[Macedone Thieve's Guild plot thread] Don't try to run, you'll just petrify tired...

by **daveyeisley** Wed Oct 31, 2012 7:00 pm

Crideas always gets his target. After finding the Macedone Thieves Guild entrance, he did his 'stealthy rogue' imitation and snuck right up to the Guildmaster of the Moonstealers, picked his pockets dry to teach him a lesson, then gave him a time out in a holding cell in his sanctum before delivering his parcel to the Guard Captain in the Jail of Macedone.

[Macedone Thieve's Guild plot thread] Don't try to run, you'll just petrify tired... Aenea_11

[Macedone Thieve's Guild plot thread] Don't try to run, you'll just petrify tired... Aenea_12

Of course, he only wanted to make a point to poor Orrin, and prove the sincerity of his threat. He had already planned to arrange for a certain female elven Ranger/Shadowdancer to break Orrin out in less than 24 hours in order to keep his reputation intact.... and then leverage the rescue to infiltrate the inner circle of the guild. The goal being to keep tabs on Orrin and his lieutenants and apply just the right amount of finesse, persuasion, and pressure to steer the guild in a more manageable (and profitable) direction.

Not surprisingly, it all went according to plan. For all intents and purposes, there would now be a shadow Guildmaster, with Crideas as a secret backer.

by **Ramana Jala** Thu Nov 01, 2012 10:03 am

It wasn't difficult to pick the lock and sneak into Orrin's cell at the Jail. Ramana had several plans in place for how to take him out again, but the first one, simply handing him a teleport scroll, worked just fine. Such lax security for the Jail to not have any wards in place.

He teleported out to some destination of his choosing, without her. Giving him enough time to promulgate his tale of a daring solo escape, she then found him again.

[Macedone Thieve's Guild plot thread] Don't try to run, you'll just petrify tired... Speaki10

by **Ramana Jala** Wed Nov 07, 2012 9:29 am

She appeared in Orrin's suite, completely covered in light-absorbing stealth velvet. She stayed behind a screen out of view of the girl in his bed, and got his attention simply by clearing her throat in an obvious manner. He wasn't happy for the intrusion, and came out brandishing his swords.

Ramana smiled behind her mask, "I would have caught you alone, but it seems that you went right back to your girl addiction without a pause." He didn't attack, and she noted to herself that he showed wisdom in that.

She went on, "If you recall, we met yesterday. I gave you a scroll...?" She didn't want to come out and say that she was the one who broke him out of jail, as courtesans were infamous as spies. She knew that well, being as she had done it herself on occasion.

"Shall we step into the other room? Now that you're back, we need to have a little talk...." She motioned with a hand covered in a black fine leather glove, whose gauntlet continued up her arm and had slim pockets stocked with various lockpicks, tools, and throwing knives, the ends of which could just be seen if one looked closely enough.

He finally nodded and sheathed his swords, calling to the girl that he'd be back in a few minutes, and strutted off, leading the way to another room. He was trying to appear to be in charge still, and Ramana let him have that.

Out of anyone's earshot, she started soothingly, "Orrin, now relax, we're going to help you. You'll be pleasantly surprised how much more profitable things can be if the Guild is run right. And you'll have a measure of protection, as long as you follow the new rules." His eyes showed a glimmer of interest at the words 'profitable' and 'protection', but then he frowned slightly at the mention of 'rules'. "You'll find it very helpful to have powerful friends."

"Consider the mage and myself as your new Business Advisors. I report directly to him, and so I'll be your liason. You won't see him again, unless you become... uncooperative." That was all she wanted to say to remind him of the threat of consequences. "And you can call me Nyanelle." [Elven for 'little rat'.] Crideas had called her the new 'shadow guildmaster', but she would get Orrin used to that idea gradually and as non-threateningly as possible, always showing him how it would be to his advantage to follow their advice, until he was happy to be in their pocket.

"Now, the new rules are: No killing, No stealing from the poor, and No stealing from the guild or other guild members."

The rules themselves would start to sort the thieves from the assassins. Crideas had tied her hands about killing anyone, so she would have to play this game using more skillful means, such as strengthening Orrin's position and spying for him on who was trouble. It was a bit of a shame, though, as the direct method was very effective and had advantages --she had sorted a guild once before, and her strategic assassinations of two troublesome assassin types had benefitted that guild immeasurably and pretty much set it right overnight. Just like culling the diseased of a herd. And putting the fear of retribution in the guild members if they didn't adhere to the new rules could be very useful. But she would have to figure out another way.

She also knew that, just in the short time that Orrin had been out of the picture, contenders had been positioning themselves and factions had been forming. She would keep a close eye on these developments....

by **daveyeisley** Thu Nov 08, 2012 2:00 pm

"That should do the trick," said Crideas as he completed his final incantation, "you need no longer be concerned with captives taking advantage of an easy dimensional escape route. Based on what you told me of Orrin's escape, it is the most likely avenue. Should you have further issues, please do not hesitate to contact me via the method I described. I wish to aid in getting this situation under control... For Michael *looking down sadly* ... and his mother's sake. They will think twice about harming the guard, you have my oath in this."

Kara gave a salute, smiling slightly. "Thank you, Master Bane. I am sure we will be in touch. I think it's time the guard pressed the merchant's guild and city treasury for funding to avail ourselves of your magical talents."

"I would be happy to provide them, merely for the cost of my materials. Consider the time a donation of my support. Farewell for now." With that he gave a quick bow, turned with a flourish and glided out the door.

by **Ramana Jala** Thu Dec 06, 2012 1:21 pm

Orrin had announced the new rules to his grimy flock, along with his assurance that the changes meant new opportunities and bigger profits for everyone.

Ramana/Nyanelle had been very careful to not be seen by anyone but Orrin, yet. Orrin also didn't want the appearance of an advisor either, unless he were to gradually cultivate Nyanelle's standing in the guild to eventually make the appearance of 'hiring her' into his cabinet, so as to make her appear to not be the representative of an outside influence that had control of him. Ramana and Orrin seemed to be coming to a mutual accomodation, as he began to trust that the plan was indeed for him to appear to be in total control of the thieves' guild, and that his invisible backers intended to help foster that.

Ramana had gotten the full scoop of the political situation from Orrin, and, along with a bit of invisible infiltration, was fairly successfully getting to know everyone, towards identifying any troublemakers. Thus far, of those still alive, she'd identified what seemed to be two key focus people.

One was one of Orrin's lieutenants, Finch Thomson. Apparently when Orrin had returned to reclaim his domain, a minor coup attempt by this lieutenant and a few others was in process. When Orrin pulled together his supporters and cleaned house, surprisingly he didn't kill Finch. After a private interrogation, Orrin dispatched Finch to interminable sewer patrol. But he did make a terminal example of a couple of the others. This was in the hours before Ramana had gotten to Orrin again, bringing the new rules, and would have been in specific contradiction of the new No Killing policy, part of the instructions she was to relay from Master Crideas.

Although Ramana would have liked to interrogate those that Orrin had killed, personally she thought that it had been totally necessary for him to react quickly and severely. Surprisingly enough, Ramana had since discovered that Master Crideas was actually not entirely averse to resorting to ultimate enforcement, if all steps previous have been tried. So she chalked it off to having been a compressed pathway to a necessary ultimate resort. When Ramana inquired of Orrin why he hadn't killed Finch, he replied that Finch was an old friend, and Orrin believed that Finch was actually too weak-willed to have instigated or organized this plot. In fact, among the reasons that Orrin had chosen Finch as a lieutenant was not only because they'd been friends since childhood, but more significantly because the fellow had zero ambition. Thus Ramana understood that it was indeed pretty obvious that Finch would have had to been influenced or coerced by someone. But Orrin had grilled Finch and hadn't really gotten anything except a list of conspirators, of whom Orrin already mostly knew.... although there was Andrea Moondust....

Andrea, an obvious assassin type, just might be a major piece in this political game. If so, for this type, manoeuvres would typically be by unnoticed influence from deep in the background, entirely cloaking her machinations. Whenever Andrea was in the room --clinging to the shadows but obviously watching and listening-- it wasn't hard to spot the fear that some displayed of her, and the way that, in conversations, whenever some major action was proposed, many cast subtle looks her way. Whether that came out of wanting to keep apprised of the reactions of a dangerous crazy person, or as a way of obtaining approval and directions from her, or both.

Orrin had confirmed to Ramana that it was indeed a possibility that Andrea was the real power behind the move to overthrow him. Although Finch had said that except for one conversation between Andrea and himself, she had stayed in the background of the plot, and the two that Orrin had executed had been the real movers and shakers, with Finch apparently being persuaded to join at the last moment after the group had already organized themselves. Of that one conversation between Finch and Andrea, Finch had related that, strangely enough, he couldn't recall much of it. So Orrin was concerned that Andrea might be a problem for him. He said that his previous relationship with her had generally been cool but seemingly cooperative, and although in discussions she'd always been the type inclined to choose killing as the easy choice before other methods, she had always followed Orrin's orders. But now he had doubts about her, that she may have been secretly planning something for some time, and influencing hotter heads to act. And not to mention how the institution of the No Killing policy would certainly drive a wedge between them.

Ramana relayed all these observations and deductions to Master Crideas, with her recommendation that they needed to investigate Andrea further towards likely ousting her from the guild somehow. He asked how dangerous Andrea might be, to which Ramana had replied, "Shifty type willing to do anything for her own agenda? If that didn't qualify most of the rogues there, I'd say dangerous. Watch carefully." Then she had added, "Once an assassin, always crazy, I think. She should be ousted, she may be a thief too, but she's not the type we want around." Crideas then told Ramana that if they could find where Andrea slept, then he could pluck the secrets of Andrea's plans from her mind, and from that a true threat level could be determined. If it became necessary, a spectacular public example of consequences could be arranged, some act of power attributed to Orrin, that would strike fear into the hearts of everyone in the guild, and increase Orrin's reputation, power, and control. Ramana promised Crideas that she would speedily discover where Andrea slept and report back to him.

by **Ramana Jala** Mon Jan 28, 2013 9:57 pm

It hadn't been easy to find where Andrea slept, as it had taken nearly two weeks of patient and careful surveillance until it had finally become apparent to Ramana that Andrea slept in a different place every night. Among the areas that the assassin frequented most was the transient housing for the sailors, near the tavern in the port. And Ramana was suspicious that there were places in the sewers where the assassin might catch a secluded nap, although the stench was so powerful that likely it wasn't a preferred place to spend much time. Ramana herself was quite grateful for Crideas' ability to magically clean her armor after such noisome spelunkering.

Ramana had noticed other suspicious happenings in the sewer, and she wondered if they might be related to Andrea's purpose. Ramana had discovered a band of orcs hiding behind a false wall, which she had slain, of course. As if a false wall could deceive her acute Elven hearing and sense of smell, even as overwhelmed as her olfactory sense was by the intense scents of the environment of decaying excrement. But this espionage and/or sabotage party of the scurrilous orcs had opened her eyes to a covert invasion. Ramana had discovered, after shimmying through a nasty sewer outlet pipe, that there was a trail of evidence in the pipe obviously left by incoming orcs, who had been presumably dropped off into the water nearby by some ship.

It was difficult to split her time between stalking Andrea and investigating the ship idea, thus Ramana considered if she should hire a street urchin to scout for the ship. But she wasn't sure that an urchin would have the perceptual capabilities, nor be reliable about keeping the endeavor secret forever, so somehow she managed to do both tasks. After keeping the harbor regularly reconnoitered and part-time watching from near the sewer egress pipe for the most of a week, she actually had a suspicion that she knew what ship it might be, a mercenary ship that came into port every other day. It would come from the west, taking a route of hugging the coast even as it turned southwest to come into the port, until it was coincidentally just a little past the point of that sewer egress, and then it would make an oddly inconvenient sharp turn east to go dock at the other end of the port near the transient housing. She didn't ever see the ship dump anything in the water, but it was nonetheless behavior that was a bit remarkable, and made her wonder if it was meant to habituate onlookers to the ship's odd path, them chalking it up to the captain's eccentricity or otherwise explaining it away... until they didn't see it anymore.

And then while following Andrea, Ramana had espied the assassin speaking with someone from that ship. Later, Ramana had gone to inspect the ship, and although she hadn't wanted to chance boarding her, her sensitive Elven nose swore that she smelled a residual scent of orcs or half-orcs wafting out of its hold. Ramana wondered how the orcs got past the Sea of Ice, or if they were coming overland into the eastern Sylvan Realm before boarding the ship.

Then there was that crazy worshipper of Ragnor that had a cozy little altar area down in the sewer. Ramana mulled over any possible commonalities between all these different parties, Andrea, the orc spies, the mercenary ship, and the crazy priest of Ragnor. If Andrea was also a devotee of the god of destruction, and for an assassin it would easily fit, then the commonality would seem to be Ragnor and some certainly evil purpose involving His most fervent followers, chief among them being Gron and his orcs.

So, Ramana reported all these findings and suspicions to Master Crideas. Since the assassin moved around so much, Crideas gave Ramana an item, a sort of homing beacon disguised as a silver coin, to see if she could get it onto Andrea somehow. It would require great stealth and care, but Ramana was sure that she could reverse pick-pocket or otherwise find some way to get the coin onto the assassin. The item would allow Crideas to tune in to Andrea and enter her mind so as to discover the truth.

Crideas also told her that he would station water elementals to patrol the waters around the port and observe all the happenings in and around the docks. Then, he wanted her to get Orrin thinking about ways to lure out the merc/orc sympathizers, maybe even set up a mid-ranking agent as a 'mole' to try to infiltrate, someone who might convincingly have a good reason in their background to want to aid the orcs, to make it believable.

He added that, when she spoke to Orrin, she should be sure to mention that if he shares information with the city guards, they would help him by applying pressure to places or individuals. But that Orrin should not trifle with them but be respectful, especially as Crideas had been upgrading their gear.

by **Ramana Jala** Sat May 18, 2013 6:24 pm

After mulling over the situation with the orc spies, she'd realized that it would be rather impossible for them to come overland through the Elven lands, being as the border crystals could really damage orcs within the Sylvan Realm. So, it was more likely that they came through the Sea of Ice, or overland through the wilderness areas south of the border of the Realm, or they had established a teleport destination to funnel themselves to.

As to the situation with finding a mole, unfortunately, as Orrin had pointed out, it had become apparent that the guild had already factionalized, and all those who might convincingly have a good reason in their background to want to aid the mercs and the orcs were already in the group put on the outs by being at odds with the new No Killing policy.

So, it was either try to cultivate someone without exposing their hand, or bring in someone new. Ramana considered whether she herself should take up the task, being as she still was not very well known in the guild.

She'd passed on to Orrin the point about working with the guards, and for a few moments he'd seemed to find it very funny that they would help in return. But then he'd said he'd give it a try, should some need arise.

Ramana hadn't mentioned it to Orrin yet, but she thought that it was time that some lucrative reward was provided as incentive to reinforce the profitability aspect that had been promised for adherance to the new guild rules. It would be nice if some target could be arranged that would be helpful to the community as a whole, and not just to the guild members.

Then after the last tasks wherein she'd considered hiring on a street urchin, she'd got to thinking about the street children. The guild wasn't the only thing that needed organizing, they did also, as they weren't under the control of the guild or anyone, although some of them seemed to have some type of passing relationship to guild members, were maybe even kin. During her surveillance of the harbor and on the fringes of the city, she'd noticed several of the street children scurrying around in a group, led by one taller boy, a human maybe fifteen years old. If they could be organized and trained, they could turn into the best surveillance team that anyone could have, being as they were both ubiquitous and deliberately ignored.

All these different subjects wandered through Ramana's head, and then hooked up with a little rumor she'd heard. There was a particular nobleman, a barrister in the city court, who had a reputation for legally, that is, by the letter of the law but hardly the spirit of the law, avoiding all the taxes put upon the citizens. Taxes that were not only used for the upkeep of the city, but also for some meager welfare for the poor. He was the kind of noble who sneered at the poor, and had a law of the jungle attitude, survive or die. So nobody much liked him, especially the street people. The fellow had more than enough for himself and his family, but he hoarded it miserly. So it occurred to her that he might just be the perfect pigeon, as the trimming of his bloated hoard would only be seen as justice by many, a karmic retribution of the gods. And Ramana would make sure that the profits went to fund the thieves' guild and the young irregulars, hopefully bringing them together in a community looking out for each other. She'd run this all by Crideas, and then speak to Orrin about hiring the prospective irregulars to help with the job.

And Ramana was still looking for some opportunity to plant the homing coin upon Andrea. She had judged the assassin to be well-trained and vigilant to her person, belongings, and environment, so slipping it into her tightly-strapped suit or bags was nearly out of the question. She could let the assassin win it, or be encouraged to take it through some other subterfuge. But nothing was immediately coming to mind about the method. Then Ramana heard in her head a calm little voice speaking in Elven, "-I- can do it." It wasn't her own confidence stepping up, it was Ranara. "Leave it on the table, and I will come get it and telekinetically convey it onto her." Ramana halted her walking and for a moment just stood shocked. It was the first time that her 'other self' had communicated to her directly, without Crideas hypnotizing Ramana to facilitate it. Ramana finally spoke, softly, "So you're strong enough to speak to me now." Ranara said nothing more, as if everything was obvious and words only redundant. Ramana finally nodded, "Very well, when next I rest, you may go."

by **Ramana Jala** Sat Nov 09, 2013 4:02 pm

Ranara wasn't quite sure why she had voluteered for this assignment. Perhaps it was simply because her 'other self' and mental companion Ramana desired this, but was not capable of it herself. Ranara originally didn't have any interest about the guild situation, but after considering what use that her Master Crideas would put this action to, in increasing the efficiency of this needed social organization for the maximum collective benefit of all, she of course could only agree with the principle that one could never have enough information towards piecing together the genuine Truth. Information and the analysis of such knowledge was a crucial part of any effective strategy for efficiently and determinatively commanding a situation.

It was an interesting enough exercise in diversion from where she had found herself most comfortably ensconced as of late, in the cave library at Damarok, seeing no one except the erudite ape priest who did frequent supplications to the god of knowlege and wisdom. The great ape was otherwise as quiet as a monk, and conversed little, despite Ranara's uncharacteristically friendly offer of the rather intimate mode of telepathic communication in order to mitigate the language comprehension issues arising from the creature's limited vocalization apparatus, as had been most effective with her intelligent panther friend Dae. The ape was usually to be found reading, even walking about whilst doing so. From what little exchange of information and philosophical debate they had engaged in, she concluded that the creature seemed more in the evolutionary stage of the mass absorption of objective data and contemplation of structural associations, rather than in any empirical mode of the application of learned knowledge --an application so necessary to receive the illumination of specific feedback to verify ('verify' meaning to confirm the truth of) and so fully understand and know, establishing wisdom (the roots of the word 'wis-dom' meaning literally 'wise dominion', i.e., dominion over an area encompassed through knowing) concerning whatever specific natural laws be involved in any given situation. Although when she had inquired what she might call him if she were to need to obtain his attention, he had philosophically replied that she could call him according to whatever purpose she perceived of him at the time.

Since Master Crideas' teaching on Truth, with Ranara's illumination concerning the orderliness of magical and natural laws, she had found herself more and more resonant with Kalas. But as her 'other half' had taught her, she continued to carefully weigh the contracts of privileges offered versus duties required of several deities, taking her own Elven time to see which god or goddess would be the most resonant with and helpful to her own purpose, as she continued to discover this latter for herself. Her short list of suitable candidates currently included not only Kalas, but also Mystara, Zolaras, Prizimal, Gort, and even Aquar. She had long been inclined to habitually sacrifice corpses of slain hostiles unto Zolares, as seemed most appropriate, and she had also entertained a lingering hypothesis that Zolares may have had some enabling part in Ranara's own creation, perhaps in pact with Mystara. After all, Ranara's body vehicle had been created from negativistic shadow plane energy conjoined with intelligent water, a process somewhat akin to animation with negative energies, and so it wouldn't be illogical to think of her as a 'sentient shadow undead water elemental'. Who but Zolares would have the prime dominion over the negative energies in this universe (even if such be fragments of a foreign imported Shadow Plane extruded energetically)?

The averse reactions of the animals, especially the hostility of the dogs towards her (and the sentient humanoid populace's range of reactions from instinctive hostility to mild unease) seemed to indicate that they subconsciously perceived Ranara to be a Shade of some variety. Usually the populace suppressed any lingering unease in order to be accepting of the native phenomenon of shadowchildren, as many shadowchildren exhibited no tendency whatsoever towards evil, but lately some's instinctive uncertainty with Ranara seemed to have been again exacerbated by her perfecting the preferable art of floating about rather than mundanely walking. It was fortunate that Ranara was barely visible and kept to herself away from most of the society, because if the populace were to catch on to the situation (that is, realize that the probability of two identical twin sisters each independently and at separate times falling into Aenea from Toril was incredibly remote, and that they had never been seen together, and thus this prompt the reasoning that the two of them were not actually sisters but timeshared the same existence), then the simple folk might consider her an evil undead version of Ramana that periodically spirited away her soul, or trapped her soul so that the undead one might exist. For the populace to install such a script in themselves out of fear, could prove most inconvenient. But, in any case, whether Ranara was Zolares' experiment or not, she did not care to limit her destiny to only serving Death. As she had remarked to Mistress Anna (the magess who was intent upon curing the Alatha undead infestation), that despite her natural aptitude with negative energies, she had no especial interest in fostering undead. Unless Zolares had another more novel duty in mind for her, Ranara would seek privileges elsewhere.

by **Ramana Jala** Sat Nov 09, 2013 4:04 pm

Ranara made her way through the sewers to find a niche where she could watch for Andrea Moondust. Finding a suitable location, she made her already shadowy form completely unnoticeable with a sanctuary spell. She gathered a puddle of water across the trail and leading into her niche to act as a notifier, and as she set herself into a meditative repose to wait, she positioned a hand so that her fingers could remain touching the edge of the puddle, setting a command in her subconscious mind to alert her upon any disturbance.

The sewer under the city of Macedone was a most untidy place, and her thoughts before her mind settled into contemplation included some gratitude, for not having to eat that should produce such foul results, for not having acute physical senses like a physically-embodied Elf so that she might be obliged to smell what Ramana's memory told as very intensely unpleasant, for not even having to breathe so that the polluted and potentially diseased air might have to be taken inside her body, and for the benefit of her body being made of substances that would not allow the environment to persistently cling to her with soil or odor. With foresight she had fully replenished herself before entering the sewer, so that she would not have to regenerate her liquidity with any of that in the area.

Not very many hours went by before the assassin slithered by on her way to the guildhouse. Ranara was immediately alerted by her connection to the water that Andrea trod through, and rose to follow to one of the private rooms in the guild where Andrea joined in a card game with several others. Ranara waited for a while in a shadowed corner, to see if Andrea might relax her tightly-laced clothing in order that she might not feel the homing item make its way onto her person, and also to see if Andrea might speak with the others about anything of interest.

The conversation remained for the most part totally insignificant, each habitually tight-lipped rogue relaxing their trained careful secretive manner only slightly in the company of their like. The collective sport was apparently not merely the card game itself, but the card game was the setting for a secondary activity that seemed to rival the first reason in importance, i.e., in order to exchange verbal banters, which seemed to be for the barely-concealed purpose of increasing personal status in relation with the others. All done under the increasing influence of self-medication with that mildly de-inhibitionizing chemical toxin called beer.

From Ranara's point of view, this pursuit of interaction for social hierarchal negotiations through the medium of the collective sport of a game of probabilities seemed a mostly useless activity. However, the situation did allow Ranara to observe a few things, notably such as the assassin's temperament, which included an arrogant self-confidence at her own superior trained perceptions and abilities. Such an egocentric blindspot in falsely relating to her true level of capability was a fault that was not only potentially dangerous for a person, but this information was valuable to keep in mind as potentially exploitable. And Ranara deduced that Andrea was not a follower of Ragnor, but of Sorgath, which did make better sense than Ramana's first hypothesis. Sorgath, the patron of assassins, god of lies and treachery. It was obvious that such a person had no loyalty for any other, and it went through Ranara's mind that even should Andrea be in collusion with the followers of Ragnor, that she would betray them in an instant to further her own interests.

Andrea had unbuttoned her tight vest as she had taken out her gold pouch and slightly relaxed into the sport of cards. Ranara considered the opportunity to plant the fake coin in one of the pockets of the loosened vest, but after reflection thought it too easily discoverable there, and looked for another location. Accessing Ramana's memories informed Ranara that she should not underestimate the carefulness and perceptions of a trained assassin. Observing further, she perceived that upon Andrea's belt there were many small pouches, all securely fastened, of course, but that sneaking the coin into the bottom of one of them might secure it undiscovered for quite some time, at least long enough for Master Crideas to work with it. As the assassin sat there, her belt and its pouches were below table level and so not hardly visible to anyone. In preparation, Ranara took the coin out of her own vest pocket and telekinetically moved it low to the floor until it was under Andrea. Then she patiently waited for the assassin to make some movement, and when she did stretch back, Ranara noiselessly popped the fastener on one of her pouches. As Andrea settled back forward, Ranara proceeded to discreetly move the coin up behind the assassin's back and around and down into the pouch. She noiselessly secured the coin at the very bottom of the pouch beneath some items, and then silently reclosed the pouch fastener. If Andrea should happen to find the coin, she might think its location curious, but without any other supporting clues, her hubris would oblige her to conclude that it had merely fallen in there at some time.

Ranara waited there for a while longer, but the conversation continued to be irrelevant. But she did notice that peeking out of an interior pocket of the assassin's vest was the corner of a parchment. Out of curiosity, since the paper might possibly contain some useful information, and as an exercise, Ranara decided to obtain it. To dislodge such an item so close to the body, a distraction would have to be created. Ranara decided that the easiest thing to do would be to use the liquids in the environment, or even water detached from her own body. She could either run some water up the wall to the ceiling in order to let it fall in a great drip upon the table, or, she could simply tip over one of the mugs of alcoholic beverages to splash its contents upon the table. Evaluation of the factors necessary for either option favored trying the latter plan first, as there was a very full mug well-situated across from Andrea and close between two of the players' arms, where a slight motion of either person's arm might be an excuse for the mug's toppling, to which system of forces she would add just a bit more velocity for an energetic splash of the liberated liquid. She prepared her focus upon the mug and waited patiently for that opportunity, hoping that it might even create a maltemperous scuffle to further confuse and misdirect attentions, while also preparing to snag the paper out of Andrea's vest. She thought that she should also scatter the cards so as to disguise the paper flying away from Andrea. With these three telekinetic actions planned out in her mind, she waited for the right moment to instigate her plan.

Several near-perfect opportunities arose, but Ranara waited patiently for the perfect one. It came as one of the persons close to the target mug became quite upset at losing his hope of winning, curling his arm up telegraphing obvious preparation to forcefully throw his cards down in disgust towards the center of the table. At that exact moment in his downswing where his elbow with some velocity came near the full mug, she toppled it, and the liquid shot out across the table right in front of Andrea. Ranara gave a touch more velocity to the flow, and in time with it, she also injected more impetus to the cards leaving his hand. As the liquid splashed towards Andrea in an angle of reflection equal to the angle of incidence, she gave impetus to those cards and coins being hit by the liquid and by the irate player's cards, so that they all might slide across and fully off the table. The liquid blossomed into a most satisfactory splash over the table, most of it rushing towards Andrea but with some of it hitting nearly everyone there, causing all to curl over their assaulted midsections and scoot back from the table while reflexively momentarily closing their eyes. During this precise instant of shock and blindness and movement, she tugged the paper out of Andrea's bodice and flew it in the direction of the flying cards, to glide to the floor along with them, following down a shower of gold coins hitting the stone floor with a tinkling like rain on a metal roof. Ranara's concert of forces successful, the situation immediately satisfactorily degraded into the desired outcome. As the cries of discontent and blame started, she slid the paper under the table and gathered it up, taking the opportunity of the continuing confusion to discreetly depart out the door.

When she was out of the guildhouse and out of the sewer, she took a moment to unfold the parchment and examine it. It had unfamiliar writings on it, presumably a code, perhaps even magical. Since Mistress' Grace prodigious library was nearby, Ranara decided to go there to see if any of the tomes might give her some clue to this mystery.

by **Ramana Jala** Sun May 25, 2014 9:49 am

"Cultivate or nullify Discordia." That was the translation of the note retrieved from the assassin. It had not been difficult to translate after Ranara had searched Mistress Grace's extensive library and found a tome on an old obscure variation of runish cypher which was similar enough to the cypher of the note to allow Ranara to then easily translate it. There had been some magic upon the paper, but in the end it had been shown to be an inconsequential spell of illusion to make most people consider the scrap of paper a meaningless piece of trash should it be found. What the word Discordia meant, was up to a bit of speculation, however. By deduction, it seemed a proper name, either of some specific activity such as a code-named plot, or of some person. Either the note meant that there was a situation to be handled, or a person of interest to be dealt with. She would relay this new information to Master Crideas.

Although Ranara was not prone to idle speculation, it had occurred to her that Andrea being a follower of Sorgath could possibly have some connection to the other followers of Sorgath in the current machinations of Veleron. She would also inform her mentor of this thought. There was no proof of such a connection, but its potential was something to keep in mind. After the news of the mage-slaying, and then especially after the news of the possibility of Veleron's re-emergence had quickly escaped its bounds of secrecy and made the rounds of all the mages in the land, Mistress Grace had set a multitude of impenetrable magical wards around her domicile, leaving a note on her door that she regretted any inconvenience that this might cause to her friends and colleagues usually most welcome to use her library, but under the current situation one could not be too careful.

Ranara herself was keeping a close eye on the situation, and was ready to assist her mentor or her 'sister' Ramana in any way within her powers. She would certainly offer her unique skill of resonance, i.e., the empathic perception of energies and crystals, to Master Crideas' pursuit of understanding the crystal that preserved Veleron's invulnerability. Her other half Ramana had been made most imbalanced by the news of the vampire child's likely reappearance, and Ranara had been obliged to exercise some considerable mental influence to calm her down again, fortunately also aided by Master Crideas' influence upon her very emotional 'sister'. Since Ranara's pilgrimage to discover her most appropriate deity, which had successfully concluded with her conversion to the religion of Prizimal, Ranara was keen to be a force for balance in the world. And Veleron definitely was an imbalance of the highest order that would need to be reckoned with.

by **daveyeisley** Wed Jan 27, 2016 7:26 pm

It had been a long night.

Crideas winced as he bent down to deposit a Potion of True Seeing on a short wooden post at the edge of the Macedone Western Pier. Soon he hoped, the Captain of the Macedone Guards, Kara, would arrive in response to the magical missive he had whispered into the cold Macedonian Winter winds. Surrounded by a spell of Greater Sanctuary as he was, she would not be able to perceive him at all without the powerful divination magics contained in the potion. He hoped she would trust him enough to actually drink it once she found the spot.

He had already planned out the short conversation in his mind, so as to avoid Kara appearing to lose her grasp on reality by standing around having a public dialogue with thin air. He would inform her succinctly about the activity of the Orcs being smuggled into the city by boat, as reported by the Water elementals he had posted to watch the bay. Something had to be done, and this was a job the guards could handle, searching ships before the reported drop-off points and sanctioning any smugglers they caught. He would of course offer assistance if the guards discovered additional trouble or threats they could not handle.

The nice part of using the guards to handle the Orc smuggling would be that it was perfectly plausible that they could have investigated on their own, or been tipped off by a 3rd party. No one in the Guild would be able to link it directly back to Orrin or 'Nyanelle', and the Guild could easily shift to distance itself from involvement with the smugglers or their conspirators. Indeed, it might even be possible to use the disruption to identify the conspirators based on how the guild members reacted to the news. It would be easy to provide some potions with clairvoyance magic for 'Nyanelle' and her urchin squad to use in a surveillance operation.

Once the short discussion with Kara was concluded, he would be able to set his mind to planning a maneuver to link the assassin Andrea Moondust to the Guard's discovery of the Orc smuggling - ostensibly as a betrayal of the Ragnorites. If done right, they might deal with her - otherwise she would likely find herself on the run and alone, an easier target when chased from her home turf. The fine details and final verdict would lay with 'Nyanelle' of course - she understood well how to best take advantage of such opportunities.

Lastly, there was the matter of 'Discordia'. His night had been spent in a long magical trance, projecting his mind to Andrea's location while she slept (with the help of the magical tracking coin Ranara had placed on her). He had psychically touched her sleeping mind, and with the very valuable firsthand experience he gained from Veleron's psychic trap that had nearly killed him when he stumbled into it, he was able to precisely control the contact in order to safely and subtly pull specific memories to the surface. From this he had gained a face to link with the name 'Discordia', as well as some general details. It would be enough for 'Nyanelle' to follow up on the lead.

If appearances were to be believed, it was all too convenient. Crideas knew from exploring her mind that Andrea lacked the cunning to truly orchestrate all that had transpired in Orrin's absence, and Finch Thomson was also clearly a catspaw. This small one 'Discordia', seemed perhaps just subtle enough to have made the right suggestions and shifts to 'inspire' others to act on their pre-existing desires, but from what scarce details Andrea remembered, it did not seem that this individual would desire success for those who took action, but perhaps quite the opposite.

This also matched up with the text that was contained on the letter that Crideas' most gifted apprentice had so impressively managed to obtain from Andrea - "Cultivate or nullify Discordia". It meant that Discordia was a person who should be tested for loyalty, trapped or threatened or blackmailed into capitulation, or discreetly eliminated as a threat. These were the sort of orders one gives when the target presents a problem, and could provide significant value to one's enemies. In this case, those enemies would be Crideas and 'Nyanelle', and this 'Discordia' lass could prove a valuable asset and ally.

It would be quite interesting to learn what his companion thought of all this. Interesting indeed... but based on what he found recently in her manor, his heart grew heavy with trepidation that these machinations were not all that might fail to reach her.

by Sponsored content

[Macedone Thieve's Guild plot thread] Don't try to run, you'll just petrify tired...

[Macedone Thieve's Guild plot thread] Don't try to run, you'll just petrify tired...

Re: [Macedone Thieve's Guild plot thread] Don't try to run, you'll just petrify tired...

Re: [Macedone Thieve's Guild plot thread] Don't try to run, you'll just petrify tired...

Re: [Macedone Thieve's Guild plot thread] Don't try to run, you'll just petrify tired...

Re: [Macedone Thieve's Guild plot thread] Don't try to run, you'll just petrify tired...

Re: [Macedone Thieve's Guild plot thread] Don't try to run, you'll just petrify tired...

Re: [Macedone Thieve's Guild plot thread] Don't try to run, you'll just petrify tired...

Re: [Macedone Thieve's Guild plot thread] Don't try to run, you'll just petrify tired...

Re: [Macedone Thieve's Guild plot thread] Don't try to run, you'll just petrify tired...

Re: [Macedone Thieve's Guild plot thread] Don't try to run, you'll just petrify tired...

Re: [Macedone Thieve's Guild plot thread] Don't try to run, you'll just petrify tired...

Re: [Macedone Thieve's Guild plot thread] Don't try to run, you'll just petrify tired...