War! (IC)

It's a rainy November day in Loria. As the first rays of the early morning sun start lighting the sky with false dawn you follow your instructions to report at a small villa on the outskirts of the capital city. As the gate stands wide open you walk over to the door. Knocking, you are pleasantly surprised that the door is opened at once.

An elderly man in simple servant's clothing lets you in without a word and leads you to a room where you are politely asked to wait until the master has time to address you. Then the servant leaves.

The room is about 10 x 20 ft, with a door in the middle of each short wall and a window in one of the long walls. A fire burns merrily in the fireplace and a table with 6 seats offers a place to rest.

One by one you arrive until 4 people occupy the room.

The first person to enter was a tall man in his early 20s, his form almost pure muscle, who quickly took a standing spot in the back left corner of the room, his green eyes scanning it inquisitively. His armor was clearly old, as it had browned from age and yet it looked sturdy and well-designed, while his weapons were clean and obviously very well-kept.

Next to enter the room is a powerfully built women, she is led into the room by an armed guard and a servant.

Your equipment will be returned to you later, stay here till the Master arrives.
The guard instructs.
And do not try anything funny.

The women is dressed in a fine silk robe that would normally be worn by wives and mistresses of Generals. Her body language and complexion however are a stark contrast: the skin visible on her face and arms covered in recent bruises and old scarring. Clearly she is uncomfortable her grubby nails scratch at her arms in paranoia and her eyes dart around the room casing her surroundings in confusion and distrust.

Finally her gaze settles on the other guest.
Meeting his eyes she stares into them... Sizing him up.

Next, another man enters the room.

His long, black hair is tied in a ponytail and his features are marred by a prominent scar running across the bridge of his nose. He's dressed in ill-kept lorica segmentata - the normal mirrored surface tarnished and with prominent dents. A spiked matea is hooked onto his belt, it's head dark and rusted. A battered wooden shield is on his back. Strangely, a leather-bound book with a steel clasp is also chained to his belt.

"I hope I have the right address," he says, looking around and smiling. "I'm simply terrible with directions. It would be pretty embarrassing if I went to the wrong place."

He holds out his hand vaguely in the direction of the other people. "I'm Lupus, by the way."

The first man looked toward the new man, and grinned, taking the offered hand in a firm shake, "Name's Lucius." He replied, before turning to the last entrance, "And you, Ma'am? What's your name?"

The door opens again and a young man enters. His hair is brown and cut short, legion style. He wears a paludamentum (military cloak) and a cuirass ornamented with a wolf's head. A spear and a long sword complete his attire, resembling that of a subtribune medica (legion combat medic) close enough to make no difference.

His eyes sweep the room and he bows: "Greetings. My name is Publius Oktavian."

As he steps aside, the elderly servant steps forward: "The master has been delayed for a short while. Can I offer you refreshments while you wait?" he asks.

She watches as the new man enters the room, she does her best to keep out of their way watching as they greet each other.

Athese
She says responding to the question asked but trying not to incite further conversation.

As the door opens again to admit the last guest and the elderly servant she looks about for a seat as far away from everyone as possible and moves to take it, her eyes flickering around the room in paranoia as she does.

"It's a pleasure to meet both of you." Lucius says cheerfully toward Athese and Publius, repeating his name for the latter. "Now, I'm curious, does anyone know what's going on here? I'm not someone who appreciates being left in the dark."

The elderly servant hesitates for a few seconds but leaves as no orders seem to be coming.

Publius looks at Lucius, saying: "I was ordered to report here today. I am to represent the Flamines Martialis in whatever we will do. I have no idea what it will be, though."

Spoiler

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Flamines Martialis: An order of priests of Mars, dedicated to the support of the empire in its expansion. Members can be found in many frontline legion, performing various duties ranging from combat and healing to spiritual support and logistics.Their motto is "Peace through victory".

Lupus returns the handshake hardily.

"Four people called to a house under mysterious purposes. Ha! It sounds like one of those tasteless 5 denarii plays." Lupus continues looking around, at the table and through the windows. "If there's a ghost or any sort of secret passages, I'm out of here."

"Why would you leave then?" Lucius asked the man interestedly, "That'd be just when it was getting exciting." He finished, grinning vigorously.

Athese watches the three men from her seat in the corner attempting as best she can not to catch their attention yet intrigued just the same.

Three men, all military, called here just as she was.
This was obviously not another slave auction or some sort of fighting event.
Coupled with the fact they too had no inclination as to why they had been called here...

She decided that what ever was going on she probably wouldn't like it and resigned to waiting quietly.

About half an hour passes as you wait more or less patiently for your host to make his appearance. Then the door opens again as the elderly servant holds it open for a man who enters slowly, his steps obviously slowed by age and infirmity. He is quite tall and thin, his white hair cut short, legion style. He wears a long white tunic and light slippers, with a legion gladius girdled around his waist. His eyes are still bright and shine with curiosity and intelligence.

Looking around, his eyes rest on each of you for a second before moving on. The eldery servant closes the door behind him, leaving you alone with him.

He waves at the group of seats aranged around the table: Welcome! My name is Lucian. Please take a seat. I know you would all like to know why I asked you to come here. I will tell you once we are seated."

He moves to one of the chairs and sits down, automatically moving the short sword to a more comfortable position. You guess he has seen his time in the legions as even old age did not diminish his military bearing.

Before sitting, Lucius snaps a quick salute at the man. "A pleasure to meet you, sir. If I may...weren't you responsible for defeating the horde of mongels at the Northern most expanse of our land? A notorious victory because you did so while still nursing an injury to your sword arm from your last battle?" Lucius asks with an eager grin as he fell into his chair, his eyes alight as his own military background made him fully aware of the accomplishments of the man now seated before him.

OOC:

Spoiler

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I hope Simba doesn't mind, but I thought this guy, given his clear military background, would be someone Lucius might have heard of and admire. If you do mind, Simba, tell me, and I'll change my post. :smallsmile:

The man nods, accepting the compliment as his smile shows how much it pleases him to be remembered. "So, someone still remembers. Fine."

@Lucius:

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It's just fine. You recognize Lucian Noricanus, who beat back the last major Norian invasion about 50 years ago. He used all kinds of unusual tactics to finally beat back a frustrated Norian warlord, killing about 20 times as many men as he lost. His tactics are well documented, though you think some things were left out. He is a living legend and today holds a seat in the senate. Some say he is the 3rd or 4th most powerful person in the empire, a major backer of the current emperor, Lucius Tercius.

Moving over to the table with this old frail man Athese sits.

No guards... Or are these men my guards?

She shrugs of the paranoia and puts her hands on the table infront of her, dark bruises and grazes cover her hands and they seem worn from years of toil.

So why exactly am I here?

Lucian waits until all of you have taken their seats. Then he looks up: "Thank you for coming. I know it was not much of a choice for some of you, but I assure you that you have been chosen with utmost care and only after careful deliberations."

"You have been chosen because of who you are, because of your abilities and convictions, your dedication and training, your personalities and your history. Each of you will be able to contribute to what my associates and I want to achieve. Have to achieve, if the Empire we all serve is to stand the tests of time."

His gaze sweeps over you, resting a little longer on Lupus Umbrae than on the others.

"Let me tell you something that should not leave this room. You all know about the Frumentarii, the Empire's secret service. You know their uniforms and their official tasks. They serve the Empire in official functions, as spies, informers as well as councilors. You also know that they are less then well liked, seen as dangerous meddlers. Their methods have changed lately, have become more direct, less circumspect. This of course limits their value. The organization has been of immense service to the Empire in the past, but they have changed over time, become more and less than they should be. In the Senate a strong movement aiming at their termination is gaining more momentum each day. Alas, some of the more vocal supporters of this movement have been found dead lately, or have gone missing. The reason for this should be obvious: The child has turned on its mother and father, is fighting those it should be helping. The situation is critical and we need to act quickly before it deteriorates even more."

"Any questions about what I have told you sofar? I will come to the point where you come in in a minute, so please leave those questions for later."

Great... So they want me because there will be lots of things in need of some killing...

She looks around at the other three men at the table.
None of them seem like the men she has grown used to:
politician with their harems of slave gladiators or her fellow gladiators.
They seemed like the men she used to know before her world was changed upside down.

So they want me to fight once again along side soldiers.
The same generals whom cast me out of their armies for attempting to kill a man deserved of death now wish me to work for them once more...

"Act quickly, how? I am in favor of any action to aid and support the Empire, but we will need more information first." Lucius asks, a furrowed look on his brow as he processed Lucian's words.

"Read between the lines, Lucius. There's going to be a purge. Even if only a few of the Frumentarii are corrupt, they'll close ranks to protect each other - a raven won't pick out the eye of another raven. The Empire won't suffer it's agents being corrupt, but it will be a bloodbath."

Lupus looks up, like he's counting something in his head, before looking at Lucian. "Do you have any clue about who the instigators are or is everyone suspect? Clearly, you have some reason for thinking that the group gathered here is trustworthy."

Lucian looks at Lupus, raising an eyebrow: "You, Lupus, are right, as far as it goes. I have a good idea who the people at the tiller of this little conspiration may be, but we need proof to be able to act. We need an insider we can trust, and we need people who are not in the Frumentarii so they can act without attracting too much attention."

Turning to and addressing Lupus alone, he asks: "If you had to speculate - just as a mental exercise - who those people could be, what positions they would need to be in, what would you say, Lupus? Generally speaking, of course, and without names or titles. Pure speculation, right? A little logic, some experience, a few jumps of intuition...."

He looks at Lupus, a small smile on his face, just like a teacher addressing his favorite pupil.

So this is some stupid military mission, they just drag me along expecting me to what? Help them...

Athese always admired the Frumentarii when she was a Legionnaire, they made small scalpel cuts that let the Legionnaires win wars. She lost all respect for the entire Empire when they slapped her in irons though.
Now they wanted her to clean out their house of rotten agents, probably excecute her afterwards and blame the slaughter on an escaped killer...

Not that I care, but how do you know this guy isn't one of the rotten... people... we are supposed to be... dealing with. Or is that why I am here?
Is everyone here just as likely to kill the rest of the team and run off as I am?

This is the first time she has spoken more than a word at a time, her face shows not a hint of a smile and her voice shows no note of humour.

Lupus laughs. "I see you've got a well-developed sense of paranoia and self-preservation, miss Athese. Though, might I suggest that running would be a bad plan. The Empire has a long memory and a longer reach, as various people have discovered. Which, is also why I don't fancy being a traitor. I've been on the giving end of Imperial justice enough not to want to end up on the other side."

Lupus looks at Lucian. "Determining who has turned traitor - that's going to be part of the problem. The first thing the Black Banner Knights teach you is that anybody can be turned. That's one of the side jobs of spys and agents, after all - making some poor schmuck turn on what he's worked his whole life for. There's a number of people in the Frumentarii who I know - by reputation at least - who I find unlikely to be a traitor but, of course, that just means that if they are traitors, it's that much easier for them to go uncaught."

He spreads his hands wide while shrugging his shoulders. "That's the problem with this sneaky stuff. It's only after the dust has settled that you can be sure of anything, and sometimes not even then."

Lucius's brow furrows as he holds a hand to his chin, "If these men are as elusive and close-knit as Lupus says, this is quite the problem, is it not? However, there is good news..." He fixes his gaze on Lucian, "You have a plan. You would not have gathered us and told all this unless you had a reason for doing so, and some way for us to help." He reasons.

Athese just shrugged at Lupus's humor.

She smiled to herself: Perhaps if she did not attempt to make a run for it she would at least get to see him die on their suicidal mission.