15[20:05] "I don't like this," declares Ragara Kou into the silence. She doesn't seem like she likes much. [20:06] 14Piu, having already tempted fate a bit too much in this meeting already, will refrain from telling her what she can do with her likes and dislikes. 15[20:06] "I think," says the woman behind her, who until a long silent moment ago had been quietly taking minutes in the corner, "That we should all sit down, and have a meal, and talk about how we can help each other." [20:08] 14Mmmmm. 15[20:09] Governor Kou: "I decide when we sit down. Not you. I don't care who you report to." 15[20:10] The scribe: "Of course, Governor. I apologize." 15[20:11] Governor Kou: "Good. Now go see to dinner. There's a bell in the dining room you can ring." 15[20:11] The scribe: "..........of course, Governor." 15[20:13] She vanishes through the double doors leading into the dining room. [20:13] 14Too bad it's not Kou's name on the list. 15[20:14] Kou: "Spies, assassins, whatever the hell you are. The only word from the mainland for months. For all I know the Imperial City has fallen." 15[20:14] "Instead of answers, all of you bring me nothing but more chaos." [20:16] 14If she gets in the habit of being inconviently accidentally correct like this, though, that might change. 15[20:17] She looks challengingly into everyone's eyes but Piu's and Ratel's. "Well? Go on. What do you have to say for yourselves?" 15[20:17] Caxi remains demure. [20:30] 10A heavy sigh from Daizo. "Two months ago I was investigating the spiritual landscape in the gardens of the Tepet compound. If I'm a spy or an assassin, I'm one who is clearly in far over my head." [20:33] 07Dryas bristles for an instant before pouring herself another slug of rum. "We acted impetuously but those events were set in motion before we arrived. It seems as likely to me that you were originally the one to be framed by the assassin. Instead, your problem arrives with its own solution. Of a sort," 07she suggests. [20:33] 6Zhangyu: "I have been told I would make perhaps the worst spy anyone has ever seen." 6That description also included several more expletives that he won't be including, for the sake of company. His stealth training went poorly, to say the least. "So what I have to say is: thank you for the compliment. But I am a soldier, not a force of chaos." 6Usually. 15[20:37] Ratel seems quite pleased with the crew's responses. Kou incredibly does not. Her jaw works silently while she drinks another tall glass of, one hopes, water. 15[20:38] The Governor looks like she's about to go in again when a bell tinkles inside. "About time," she grumbles. "Come. Eat." [20:39] 4After you, bi--wait, have to finish this drink. [20:41] 10Phew. Dinner sounds like a very good idea right about now. [20:41] 6It's more difficult to be angry with food in your mouth. 15[20:42] The dining room is large and physically comfortable, with murals depicting the forging of the Western trade routes and the, ah, partnership with Abalone. There's a petroglyph done in a traditional Western style of someone in a Commodore's uniform - identical to Ratel's - and a well-muscled man with feathers coming from his skin and scalp. They stand on opposite sides of a fire smeared 15[20:42] a dozen colors by exotic dyes and Wyld-warped stone pulled from Hamoji itself. [20:43] 4Well. That guy was important enough that he's on the damn wall. 15[20:44] The food is abundant and high-quality, and all imported. There's steamed rice balls like you can only get in the breadbasket prefectures, isicia omentata done in the Imperial City style, and good V'Neef wine. Aside from the decor there's no indication they're not all eating back on the Isle right now. [20:45] 4Omentata and wine, now that's a night. 15[20:46] The scribe waits until everyone has settled in to speak. "My name is Hedrin, of house Mnemon. The people I represent are very keen to avoid instability. Of any kind." [20:46] 10Kou must feel comfortable in her position to have this level of heretical imagery decorating a single dining room. Not that there's anything wrong with it for the Blooded, but the servants… [20:46] 14...And there's confirmation. Pity. Perhaps she was only starting to like the scribe in relation to the governor, but still. [20:47] 14Also bad form to have gone off-script into something besides bubbly confidence in a target's presence, but, these things happen. [20:50] 07Dryas digs in to the food. A taste of home after months away is certainly something to be savored. "The people you represent?" 07she asks. [20:52] 10Daizo's sense of scandal evaporates as the food's brought in. They got the dry-sauteed string beans bang on the nose. [20:53] 6Zhangyu begins to eat as well. 'Instability' is fairly broad, but point taken. 15[20:55] "I work with the Thousand Scales' diplomatic corps," Hedrin offers as she sips her fish broth. "Maintaining international ties. Forging new ones, where needed." 15[20:56] "She's of the Eye," Kou interjects. "Save the coy shit for courtiers." 15[20:57] Hedrin's eyes flutter closed for just a moment. [20:57] 4Piu: "Wow! You're...uh...quite the pair!" [20:59] 07Dryas chokes for a moment on her quail-stuffed pheasant. It wasn't a laugh. Just a bit of unexpected fish sauce going down not quite right. She dabs her mouth with a serviette. [21:00] 14Quite the pair indeed. [21:01] 10Daizo: "Hmmmm. My first time meeting a member of the Eye as a member of the Eye. An honor. Now my acquaintances back home will never talk to me about politics again." 15[21:01] Hedrin smiles thinly. "I imagine that's far from the only secret you're being expected to keep." [21:02] 4Regretfully: "Yeah. The wings are gonna be tough." [21:03] 6Zhangyu glares. [21:03] 10Daizo looks pained, but manages to suppress any more outbursts like he had back at the hostel. [21:05] 4Piu makes an "oops, sorry" face like she didn't realize that was rude. [21:06] 07After a few moments of trying this and that, Dryas has arranged a wine to go with the food and a rum to go with the wine. She makes her way through with a nibble, dab, sip, dab, sip, dab, nibble. Now she stops to idly stroke the burnished sun-gold pendant resting on her collarbone. 15[21:06] Hedrin pushes her plate forward. "I would like us to come to an understanding about the crisis we are all now forced to confront. I think that if we pool our information and our labor we can achieve outcomes we would be powerless to reach alone." 15[21:06] Mnemon Hedrin: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjQk70d9xMA - Everybody knows the war is over. Everybody knows the good guys lost. 15[21:11] "With the Governor's permission I'd like to talk about the man you probably know as Ted." [21:11] "A noble endeavor," 07replies the merchant princess. "But not a Wyld Hunt?" 07She is curious rather than dismissive. Perhaps a better arrangement can be negotiated than what they would get with a Wyld Hunt. 15[21:11] Kou scoffs. [21:12] 4Piu smiles a bit at "know as Ted" for reasons that aren't polite for dinner talk. [21:12] 10It really is a disreputable-sounding name. [21:12] 6Zhangyu: "I think we've caused enough of a ruckus." 6There's an emphasis on the I. "Maybe another approach." 15[21:13] "You'd sooner find the Empress in the Western Isles than monks worth the name in the Western Isles. Those two old coots in their monastery? The children nattering among them? Please. The Immaculates put one pair of feet in Abalone and she couldn't even keep her own windpipe open." 15[21:14] Caxi takes a long draw from her wineglass. [21:15] 14Clearly Kou suffers from some strange curse of dramatic irony. 15[21:16] Hedrin: "Making allowances for the Governor's colorful perspective, she is ultimately correct. The political arrangement in Abalone is unpalatable to the faithful. Local beliefs are... highly syncretic." 15[21:17] "Calling down a full Wyld Hunt without the cooperation of the Navy or the Immaculates is not possible." [21:17] 10Daizo: "That's shameful! What are they thinking, allowing the situation to deteriorate like this?" 15[21:20] Kou: "They're thinking that if they let us twist in the wind long enough we'll let Her Holiness send in her thugs and pry the jewel of the Western trade network into her own hands." [21:20] 4Apparently hoping some guy named Ted would wander along and handle the situation himself? 14Or at least create the pretext for external action. Who knows; maybe Ted's working for them. Wouldn't be the first time the monks worked through cut-outs to employ Anathema. 15[21:21] Hedrin: "And the wind outside is quite fierce, as I'm sure you observed when you came in." 15[21:21] "The people I represent would like to see the status quo maintained." 15[21:22] "It was merciful and fortunate that the local high priest survived the deicide." 15[21:22] "His death would've complicated an already febrile moment." [21:24] 6Best that it ended the way it did, then. Well. No, there are considerably better ways things could have ended, but they also could have been worse. [21:24] 4Piu, innocently: "So is Hamoji like...dead-dead?" 15[21:26] Hedrin: "The ali-ki - that is, Hamoji's cadre of clerics - believe so. We can't be certain unless we breach the god's sanctum and see if he's begun to reform. We're not equipped for that right now." [21:27] "That is a long term problem," 07Dryas opines. "Ted is a right now problem." 15[21:28] Hedrin: "Well put." [21:29] 4Piu: "Well...we already know he frequents the underground fights at the docks. Or at least, he did, before the killing." [21:31] 14Unless of course he was expressly there to catch Piu's eye...but 4Piu14 likely wouldn't make that connection. 15[21:31] Hedrin: "Common sense would be that he would flee immediately after such a dramatic and terrible crime... but we have reason to believe he can't, or won't. Our sources say he is a vanguard of another nation's interests in the region." [21:33] 6Zhangyu: "Why was he there, anyway?" 6The usual reasons, maybe, just because he's out slaying gods doesn't mean he's not one for entertainment... but we were all there, too. Zhangyu's not going to be the one to spill that detail. [21:33] 4Seemed like he wanted to find someone to fuck. [21:34] 4Our intrepid investigator reports. [21:34] 10Daizo: "Is that nation known to you, or can you speculate?" 10The wings flex uncomfortably under his cape. [21:34] 14Who is even close enough to have interest? 15[21:37] Hedrin: "This 'Ted' is among the bleakest and most corruptive Anathema known to us. His motives may be obvious or they may be twisted beyond recognition. I think it's unproductive to speculate, and I'd like to focus on the pattern of his behavior. We believe he arrived any time between several months and roughly a year ago, and quickly set about embedding himself in peripheral or 15[21:37] marginal parts of the city's society and culture." 15[21:37] "Tracing the timing of his arrival, and our efforts to track and observe him, indicate that he has ties, likely strong ones, to the court of the Silver Prince." [21:39] 4Piu, running a finger around the edge of her wineglass. "And that's...bad?" [21:39] "Like, more bad than usual?" [21:40] 10Daizo: "The name implies he could be one of the warlords of the Caul. Very bad indeed, if that's the case." 15[21:40] Hedrin: "It could scarcely be worse!" 15[21:41] "The necrarchy of Skullstone is every bit as foul and insidious as the fallen Thorns, if more obscure. People care far more about the dramas of the Threshold than the stalking evils at the periphery of Creation." [21:43] 10Daizo: "Gah. That is worse." [21:48] 10Daizo: "It all begins to come together when you look at it like that. Slay the guardian of Hamoji; use the ensuing chaos to destabilize the rightful governors, and then the entire island is poised to fall into their hands." 15[21:49] Hedrin nods. "Very astute." [21:49] 4Piu: "So we're at the 'use ensuing chaos' part of the plan." [21:50] 10Daizo: "Suddenly I'm very glad I begged the Governor for that chance to save the Feathered One." 15[21:51] Hedrin: "There are a few ways we can do this and the choice, ultimately, will be yours. One option is to take up the role of an ersatz Wyld Hunt yourselves, and attempt to bring him in or bring him down. Another is to attempt to leverage your existing connections to him - you're familiar with his underground fighting career, already - to get more information about his plans or, even 15[21:51] better, his accomplices." [21:51] 10That feathered bastard. I hope he's grateful too. [21:51] "Is he known to be a sorcerer?" 07Dryas asks, coolly. 15[21:51] "One Anathema acting alone is an unparalleled agent of chaos... but they only truly threaten the stability of nations when they build networks of support." 15[21:52] Hedrin: "He isn't. It's possible he's simply concealed the capacity... but if so, he has done so completely." [21:52] 4Leveraging Piu's existing connection to him sounds...messy. [21:55] "And what's the endgame?" 07Dryas follows up. 15[21:57] Hedrin: "We will still ultimately need to put him down. If not directly, there are connections we can employ if we're certain of the need. Certain freebooters have the resources to take an Anathema, and if worse comes to worst there are always vacancies in the Nail, and people who earn their crusts filling them." 15[21:58] "We'd prefer, as the Governor pointed out, not to be forced to negotiate with the Immaculates, because of the likely political concessions they would require. But if it's that or the safety of the Realm..." [21:58] 6Zhangyu nods. Sensible enough. [21:58] 14Of course, there's the other option. Mnemon Hedrin needs to die. Iselsi Piu needs to cause it to happen. But she doesn't need to do it herself... 15[21:59] Kou, coldly: "Pneuma is lovely all year round." [22:01] 10Daizo: "The idea that the Immaculates are just sitting on their hands waiting for us to save ourselves or beg for help leaves a bad taste in my mouth. That isn't—that shouldn't be what this is about." 15[22:04] Hedrin: "There are truly righteous women and men in the service of the Philosophy. Many. But..." 15[22:04] Kou: "We don't get to negotiate with them." 15[22:05] Hedrin looks chagrined. "As she says." [22:06] 4Piu glances over at Ratel, who seems to have been quiet this entire time? "Well, just give the word, Commodore, and we'll get to it." [22:06]  [22:06] "A slow hunt, then," 07Dryas suggests. "To root out these corpse-lovers. But have other business in the Archipelago, too. Whaling, transportation..." [22:06] 10Daizo: "Dark days. I suppose we've got no one to rely on but ourselves, then." [22:06] 14It would do to remind both Hedrin and Kou who this hearth actually reports to. 15[22:07] Ratel seems lost in thought. At prompt from Piu she looks up almost with a start. "Yes, good idea." 15[22:08] Kou rolls her eyes. Hedrin nods gratefully. "Thank you, Commodore." [22:10] 4That settled, Piu will go in for a second omentata. [22:10] 10Is the Commodore all right? Hrmmm. 15[22:10] To Dryas, Hedrin says: "As long as progress is steady and contact is regular, what else you do with your time, within bounds of sanity, is not our concern. I will see to it that you are not troubled." [22:12] 6That's... very broad, given what we've seen and done already. Not much of a restriction, "within the bounds of sanity." 15[22:12] Everybody knows the dice are loaded; everybody rolls with their fingers crossed. [22:15] "And how will we reach you in the future? I don't think we can be traipsing back and forth between the manse and the Hinokuni," 07Dryas points out. 15[22:18] Hedrin: "I hold office in the Assessors. I'm terribly curious about your supply lines." [22:18] 14Mmmmmm. Well. There's why she made the list. Poor fool. 15[22:18] "I hope none of you are cheating on your taxes," she adds wryly. [22:18] 10Daizo: "I'm sure we can find a couple of go-betweens who won't ask questions." 15[22:20] Dinner finishes without incident. Even Kou is well-behaved. It's jarring to be reminded of the howling storm outside as the Commodore and her senior staff depart under Caxi's protective aegis. [22:23] 10All in all, things could have gone so much worse. Daizo still feels 10something10 tugging on his emotions, but it's easier to keep up appearances with a full belly. 15[22:24] They return, not to the hostel, but to the ship, which is otherwise empty and bobbing disconcertingly on the agitated sea. In Ratel's office, she turns to the others. "I need to know everything you know about this 'Ted'." [22:24] 4Piu: "Excellent fuck!" [22:24] 07Dryas sighs and leans against the wall. [22:25] "...Relevantly speaking, that means we already have a personal connection." 15[22:25] Ratel, in apparent seriousness: "Good to know. You say you met him at your fighting tournament. Did you observe his fighting style at all?" [22:25] "He was at the bar, sadly." [22:26] 6Zhangyu: "I can ask around." [22:27] 10Daizo: "Aside from the bit of trivia I recalled, nothing. Ah, pardon me—" 10Daizo undoes the cape and lets the wings splay out. "These… were starting to cramp up." [22:28] 4Piu, a bit sadly: "They're so pretty." 15[22:29] Caxi: "Good-looking? Perhaps too good-looking - perfectly symmetrical face, no trace of age, perhaps even suppressing unattractive bodily functions like sweating?" She's distracted by Daizo's unfurled wings. "Are you in pain, Daizo? Sometimes rapid mutations can be quite... difficult." [22:29] "He's a master marksman, of course," 07Dryas adds, "Assuming he took the killing shot." [22:30] 4Piu: "No, just a really good-looking guy. Definitely sweats." [22:31] 10Daizo wasn't ready for Piu to say that. There's a click in his throat and he swallows. "No pain. It just feels like I've been kneeling for a long time and my legs are full of pins and needles." 15[22:31] Caxi: "Almost certainly not a sorcerer then. A sufficiently vain magician will find any number of ways to use magic to buff away any flaws in their appearance. It can be quite uncanny." [22:31] "Whenever the Feathered One comes to, I'm going to see if he'll speak to me. If he gave them, maybe he can take them away…?" [22:32] "It probably won't be that simple…" 15[22:33] Caxi: "Does your translator know?" [22:36] 10Daizo: "No. She wasn't there when it happened. I told her to gather the other pilgrims and find a safe place just before Hamoji was shot." 15[22:36] Ratel: "Make sure to take rest if you need it. We need you at full capacity." [22:37] 14Uncharacteristically serious: "There will be no muttering about it among the crew. ...Samperson will make sure of it." 15[22:37] Caxi: "Good." [22:39] 6Zhangyu just cracks his knuckles in agreement. 15[22:39] Ratel: "I don't want you to endanger yourselves unnecessarily. Your lives and our mission are still more important than bailing out Ragara Kou." 15[22:39] "But this... is an opportunity." [22:39] 4Piu nods. [22:39] 10Daizo: "Thanks, Commodore. Thanks, Piu. I hope Seiri's all right. If she's not at the hostelry by breakfast tomorrow I'll go out and start searching the city." [22:40] 07Dryas: "When do we next weigh anchor?" 15[22:40] Ratel: "We need to know more about that Guild manifest. I'm going to take a meeting with the local Factor tomorrow to ask him about it." 15[22:41] "I'd like us back at sea within a week, however. Take the evening to put together plans of action and we'll go over them tomorrow." [22:42] 4Piu glances over at Dryas. The hearth wants to be at that meeting. [22:44] 07Dryas considers for a moment her next words. "Commodore, why don't you let me continue developing the connection with Nn Tloc? I can speak to him on a business level, if you can point out the things in the manifest that have you concerned." [22:44] 10Daizo: "In a week… that's enough to make a start." 15[22:45] Ratel: "Concerned about your business relationship?" [22:46] 4Piu: "He's also a deranged psycho." [22:47] "It's more discrete," 07she points out. [22:47] "Not saying you can't handle those, Commodore! But I really, really want to hit him. Dryas is able to communicate with him more in words he understands." [22:47] "Like, you know. Words." 15[22:48] Ratel gives Dryas a look like she wants to say Dryas is using the wrong form of 'discreet'... but how could she know? "Alright. Develop your existing connections, then. With Nn Tloc and... I'm sorry, is it really 'Ted'?" [22:48] 6Zhangyu: "Somehow, yes." [22:50] 4Airily: "Rhymes with bed." 15[22:51] Ratel suppresses a smile. "Alright, you're dismissed. Work things out amongst yourselves and get some rest. We'll meet again tomorrow afternoon." [22:53] 14The hearth is immediately going to get back together in a private session, right? [22:55] 07If it seems necessary. Perhaps not aboard ship though. [22:55] 6Yes. Still need to find a discreet place to meet without listening ears. 15[22:56] So discreet and discrete, then. [22:56] 14Piu might find Samperson in between those two meetings and deliver the message for him to deliver to the crew: Daizo might be too high-minded to retaliate to any ridicule of his condition from the crew behind his back, but his hearth certainly is not. 15[22:58] Samperson takes the message with full intent to relay it. Does the hearth want to meet with or without Caxi, and do they meet on the ship or in the hostel? 15[22:58] You could even take late refuge among the fighters of the Hinokuni... [22:59] 14Depends if Caxi seems like she'd be put out by not being included, but Piu's inclination is hearth-only. [22:59] 14We swore this thing for a reason. [23:00] 14That said, Ratel is going to want to be included somehow, and Caxi is, aheh, pliable. 15[23:00] Does Caxi know about the hearth? Does Ratel? [23:00] 14Given the content of Piu's message to the crew, if they don't now, they will soon, so it's not worth keeping secret. [23:01] 07Seems a wise idea to disclose it. [23:02] 6Ratel can be included when we update her tomorrow. [23:02] 6After working this out. [23:06] 14Piu will take Caxi aside and give her an entirely true line about how the hearth will be expected to be seen together if they're to be trusted as a unit in the Abalone social scene, and that frankly, she probably isn't going to find much to interest her on a factfinding mission to meathead central, especially if she doesn't favor incredibly sculpted boys. 15[23:07] Caxi's reaction is peculiar, by Piu's lights, but she doesn't argue the point. The hearth leaves Caxi with Ratel and makes their way to the Hinokuni. Holding cloaks against the ashy wind is a lot less pleasant than Caxi's protective bubble, but they make it all the same, and huddle under the eave while Zhangyu flashes his badge. [23:12] 14...Daizo's in good hands with them, but she'll sidle up to him as they make their way down to the docks: "Do me a favor? Go see Caxi when we get back?" [23:12] "She's worried about the wings." [23:12] "If she acts flumpy about it tell her I noticed and I sent ya." 15[23:13] The Hinokuni hall is warm and lively. All the wine and liquor barrels are tapped. The hour is late, and the band isn't in, so no one's dancing, but there's a lot of chatter as fighters mingle. You immediately see Thousand Devil Master deep into an anecdote to a half-interested Sia, a handful of the fighters they only know in passing trading boasts, shots, and bouts of braying laughter. 15[23:13] And there's Son-of-Sabers, everyone's favorite, playing Gateway with Ted. [23:13] 10Daizo: "She certainly has been asking me at every opportunity." [23:14] 4Piu: "She's an expert! Even if she's weird." [23:14] 4She'll wink at Ted. [23:14] 4It's true liberatory, not actually really being mad at him or really wanting to kill him. [23:15] 10Daizo: "Maybe. I'm getting very tired of comparing myself to the great Caxi and finding myself wanting, though, I'll tell you. This isn't helping." 15[23:15] His smile back is broad enough that Son-of-Sabers looks over his shoulder to see what could have provoked such a response. When he sees Zhangyu among them, the hearth gets a single curt nod before he returns to the game. [23:16] 4She makes a raspberry sound. "Don't compare yourself to her!" [23:16] 14Seriously, don't. Girl's got issues. [23:16] 6Son-of-Sabers. Hock, ptooey. [23:17] 10Daizo: "How can I not? All I have is theory. She has praxis." 10Does Piu even know the word? [23:17] 14I'm not an--ugh. 4No! [23:18] "Sorry, sorry. I shouldn't… I shouldn't let it get to me." [23:18] 14Piu: "She has knowledge and she can be controlled. I think it would be intemperate to let her go to waste, as a resource." [23:19] 4Then she'll wave to the owner/bartender and saunter over to inquire about a private room. 15[23:20] Thousand Devil Master snorts and waves a burly arm around. "Take your pick, no one else is using them. Just leave it like you found it." [23:21] 4Piu, of course, with her ravenous metabolism, has fully recovered from dinner and is just about ready for what the southern cultures call 'fourth meal.' 15[23:22] A crucial part of that uniquely Southern outlook known as the 'Live More' mentality. [23:23] 6I want to register a complaint. [23:23] 07Dryas, to her Hearthmates: "One of you should spread word that I'd like to speak with Chases-Waterfalls sometime. I believe he is indebted to us." 15[23:23] Everything the kitchen is currently putting out is fried, so if you're fine with fish and potatoes as long as everything's covered in greasy, crispy batter, you can eat your fill. [23:23] 6Zhangyu: "Not me. He would take it poorly." [23:24] 4Is Piu fine with fried food? Do the sands burn under the Sun? 15[23:24] For now. [23:24] 4She sighs. "I think he'd be most receptive to me. I'll put out feelers." [23:24] "I did beat him up and take his medallion. So. I get it. But yes, that was my thought." [23:25] 4Assuming we're in our private room: "Could even do so by sidling up to Ted, who's met your FAVORITE grapplefuck practicioner, Zhangyu." [23:25] 6Zhangyu growls. [23:26] "I really should take the time to get acquainted with a few of the fighters. Even if I'm competing under assumed names." [23:28] 6Zhangyu: "Son-of-Sabers is a jackass. The rest I've met have been..." 6What's the word? "Kind. Enough." 15[23:31] Dryas feels the vibrations in the air and watches the sweep in social energy throughout the fighters' hall. A few people are paying them attention - Ted, certainly, and Gilana Crimson Tide, who Zhangyu defeated, and Son-of-Sabers... but the door of the private room stops them. None of them are able, or perhaps willing, to eavesdrop once the hearth withdraws. [23:31] 4Piu: "He's really good at being a jackass, though. I mean even if he'd kill us." [23:32] 6Zhangyu, grudgingly: "He is." [23:34] 4Piu: "What's our pretext for wanting to meet with him?" [23:34] "I'm gonna two birds, one stone this." [23:34] "By which I mean I'm gonna try to leave here tonight with Ted again." [23:35] 10Daizo: "Do you need a pretext?" [23:35] "Are you drunk?" 07Dryas asks, incredulously. [23:35] "To go home with him? Absolutely not. But to ask about Chases-Waterfalls? Might do." [23:36] "Oh, well then." [23:37] 14Piu: "There's no benefit in killing me to his plan and I have no intention of killing him. Frankly, we might want to more keenly consider the danger posed to us by the Mnemon assessor." [23:37] "And the governor whose paranoia keeps on being frustratingly correct in slant-rhyme." [23:37] 6Zhangyu: "You were just seen here with me. Might want to find out more about the former holder-" 6He considers. "Hrm." [23:38] "No intention of killing him tonight, that is." [23:38] "Doesn't look like he's going anywhere." [23:38] "He might just kill you for fun," 07Dryas points out. [23:38] "He had a chance to do that already and passed on it." [23:39] "If you're really concerned you can wait outside his place and uh...listen. But this seems like our best way in." [23:40] 14Piu: "And like I said...our mission here is far bigger than an Eye adjutant, a governor, and a volcano. It might be in our interest to make THEM go away." [23:40] 10Daizo munches thoughtfully. "Ragaras are going to Ragara. They have some kind of special Hourse training that turns them all into such hardasses." [23:40] "Especially given that Kou clearly is already fitting us for...how do they kill people out here?" [23:40] "I guess the volcano." [23:40] 6Zhangyu: "Very carefully." [23:43] 10Daizo: "But you don't trust Hedrin not to blow up Ratel's operation, is that it?" [23:43] 14Piu: "Or ours. Yours, specifically, Dryas. I don't think that tax joke was precisely a joke." [23:45] "He wouldn't be the first Assessor to try to get one over on me," 07she replies. "I'd rather turn Hedrin than waste him." [23:46] 6Zhangyu: "The Governor was afraid of her," 6he offers. "At some point, cut your losses." [23:47] 14Piu: "Well, the turn versus waste conversation is more a question of how long you want to spend in port here, cultivating an agent...and how easily dispatching her could get us in that Guild psycho's good graces and free us to stop watching our backs, at least from that angle." [23:49] "Now, Nn Tloc, that's someone whose back is ripe for a knife to slide into it," 07Dryas replies. [23:49] 10Daizo: "You're being avery casual about dispatching an agent of the All-Seeing Eye." [23:50] 14Piu: "Do we have the organization to take them?" [23:50] 14To Daizo: "There's not going to be anything casual about it, other than the sex." [23:51] 10Daizo: "Now that we're sworn… I feel like I should ask. What is it you really do for V'Neef?" [23:51] "Kou's an ass but her assessment, broadly speaking, isn't wrong." [23:51] "It's been bothering me for a while." [23:52] 07Dryas clicks her tongue at the question and leans back in her chair. This should be good, given what the Nine Muses Audient has to say about her. [23:52] 14Piu: "...House V'Neef is on the outside of Realm politics, looking in. Its youth, exuberance, and, frankly, naivete has left a massive wrought iron gate between them and relevance. The key to the gate is power." [23:52] "I am the hand that turns the key." [23:53] "Don't pay attention to who won the Five Day Fight. Pay attention to who died." [23:53] 6Who did die, out of curiosity? Zhangyu might know this offhand. 15[23:57] None of them moved in Zhangyu's circles, so their names - while he likely heard them - have slipped from his mind. [23:58] 10Daizo muses on that. "Understood." [23:58] 6Politics isn't really his game, anyway. [23:59] 10If Piu meant any of us harm the oath wouldn't have taken, or would have broken immediately.  [23:59] 14To Dryas: "If you're wondering why I'm so unconcerned with going home with Anathema or why I'm so unconcerned about killing someone who might impede my House's greatest chance at claiming power -- being close to the Scarlet Empress in her return -- despite the morality or worth of that person, you have your answers in that." [00:01] "I take it we all noticed that Kou is somehow infuriatingly correct with her guesses, even if her paranoia distorts them?" [00:01] 6This explains questions he never really bothered to ask. Or rather, asked but ignored politely. [00:01] "Extremely so." [00:02] "Remove her spymaster and only a scribe is gone. Remove the governor and we have questions to answer." [00:02] "I assume she's just letting us know how well-informed she is," 07Dryas replies as she digests the bigger disclosure and thoughts. [00:02] "Both ourselves and, you know, structurally. It will legitimately destabilize the region." [00:03] "Help the governor and the spymaster, and...well, they've already made it clear that local power is what they view as legitimate, right? I think words to the effect of 'for all we know, home rule is no longer legitimate' left Kou's mouth." [00:03] "If the Silver Prince is trying to usurp the Satrapy through deceit, we may do his work for him..." [00:03] 10Daizo: "It's her paranoia that leads her to be so well-informed. But she's sharp despite that." [00:05] "You're right, though. I didn't want to tell her how dire the state of things has become back home." [00:05] 14Piu: "If we return the Empress to the throne, wetwork about the edges becomes irrelevant." [00:06] "That said, we don't need to make decisions now. We do need to find out Ted's other contacts, and see if he's working solo or in group." [00:08] 6Zhangyu: "I'll do what I can from here, but..." 6He grimaces. "I'm not expecting much. Sorry." [00:08] "...Anyone here but me good at burglary?" [00:08] "He's not alone," 07Dryas replies. [00:08] "Better at the breaking part of breaking and entering." [00:09] 10Daizo: "Yesterday I would have told you that subterfuge was not my strong point. Today, it is even less so." [00:10] "But if you need someone to lurk ominously in an alleyway, I stand ready." [00:11] 14Piu frowns. "I was thinking of one of you breaking into his place while he and I were...engaged...and looking through his things. For ledgers, notebooks, that stuff." [00:11] "I will admit I was thinking of Dryas, mainly." [00:14] 10Daizo: "Hmm. Is his place well-guarded?" [00:15] "Perhaps we could arrange a different type of distraction for him." [00:15] 6Zhangyu: "Another one of us could try..." 6He's absolutely dreadful at stealth, but he is aware of the reactions he got when he removed the towel over his head in the arena. [00:15] "I'm no footpad," 07Dryas protests. "Nor much of a picaroon, either. I am getting to know my way around a criminal element thanks to you lot, but not that sort of thing." [00:21] 14She sighs. "Well, I'm unsure if he's into men and obviously can't do the thievery myself, though it did appear to just be a normal richie house." [00:22] 10Daizo: "All right, how about this: find someone who is skilled at the kind of precise work we need, and pay them to do it. Obviously we can't do all that tonight…" [00:23] "Let's take a step back for a moment," 07Dryas suggests. "This is a hunt." [00:23] 14Piu: "I mean. We've found him and we have an in. In many ways, the hunt is over." [00:24] "He's not the quarry," 07she specifies. "He's the bait." [00:24] 14Piu arches an eyebrow. [00:24] 10Daizo: "Oh? What are we fishing for, then?" [00:26] "His accomplices, of course. At least one of whom is a sorcerer with at least one blood ape running around. And when's the last time someone just summoned one blood ape?" [00:27] "Oho, I think I understand now." [00:27] 14Piu's thoughts briefly turn to Caxi, [00:32] 10Daizo: "There's one other thing we should consider as well. A more permanent lodging here in the city. Not that I have anything against the hostelry, but if we'll be undertaking long-term projects, I'd like to stop living out of trunks and chests." 15[00:33] NEXT TIME: Silver and bronze