Unspecified Meeting Room
Mister Squiggles chitters at Brand and Justin.
Hello! :smallsmile:
Either that or he's talking about how delicious they'd taste.
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Unspecified Meeting Room
Mister Squiggles chitters at Brand and Justin.
Hello! :smallsmile:
Either that or he's talking about how delicious they'd taste.
Too bad he'd have to go through Cessie first. :smalltongue:
One does not simply walk into the Mithar Keep after all. Well, unless you're Vicent of course *cough*
Unspecified Meeting Room
"That depends who're you are asking, a slaver and a slave owner could be miles apart ethically to some. It's the difference between action and inaction. But no matter, what is your cover story? Is there a way to keep Brand and Waterstrider unharmed? I know a lot of slavers and slave owners like to keep their 'property' in pristine condition." Cessie asks as she takes a seat near Wenomir.
"Allow me to reiterate. Not much ethical difference to me. I don't know what they're like where your from, but slave owners where I'm from are pretty damn active." he responds a bit of anger in his voice, not really aimed at Cessie, just drudged up from nasty memories back in Georgia. He calms down before he starts speaking again. "And the giant spider makes things iffy, but the idea was we'd be a young nobleman and loyal servants either returning from or going to a business deal for my father. The safest place for Brand and Waterstrider to be would be at my side, so naturally my manservant and bodyguard would remain by my side at all times."
Wenomir shrugs. I don't think your riding Mister Squiggles is going to raise any eyebrows. This is the Nexus, so a young noble who fancies having a spider mount isn't all that odd.
"Fine, you've presumably been here longer than me. You say spider riding noblemen aren't odd, I'll believe you. I'll get back to you about it once I wrap finally wrap my head around magic." So it'll be a while before he talks about again. "Change of subject: So, we know it's a bug worshipping cult, but do we have any idea what to expect once we're there, defense wise?"
Wenomir rubs his chin in thought. Demons and magic-using priests, certainly. Also lots of bugs, obviously. I'd also expect traps, both mechanical and magical.
"Gigantic bugs if I'm not mistaken, Terrowin had a gigantic scorpion serving him when we were trying to raid the stronghold of another cult. He was also a rather powerful mage but not the type I am. He claimed all of his magic were granted by his god Dalachrech." The sorceress adds.
Justin sighs. "Traps? Fine. Giant bugs? Makes it feel like home. Bug God magic? That's new. So absolutely no getting caught. We're screwed otherwise." He moves on to his next question. "How do we contact you once we find the slave quarters. And do we do it right away."
[Meeting Room]
One of the members who will participate is a psychic. I think he should be able to estabilish a mind-link with you. Wenomir pauses as he realizes Justin is as ignorant about psychics as he was when he first came to the Nexus three years ago. It'll allow you to share thougts between each other.
He knows what psychics are, but they're fictitious where he comes from, same as magic. He is thankful for the explanation on a mind link, though. "Works for me." It'll also work as a good distress signal. "That's all I can think to ask about the plan for now. The rest is probably up to me and luck. Anything I might have missed?" he asks to the room in general.
Meeting Room
"What if there are slaves who are too broken to want rescue?" Brand asks.
[Meeting Room]
"We might want to discern if they are using some sort of magic to keep the slaves in check or if they have protection or detection spells of some sort. We need to be very careful when magic is involved." The mage comments, suddenly regretting she didn't bring anything to eat.
"As for the slaves, try to avoid the broken ones, if we can't convince them we shouldn't try to jeopardize the whole operation in my opinion. We can free them later on."
[Meeting Room]
Wenomir is silent for a while as he considers the issue.
We could try to force them to leave with us, but that might not be feasible. If there are slaves that can't be convinced to escape, there might not be much we can do.
[Meeting Room]
Mister Squiggles chitters, no doubt pointing out that regardless of whether this operation is successful or a failure then there probably won't be a later on to come back a second time.
[Meeting Room]
"We won't be able to make a second attempt. They'll move the slaves. Or kill them. And their defences will be up." Brand says, no doubt understanding the spider on some level. And he doesn't think he'll have the courage to walk into a place like that more than once. "There has to be a way to get them all out."
[Holding Cell - Later on]
Cessie descends the stairs in search for her husband once Dominic have left somewhere in the future.
"Harnel? Are you there?" She sounds weary and even a bit tired, holding on to what appears to be a bag of fast food "I brought you some food."
[Holding Cell]
Harnel would have asked for the lights turned out, feeling as comfortable in the dark as in the light. Besides, in the dark he couldn't see the changes to his body as easily.
Cessie will see a pair of blood red glowing eyes from Harnel's cell, "Cessie? Yeah, I'm here. What did you bring for me?"
[Holding Cell]
"I just bought some food from a store, I'm not sure what it is but it smelled good and went fast. It felt like your kind of food." She smiles and goes to hand him the bag through the bars. "Are you feeling okay? Have anything changed?"
[Holding Cell]
"I don't know," Harnel says, "It feels kind of like I'm losing my grip. I don't know what parts of my personality have changed; I barely realized I was starting to dislike people when Dominic asked me about it... It doesn't feel good." he'll take the bag of food with a small smile. He certainly hadn't expected her to cook for him, so it's nice to have expectations met.
[Holding Cell]
Cessie and cooking shouldn't be mentioned in the same sentence, if you concentrate you can already feel the taste of the overcooked pasta or the smell of the burned potato. They are supposed to be in the oven right?
"You're actually starting to hate people?" The mage asks quietly as she watches his eyes move. "Could you explain it in words? Do you see everyone as enemies?"
[Meeting Room]
I agree, Wenomir says. But I think we'll have to figure it out once you're there.
[Holding Cell]
Harnel shakes his head, "Not hating. More like I just don't want to be around them. Not you though, Sia Memamosal. I still want to spend as much time as I can with you," Harnel will hold out a hand to Cessie. The gnarled, hook-like claws might keep her from placing her hand in his, however. they do look a bit intimidating.
[Meeting Room]
"Actually, I have a suggestion. It isn't my specialty but mind magic can actually be used for a good purpose here. If you use a small magical object to charm the broken ones into helping you, you could save them all. Not to mention it might be useful to charm cult members as well if it's needed." Cessie suggests. "It just need to be something easy to hide."
[Holding Cell]
Cessie knows Harnel needs support now so she doesn't even hesitate putting her hand into his, suspecting that would just put Harnel into a even worse mood.
"And I want to spend time with you too Harnel." She replies, sounding a bit emotional as she slowly squeezes his hand, much harder then she have done before while looking him right in the eyes. "You don't really look worse, you still look perfect to me." And she doesn't lie, with all the pheromones around here the half-dragon looks even more aesthetically pleasing to the sorceress.
[Holding Cell]
Harnel squeezes back, but not too hard, knowing he could hurt her. "Thank you. I still like I'm looking ugly though. A lot worse than before." of course, that's subjective. He has changes a lot, yes, but several things are even more aesthetically pleasing than before, such as his face, his muscle definition, and the like.
[Holding Cell]
Hey now, just because you increase something doesn't mean the other person think it looks better. There is something called 'too much' after all. Beauty is subjective and so on.
Of course, in this case it's working. The mage shakes her head, "I'm not going to have this discussion with you again. I'm not lying about your looks Harnel, you know that after all the time we been together." She gives him a slightly annoyed look.
[Holding Cell]
Harnel shakes his head, "That's not what I mean, Cessie. When you showed me the mirror... it wasn't like looking at myself. It was like looking at someone else, someone alien. This isn't me. It's like the corruption is turning me into a different person."
[Holding Cell]
The mage nods this time, "I understand Harnel, I would be freaked out as well if I changed like that. But remember we will get a cure and that I love you no matter what. You still look very handsome to me, just like we went trying to get nobles clothes for you to infiltrate Serpent's Gaze. Do you remember that?" She smiles faintly and squeezes his hand again.