drevel, Salt’s right-hand man, who’s been experimenting on children, turning them into living weapons. They’re the ones who’ve infiltrated Daring. We fought a couple of them. Magic users, both. They went down like anyone else, though. Not sure what the remaining individuals are capable of – reckon there’s about 10 or 12 left, so the threat ain’t done by a long shot. Grimes thinks that wasn’t the real Randall Salt, either: died too easy. And the bastard was smiling when we killed him. Never good, that.
Think someone has given the portal keys we found to Aurelia; she’s probably closed it by now. We need to move fast to find these other agents. Don't know how that stuff works around here. Security and the like. Thought your boys and girls might be good for that? Happy to help; I've got a keen set of eyes on me. Despite
my age."
The younger man is silent for a moment, seeming lost in thought. Then he nods, his eyes glittering as he turns to look at Darius.
“Yes. I think we can help with this. Can you tell me anything more about these ‘Living Weapons’? Could they be reasoned with? If we can save these children, that should be our first priority. Assuming Grimes’s suspicions about Salt are accurate - and I have a great deal of faith in his powers of deduction - it would be worth consulting Aurelia, or perhaps Auditor Manyvoices to find out what kind of magic could create a duplicate body. Indeed, I have seen Oriloki perform magic of that nature before.”
Darius takes another drink from tankard. "I don't know too much more meself. The quiet mage, Demik? He found some papers. Had a list of all the operatives, their code names, ages, statuses, powers - and identifying marks. We found tattoos on the two dead ones that corresponded to codenames on the list. If we spot someone with a tattoo that matches a codename on the list, chances are we've found one of them. I think Demik still has that list. Might be a good place to start. Or catching that Issac fella."
Darius drains the cup and sits back, lacing his broad fingers over his stomach and meeting Varis' eyes. "I don't know if reasonin's gonna do much good. The ones we encountered seemed to operate on automatic. Attacked us as soon as we entered the room. Mind you, we did burst in, so could just have been defence. Problem is, if they're already here with a mission, will they stand down? They look like they've had some serious work done to them. I'll leave questions like that to the Council. I'm not keen on cutting down youngsters - especially if they've been manipulated," Darius looks like he's about to start saying something else, but checks himself, "but I'll do what I need to survive."
Darius leans back in his chair, drink in hand, looking across the table at Varis. A slight twitch plays at the corner of the Half-Elf’s mouth, vanishing as his new friends starts to speak.
“Dangerous place, this town. Dangerous people walking around. Least most of them are on your side. That’s changed, though.”
A slight frown creases Varis’s brow, but he waits for the older man to continue. Darius takes a long drink before setting the tankard back on the table and wiping the foam from his beard with the back of his hand.
“There’s people walking around who ain’t what they seem. Not sure how best to describe it. We found some gen that a squad of assassins and spies have got into Daring disguised as who knows what.”
Varis nods slowly. “It wouldn’t be the first time. The plague that devastated the city just before your arrival was given a helping hand by agents of one of the Fey courts. Shapechangers who posed as acolytes of Helm. What do these Elysians want?”
“This has happened before?" Darius raises an eyebrow, “Fool me once and all that.... Well, anyway, these New Elysium posters going up round town were apparently just stage 1 in Randall Salt’s plan; he's the man who set up New Elysium. Stage 2 involved sending his agents into Daring. No idea to what end, though. Bastard’s dead anyhow. Tugark (Retired) caved his head in before we could find out anymore. Gods, that man can fight. They all can: Paw , Grimes , Daisy , Demik / Code . Was good to be around competent fighters again. Nothing good about what we found in New Elysium, though. Place is a mess. Total bloody chaos. Gangs, disease, poverty, anarchy.
The Duchess had asked us to find a way to close the new portal between Daring and that shithole. We met a contact of the Duchess’ who told us where to find the key we needed. Turned out to be a friend of yours: Dorian? They created a diversion for us and we broke in all efficient like. Guards on duty made a right bollocks of it. Bloody amateurs. We were in and out in under 10 minutes. Found the key we needed – and a lot more besides. Some really sick goings on."
Darius pauses a moment for another drink. As he continues, he doesn't look worried or disturbed. Just tired.
"Seems like there’s some mad doctor out there, Issac Drevel, Salt’s right-hand man, who’s been experimenting on children, turning them into living weapons. They’re the ones who’ve infiltrated Daring. We fought a couple of them. Magic users, both. They went down like anyone else, though. Not sure what the remaining individuals are capable of – reckon there’s about 10 or 12 left, so the threat ain’t done by a long shot. Grimes thinks that wasn’t the real Randall Salt, either: died too easy. And the bastard was smiling when we killed him. Never good, that.
Think someone has given the portal keys we found to Aurelia; she’s probably closed it by now. We need to move fast to find these other agents. Don't know how that stuff works around here. Security and the like. Thought your boys and girls might be good for that? Happy to help; I've got a keen set of eyes on me. Despite
my age."
The younger man is silent for a moment, seeming lost in thought. Then he nods, his eyes glittering as he turns to look at Darius.
“Yes. I think we can help with this. Can you tell me anything more about these ‘Living Weapons’? Could they be reasoned with? If we can save these children, that should be our first priority. Assuming Grimes’s suspicions about Salt are accurate - and I have a great deal of faith in his powers of deduction - it would be worth consulting Aurelia, or perhaps Auditor Manyvoices to find out what kind of magic could create a duplicate body. Indeed, I have seen Oriloki perform magic of that nature before.”
Darius takes another drink from tankard. "I don't know too much more meself. The quiet mage, Demik? He found some papers. Had a list of all the operatives, their code names, ages, statuses, powers - and identifying marks. We found tattoos on the two dead ones that corresponded to codenames on the list. If we spot someone with a tattoo that matches a codename on the list, chances are we've found one of them. I think Demik still has that list. Might be a good place to start. Or catching that Issac fella."
Darius drains the cup and sits back, lacing his broad fingers over his stomach and meeting Varis' eyes. "I don't know if reasonin's gonna do much good. The ones we encountered seemed to operate on automatic. Attacked us as soon as we entered the room. Mind you, we did burst in, so could just have been defence. Problem is, if they're already here with a mission, will they stand down? They look like they've had some serious work done to them. I'll leave questions like that to the Council. I'm not keen on cutting down youngsters - especially if they've been manipulated," Darius looks like he's about to start saying something else, but checks himself, "but I'll do what I need to survive."