A Den of Thieves

[lostlittlebear]

You enter the tavern, and take stock of your surroundings. Once again you cannot help but marvel at the riches of the inner circle – the outer ring seems almost to be on another planet when compared to the extravagance on display here. Extracting a daisy from your pocket, you wave it at the bartender, who chuckles.

“You must be another one of Shard’s friends. Forgive him, he has a queer sense of humor.”

Leading you into a small room attached to the tavern, he motions for you to take a seat, joining the others already waiting for their patron’s arrival. Moments later, a tall man sweeps into the room. He looks somewhere in his late thirties, with long dark hair framing an attractive face sporting a thick, luxuriant mustache. He is dressed expensively in the style of the latest Oasian trend – a black silk doublet matching fine black leggings and rounded off by a rakish black cap. Indeed, the man’s monochrome color scheme is only broken by a single yellow daisy worn in his cap.

“Welcome, one and all! My name is Shard, and no, it’s not my real name, but there’s no reason to let that bother us, is there?”

“As you all may have suspected, I am a member of House Eyrin, and I have invited you all here today to be my new Den. Let’s hope this Den is better fated than the last one I handled, eh? After all, lying dead in the gutter isn’t my idea of a particularly auspicious end.”

“But I get ahead of myself! Introductions, introductions! As I always say, Dens who don’t know each other can’t work together. But in the interests of time, let us keep this short. Name, specialty, and an interesting fact about yourself will suffice.”

Settling in a chair at the back of the room, Shard calmly watches all of you. Despite his foppish behavior, his eyes are as cold as ice.

These eyes have seen death before, you think.

“Now who will be first?”

[DragoonWraith]

Aleister
A tall, wiry man wearing black robes with silver trim and silver sigils embroidered along its length nods, and in an incredibly deep bass, "I am Aleister Corcavë; I am a conjurer and fiendbinder. The legions of the Hells and the hordes of the Abyss are mine to command, and I assure you that the fiends I summon will do no other than how I will. I further am studied in a wide variety of arcane and eldritch topics, as well as have a thorough knowledge of the various occult societies within the Inner Circle that deal with such things."

[whoiam]

Liselle
I just hope noone else can summon the same fiends and ask them questions.

When it came out, her voice was soft enough - was, in fact, quite difficult to hear. Liselle was good at many things, all of them related to hiding or violence - making herself heard was not in the list. "I am known as Liselle Diapai. I am fast, strong, and can make this lump of metal" she delivered a friendly pat to her greatsword's hilt, just as emphasis "sing. I am also good at getting it to where it's needed *quietly*."

[Boo]

Myolan briefly eyed the queer man, the wiry man and the quiet woman before he answered the question. "Daggermouth--I complete any job given." His dark and hissing voice did not show any desire to elaborate, but neither did it give any impression of a lie.

Myolan himself was a tall Lizardfolk. Bronze covered his body from head to toe. His tail was long as well, but that was to be expected. Over top of his scales was his armour, which was covered by his clothing--dark green cloths of a finer quality than most. He carried a greatsword on his back while his sap rested from his belt. The leather that carried both was a nice brown. Covering his sheath was his backpack which contained most of his items. Most of his outfit was covered by a cloak--a hood for his head too. Besides his aforementioned gloves, he wore a pair of custom boots that fit so very well. All in all, he was noticeable only when he wanted to be.

[JackTR69]

Garnet
A average looking human, Garnet wears a dull red cloak with a matching wide brimmed hat. A rapier hangs at his side, and you can see three quality daggers tucked into his vest. Sitting listening to the others with his chair leaned back and his feet on the table, he recognizes that it is his turn to introduce himself. He takes his feet off the table and slams his chair down for effect.
"Hello everyone! I'm a man of many talents, many names, many abilities, and many aliases. I am an expert swordsman who can go above, beyond, and well below our enemies to reach our goals. Some call me many things, but something many things can call me is Garnet. I am a duelist and a spell caster, an I won't stop until I meet our goals. And with that introduction, I will return to my seat."

[Duke of URL]

Cassandra

Today's disguise has her naturally straight brown hair changed to a a wavy reddish-brown, and clever use of makeups have changed the apparent shape of her facial features to something a little more angular and pronounced. (Disguise: 27, according to previous roll.) She appears unarmored, wearing a simple barmaid's outfit.

"I am Cassandra. I'm what you might call a 'people person', in that I am quite capable of getting people to believe what I wish for them to believe, and to convince them to see things my way. I suppose an interesting fact about myself is that I am not what I might appear to be. That is, what you see is not my true appearance. So don't be surprised if someone you don't seem to know knows you."

As she speaks, her dress changes shape and color, and is revealed as a suit of leather armor.

[lostlittlebear]

Even as Cassandra finishes speaking, Shard gets up and looks her quietly in the face.

He blinks, once, hard, and suddenly something about Cassandra changes.

(OOC: Make Spot checks people! Feel free to roll this one yourselves)

Spot Check DC 15:

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You notice that a tiny green light appears for a moment in the center of Shard's right eye.

She's still wearing the same clothes and makeup and dyes as before, but now all of you can see exactly where she's altered her features, and in what way, allowing you to get a pretty good idea of what she looks like in her natural state.

Raising a hand quickly to rub at his right eye, Shard chuckles.

"Forgive me for doing that, madame, but it was imperative that I give everyone an example of the... abilities at my disposal. Just in case any of you are thinking of double-crossing me at sometime in the future."

Shard continues, ignoring what reactions you might have.

"But on to more important things. It's a tradition of mine to draw up a charter of sorts with the Dens I handle. I'll tell you what support you can expect from the House, and what we expect from you in return."

"House Eyrin always gives it's Dens full operational leeway - we'll give you broad objectives and missions, but we will never dictate the methods by which we want you to achieve it. We are also prepared to give you access to a reasonable amount of House resources on a per mission basis. This might include manpower, useful contacts, crucial items, or other information that you might need to complete your tasks."

"Pay will be handled on a per mission basis as well, based on the success of each assignment. Rest assured that it will be generous."

"In return, we expect several things. We are realistic enough to expect that not every mission will result in success, but we expect you to TRY. Dens that do not have their heart in the missions we assign have often had their contracts terminated."

"We also expect that you maintain the utmost secrecy regarding who you work for, because as far as House Eyrin is concerned, none of you exist. This also means that we will not lift a finger to help any of you who are captured by the Guard or other Houses, although we do permit Dens to mount rescue attempts on their own."

At this juncture, Shard's face darkens, and his voice takes on a far harsher timbre.

"But if you should ever reveal your connection to the House, or double-cross us in any way... we will spare no expense or trouble to hunt you down and kill you - in the most brutal and painful way we know."

"Any questions?"

[Duke of URL]

Cassandra

Trying to keep a scowl from her face at being revealed, Cassandra tries to accept the reality. The fact is, there's no walking away from this now anyway, is there? Of course not. Then why so adamant on keeping your true self secret, Cassie? Habit. Just a habit.

Forcing herself to smile, she replies, "I'm in, of course. I doubt any of us would be here if you thought the answer would be otherwise, no?"

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Spot - (1d20+1)[21]

She does notice the gleam in Shard's eye. Now... that's interesting...

[DragoonWraith]

Aleister
Aleister strokes his black goatee. "Quite so, milady. I, too, am quite sure I wish to be a part of this group, and fully agree to your terms."

[Boo]

Myolan

"I agree to your termsss, One of the Eyrin Den." he replied, quickly glancing at Shard's eye as Cassandra was revealed. "Hrngh..." He turned his head briefly toward Cassandra, then back again to Shard. He was surprised without reaction. It's not often that he saw these things... whatever they may have been.

In reaction to the development, Myolan tried to examine Shard's eye without being obvious--more or less studying him.

[whoiam]

Liselle

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[roll="Spot Check"]1d20+6[/spot]
Edit: *bangs head on keyboard*

Odd. Liselle saw the gleam in their patron's eye, but had absolutely no idea what the relevance of it was. Oh, well. Good to know he had access to some form of magic, at any rate. And by 'good' she meant 'worrying'.

"I am in, Shard." None of the terms were particularly surprising to her. In fact, she had expected most of it - Dens never were public affairs, were they? There was also not much of a retirement policy. If you wanted to stop doing this, you got out of the city and fast... and never came back.

[lostlittlebear]

"Very well. I'm glad we are all on the same page."

Reaching into one of his surprisingly deep pockets, Shard draws out a rolled-up piece of parchment. Unfolding it, he lays it out on the table.

On the parchment is a detailed and well-drawn picture of what appears to be a middle-aged Oasian man, with the rounded cheeks and flabby chin that indicate a life of luxury only affordable to nobles. His hair is thinning in places, revealing a mass of worry lines etched into his forehead. A pair of clear blue eyes complete the portrait - eyes that radiate greed even when etched into parchment with ink.

"This man is Noben Svard, a minor noble allied to House Grunhild. He is a man of little political importance, but he has great wealth and is willing to use it to get what he wants. Recently, he has been attempting to curry favour with House Grunhild by using his wealth to buy votes for their cause. Amongst the people he has swayed are a few of our erstwhile allies."

"Other Dens have been dispatched to teach these 'allies' a lesson. What we want you to do is do the same for Noben Svard. We don't want to kill him, because we still hope he can be convinced to give us our vote. But we do want to ruin him, and make sure he can never be a threat to us again."

"His principle holdings in the city consist of a casino, in House Grunhild's quarter of the circle."

As he says this, Shard draws out a map of the city and marks the casino's position for you. Making two more markings on the map, he continues.

"And here is the bank we believe he stores his money in, and his private residence. We want you to find some way of stealing his money and leaving him destitute. It shouldn't take much - our sources tell us that he has had to borrow heavily to sustain the largesse he has been dishing out."

"The same sources also tell us that operational security at the casino is the weakest when the weekly intake is transferred to the bank. I suggest that you make an attempt to steal it, though if you have other ideas feel free to mention them. After all, you are the professionals."

"If you need more information, just ask. Our sources are at your disposal."

[whoiam]

Liselle

Relax your mind. Ideas will come to you, when you listen for... "I wonder if that bank may be hiring additional guards? I can play a pretty convincing mercenary, after all." Not hard when that's essentially what you were. "I am sure some of the rest of us could as well. The easiest way to hijack that money is if we are working with the bank, after all. Do we have long enough to infiltrate the banking group, or are we under too much time pressure to do this slowly?"

A further pause, for more thought.

"You know, if we could take control of that money transfer without anyone from the bank realising, then substitute his actual take for detectable fakes... we'd not only have taken his income for the week, but we'd have ruined his reputation as well..." And there were plenty of places in the outer ring to get fake money. Especially bad fake money.

[lostlittlebear]

"The mission isn't time critical - but you won't be paid until you finish, so I'd advise that you hurry up."

"About the guards... we don't have any contacts in the bank at the moment, so you'll have to find out for yourselves - but judging by past events banks have always been keen to get more guards during Great Games."

[Duke of URL]

Cassandra

"Maps are all well and good, but I think it would be helpful to get inside the casino and see the layout firsthand. Especially what's going on during the weekly transfer. Do we know what day that happens to be?"

[lostlittlebear]

"If you wish to see the site first hand, that can be arranged," Shard replies.

Smiling wryly, he adds, "Just don't gamble away your money before you earn it."

"As for the weekly transfer, as far as we can tell it appears to take place on seemingly random days using seemingly random routes. We haven't been able to discern any patterns, but presumably they follow a system of sorts. It's a closely guarded system, and our source isn't highly placed enough to get at it."

"He may have useful information though, so I'll put you in touch with him if you wish to pursue this course of action."

[DragoonWraith]

Aleister
"On the subject of gambling, we may draw attention if we're not doing it. At the same time, I have little interest in wasting my money in their games. I don't suppose it would be possible to arrange some funds for that purpose? Nothing major, of course, but it could help our surveillance considerably. And, of course, we should be stealing it all back anyway."

[lostlittlebear]

"If that's the course of action you wish to take, spending money can be arranged for."

[Duke of URL]

Cassandra

"And when they patrons tire of the games, where do they turn for entertainment?" She turns to Aleister, "one doesn't have to be a gambler to fit in at a casino, after all. I imagine I could serve as available 'arm decoration' for some of the more lucky clientele."

[Boo]

Myolan Daggermouth

Blend into a common area? This was not a thing easily achieved for poor Myolan. He closed his eyes for a time to think, avoiding the appearances of the tolerated species.

"What of sssplitting our resssources?" His eyes opened wide, flying quickly from one conversation member to another. "Half track the transsfer, half mind the building..." His molly claw rose past the table to emphasise his next words as he leaned in, "Risssk lessss; gain more."

[lostlittlebear]

Shard raises his hands defensively, laughing.

"I appreciate your questions, but I don't have all the specific information you need. Tell you what, I'll arrange a meeting with our source for you."

"Tell me when you want to scout out the casino, and I'll get him to meet you at the door."

[JackTR69]

Turning to Myolan:
"I think that it would be better to keep our resources focused, rather than splitting up. What say we focus on the Casino for now, and tackle the bank later? I know you wont be able to blend in, so maybe you could do some scouting for the bank route while we infiltrate the Casino. Speaking of which, I volunteer to take the table if we need a gambler. I have some experience on the subject, as I have been to many such establishments in the past.
Garnet perks his ears, waiting for a response.

[Duke of URL]

Cassandra

"In any event, it would seem unwise for all of us to suddenly appear as a group. Drawing attention to ourselves does not seem overly smart. Over the course of a few days, we could trickle in, with some appearing to be new regulars and others just along for a visit or two."

[DragoonWraith]

Aleister
"That might be best. Hmm... There is a spell that will improve one's odds in games of chance. Generally undetectable except by tracking someone's wins and determining that they're doing better than they ought to. Do we know if they have any special protections against such things? I'd imagine they'd have to... but those protections may be important for us to know, if we want to get other magic into the place.

"On the other hand, it could also provide a means into the back..."

[lostlittlebear]

"I don't know the specifics, but my source indicated that the casino is using some sort of detect magic based security system. You can ask him the details yourself."

"Since you all seem to be keen to head to the casino as soon as possible, I'll instruct my source to meet you all there tomorrow. Don't worry about finding him, he'll find you."

"His name, or what passes for a name, is Deuce."

Shard turns to leave, then pauses.

"Oh, I almost forgot. I have a gift for all of you."

Reaching into another one of his impossibly deep pockets, he extracts twelve disks, six red and six blue, each about the size of your thumbnail. Giving each of you a red and a blue disk, he takes the remaining two disks and puts the red one in his ear, and the blue one in his mouth. As he does so, he motions for you to follow suit.

[Duke of URL]

Cassandra

Damn it, the warlock curses to herself. I'll have to dismiss most of my protections to not set off any alarms. Still, my natural gifts should suffice. I hope.

Without a word, she takes the disks and copies Shard's motions.

[lostlittlebear]

Smiling at Cassandra, Shard touches a hand to the disk in his ear, which shimmers slightly and changes color to match his flesh.

His lips move silently for a while, then he winks at the warlock and extracts the blue disk from his mouth.

"My contact will wait for all of you outside the Casino tomorrow. He'll recognize you if any of you wears a daisy in your clothes."

"A bright yellow daisy. No other color will do."

With a florid bow, he exits the tavern, chuckling as he goes.

Cassandra:

Spoiler

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You hear Shard's voice speaking through the disk in your ear. If you didn't know any better, you'd have sworn that he was standing right next to you and whispering in your ear.

"Neat, isn't it? Touch a hand to the disk in your ear, and it allows you to communicate with everyone wearing the other five receiver disks. Just whisper the words softly, and all of them will hear you as if you were whispering in their ears."

"If you're wondering what spells power this thing, I'm not too sure myself, but it appears to be a mixture of prestidigitation and whispering wind."

"Either way, it's how Dens in our House commonly communicate, and they say that they are much more effective with it. I know you're a mage, so I'll let you explain how it works to the others - consider it an apology for breaking your disguise earlier."

"Good day, madame. And don't lose the disks - I'm not sure how to make them myself."

[Boo]

Myolan Daggermouth

Having never seen such devices before, he cannot assume the best or worst, only the least. He takes them regardless, but holds them firmly in his hands instead of wearing them as the rest may. Trust is a matter of issue in this city.

Perhaps it's a trap to dispose of the group after the job has been completed? A way of controlling the mind? Body? Suspicious people offering items of interest are usually up to something...

I, the player, have to wonder how the blue disc would fit on Myolan.

[lostlittlebear]

(OOC: Boo, post question the player has in the OOC thread, or within OOC brackets like this - the disk is small enough that it can easily fit in your mouth. If you're talking about the one for the ear, Lizardfolk have small flaps of skin that serve as ear covering, just tuck it in there.)

[JackTR69]

While Garnet talks, he slips the disks into his mouth and ear.
"Very well, we will do this without magic then. As for going in together, why not? Groups of friends go out gambling all the time. Besides, it would be better for us all to meet out contact. Now, when do we leave?"