The Wrong Guys IC II

[Strawberries]

Audric frowns, looking between Rana and Sandry, then nods and wordlessly follows them outside.

[Savannah]

Rana hurries after, happy to get out of the house.

[Jallorn]

Antal lingers a moment, gazing at the bag. With a sudden, **** this, he turns to join the others, making a mental note of the location of this family and commiting it fully to his memory.

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Antal has decided to do something, and he's started making note of allies and resources. That said, his approach is going to be fairly un-rogue-like, more of a "get on board or get out of the way" sort of thing. Intelligently though, no need to draw too much attention.

[DeafnotDumb]

"You were speaking something and you cut it off." Jess says without preamble to Rana. "After looking from choirboy and the mother. I'm guessing you got an idea, and unlike me and him-" She nods at Audric "-you probably don't have feelings clouding up your thinking so much. What's it?"

[Savannah]

"He's not a choirboy! If you want our help, you should be nicer to Audric!" Rana looks rather surprised at her own outburst.

[Nanoblack]

Llaars

The big man is last to come through the doorway, ducking his head as he does so. While everyone else seems to be about ready to fight, he just seems a bit disappointed. "Whatever it is, lets be out with it. Times wastin' that could be put to good use. Don't let this little girl make you forget about the witch either..."

[DeafnotDumb]

"I-" Jess pauses in mid-snap. It takes her some time to say the next words. "I'm sorry." She says, turning her head so no one can easily see her expression. Her hands play with the necklace. "Old habits, as they say. Audric, when you looked at the date on that piece of paper - you certain it was the same time? Not later or anything?"

[Strawberries]

The paladin looks rather surprised himself when Rana speaks in his defence "Thank you, but it is not important, she can call me whatever she likes" Nonetheless, he nods in acknowledgement of Sandry's apology. "And... yes. Three months of 'apprenticeship', three years from the last bill... the one detailing the burial. It matches with the timing her mother gave us. Why are you asking? And Rana, what is that you were about to say, before?"

He acknowledges Llaars' words with amother nod. The man is right as well, there is a witch that they still have to chase...but Audric can't in good conscience leave things as they are without at less attempting to do something.

[Savannah]

"Antal was saying that it doesn't make sense to change the girl's gender in the records, but....there is one reason I can think of...." Rana stares at the ground, hesitant to actually say what she's thinking.

[Strawberries]

Audric looks at her, perplexed. He can't think of any reason, but if Rana has an explanation.... "And... What would this reason be?" He asks carefully.

[Savannah]

"Welllll..." Rana's scuffing her toe on the ground, not meeting anyone's eyes. She takes a deep breath and blurts, "You know how it can be considered improper for an unmarried man and woman to travel together? If there were actually something improper going on, Yistin might want to make it appear that there was not by changing the girl's gender on the records so his supervisors wouldn't catch on."

[Strawberries]

The paladin looks like he's trying to decode what Rana has just said "Inapp..." he catches up after a couple of seconds "Rana, she was a child. You are suggesting..." he seems incapable to complete the sentence, instead passing a hand over his eyes "Aldaran have mercy" he whispers to himself, looking between Rana and Sandry as if asking for confirmation. He has paled a bit, is biting his lip, and overall looks quite shaken by the realization.

[Savannah]

"It might not true! I don't know! It's....it's just all I can think of...."

Shadow presses into Rana's side, sensing she's upset but not seeing anything he should protect her from in the area.

[DeafnotDumb]

"I didn't think he'd be that stupid. It's a risk. He should've locked her away, not kept her with him, given her some rest..." She covers her hand with her mouth and when she moves it down the smile's back on her face and she's speaking with an inappropriate chirpiness. "When I look at you I see that bastard. Stops me thinking." She half-explains, half apologizes to Audric. "I think one way to solve that problem would be to go and confront him. We got anything else we need to do?"

Good. Very galvanizing. And hopefully no one would notice how she outright ignored the Paladin's question to her.

[Strawberries]

Audric still looks like he's going to be sick. After a momert he seems to shake himself out of it, when Sandry mentions confronting the other paladin. "...confront him." he whispers, and then, a bit louder "Yes. Yes, as we said before. And" his tone becomes more resolute "As we said before, you are not going anywhere near him." Noone capable of spellcasting is going anywhere near Yistin, not if Audric has anything to say on the matter.

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((OOC: I know, I know... )

[DeafnotDumb]

"Yistin has a-plenty of backup. We should take what we get, and you'll need me all trapped and captured to sell the plan. Probably bruised, too." She adds reflectively. "Would you like to do the honors, Chi-Audric, and leave me with a nice shiner?"

[Nanoblack]

Llaars

"This is startin' to sound like one of those plans where I get to say I told you so at the end. None of you finger wagglers need to go anywhere near the church. Just one of those pallies look at you funny and you set off the alarm, the whole deal is ruined and we get dragged down with you." His expression matched the one he held everytime there was a difference of opinion with Carla. He knows he won't win, but sometimes arguing just for the sake of it has it's place.

[Savannah]

"I agree with Llaars. We need to plan this very carefully, and not go rushing into things just because we're upset. I still don't think we have the whole story on this girl."

[Jallorn]

We do not need to go to him. In fact, to do so would be bad tactics. We bring him to us. In short, we threaten to reveal what we know unless he meets us to discuss terms. Then, we simply ambush him.

[Strawberries]

Audric sighs "I thought we had discussed this. We will bring him to us...alone, if I can do sonething about that. But I am not going to 'ambush' a paladin before hearing what he has to say... And I agree with Llaars, I don't want any of you..." he realises he's speaking in a normal tone and lowers his voice "any of you spellcasters anywhere where your magic could be sensed. Not even you, Sandry. He could pass you through with a sword as soon as he sees you, bound or not, and it would be within his full priviledges. I do not want to take that risk."

[Cardea]

Tayet

"Disgusting. I will keep distance, Audreek. If man does what implied, he is something I wish to be away from anyways." Tayet says, finally. A lot of what was said was lost to him, but he could gather context from body language. Facial expressions. Disgust her face was just horrified. Tayet did, however, catch... something. "But thing bother me. Small thing. Am unsure of times, but, how often do you see Paladin woman? Curious."

[Strawberries]

Audric shrugs, and answers in a tone that implies that his mind is still focused on other subjects. "Female paladins... they're not so uncommon. I know several." And he's heard of several more. There would be really no need to alter the child's gender on the record if she had really been taken in for training. Audric suppresses a shudder, trying not to think about what Rana just implied. If that's really the case, he understands Tayet's sentiment perfectly: he doesn't want to be near the man either. But I have to all the same.

[DeafnotDumb]

"Well, we've got a plan, haven't we?" Jess says. "So come on. Let's go be good guys."

[Ajadea]

You bid Fiona/Faolan's mother goodbye. She looks torn, but doesn't object to your departure. The door does not close behind you. But there is little time to worry about that. You have a job to do, something resembling a plan, and hopefully enough evidence to make a conviction. A letter is drafted, written, and delivered to the temple. Knowing that it will take some time for Yistin to respond, react, and/or have a panic attack, you arrange to meet him the next day, somewhere in a tangle of narrow alleys and brick walls that Jess is sure will be relatively empty, therefore making it rather hard for Yistin to raise an alarm about, say, the magical composition of your group.

True to her word, the alley, if that is the appropriate word, is empty. Brick walls rise high on each side. One, relatively well maintained if still quite dusty, encircles what is presumably an old family estate - you can see little past the towering willow trees and the brick wall. Whatever it is, it has endured as a place of quiet even though the city has grown, swallowing it in the urban mess. On the other side, a taller brick wall is crumbling, in shambles. Large chunks have been torn off to build other things or even just fallen off the wall. This was one of the walls that encircled the city of Diamond Lake, to protect it. That was a long time ago. It is quiet here. Audric's clanking footsteps are the loudest thing by a long shot. Yistin will arrive soon, but you have enough time to implement any last minute plans. Perhaps about half an hour or so.

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Did you take the remains with you? Papers?

Also, deduct the appropriate amount for a night's sleep:

Inn stay (per day)
Good 2 gp (a small private room, can be shared by 2 people, if one sleeps on the floor and doesn't mind the risk of being stepped on by the person in the bed)
Common 4 sp (sleep in the dining room. Pallet and blanket provided for 1 sp, privacy and protection from theft is not)

Food is 2 sp, assuming nothing extravagant (oatmeal, bread, root vegetables, possibly with a little salt fish is probably OK, pastries, fruit, and fresh fish cost more)

[Jallorn]

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Antal will have gone ahead and gotten himself a room. All to himself unless someone wants to split, but he got the bed. Also switching my spell to Magic Missile.

Antal looks around for some scaffolding or something he could climb and hide atop. Preferably around 8 feet off the ground, just high enough that he's unlikely to be spotted, but not so high he couldn't survive the fall with minimal damage.

[Strawberries]

Audric has a grim, dark expression that you don't remember having ever seen him sport, not even when the circumstances have been considerably more dire. He said very little during breakfast, and didn't smile even once. He hasn't had the best of nights: the realisation that, no matter how he dresses it up, he's going to possibly ambush a paladin is not very conductive to a good night's sleep.

He isn't smiling now, either, as he assess his surroundings and the place Jess has indicated as perfect for the meeting. He motions Rana, Jess and Tayet to take cover behind the thickest wall, and, if they comply, he stands in the middle of the alley, slowly turning around and trying to detect their presence, to make sure they're well concealed. That is an application of that particular ability that he hadn't ever considered before today.

"Remember, he can perceive your magic" he says. Given some of his companions recent actions, he feels like it's a useful reminder to make "Do not do anything reckless. Antal, I am talking to you, especially. And... Sandry, as well. Let me and Llaars deal with this."

[Ajadea]

Antal

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If you don't mind some invasion of private property, the willow-draped top of the estate wall fits your specifications well enough. While there is no scaffolding, it is the right height, and rough enough to be kinda sorta technically feasible. A boost from one of the taller party members might be required.

Audric

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You examine your surroundings with magic and normal sight. It seems harder than normal, though that is probably stress or simply the sheer amount of spellcasters near- four of them now, with unique auras of colorscentsoundness, to say nothing of the mind-splitting jar of headache in your backpack and the assorted contraband you picked up yesterday. Forest greens and barking hounds (wolves?) blend with and bump up against shades of quicksilver nothing and acrid shadow-eyes, lines blurring so much that only memory can tell you what belongs to who. None of it is holy. Quite the opposite, really. The wall is probably thick enough to hide it. If Yistin isn't feeling particularly observant.

[Jallorn]

Hey, one of you tall people, gimme a boost up, Antal makes no overt response to Audric's comment, pointing instead to the top of the wall he wants to climb.

[Strawberries]

For a moment, it looks like Audric is going to object something, then he wordlessly nods, and helps the halfling climb up his chosen spot, making sure to check on him as well, to ensure he's reasonablt hidden like the others. The paladin doesn't say anything to Llaars either, merey acknowelding his presence with a nod. If you didn't know him well, you could think he was sulking. As it is, it's clear that he's deeply worried and upset: there are lines at the corner of his mouth, and worry wrinkles on his brow.

Very deliberately, Audric steps away from where the spellcasters are concealed, gesturing Llaars to do the same, and settles for the wait.

[DeafnotDumb]

Sandry has spent much of the journey there to try and get Audric to change his position, arguing ideas such as 'hiding in plain sight', 'I'm a better liar than you' and 'bloody hell, choirboy, think!'. However, once it is apparent that her arguments are bouncing off stone, she calms down and follows the plan with an indolent air. "Well, good luck." She says casually. "Let's try not to get anyone killed."