Meeting with the Hound

Each of you has received a summons, calling you to a particular Dun Mordren home at a particular time. You are arriving outside of the squat, circumspect stone building now.

Tatyannah eyes this suspiciously, because well, that's how she is. So, she stealths her way to the door. Just in case.

Stirling does not do stealth or subtle really all that well. However he is trying, a large cloak is draped over the obviously armored form of Stirling although it fails to completely cover up his chrome gauntlets. Better than nothing. Not even worth mentioning the oversized deathray on his back.

Elessa doesn't like this. She hasn't liked coming along to any of this stuff. She wanted to stay home, where it was safe. But she's here, despite protests, and she glares at the home. She has her armor on, Lysander is with her and every dagger she could muster. She's not walking into anything without being ready.

As everyone approaches, the door opens.

A young man in myrrish finery is standing there. On his collar, barely noticable, is the sigil of the Kingfishers, the Myrrish Secret Service.

"Come in," he says, stepping aside to let everyone in.

Tatyannah relaxes slightly when she spots the insignia, and she slips in quickly.

Zalara slips in quickly behind Tatyannah. She takes a quick peek over her shoulder and she hurries in.

Stirling follows in making quite a bit more noise than the rogues, he Hobgoblin looking a bit uncomfortable with all this sneaking about however just because its not his usual mode of operation doesn't mean he doesn't know the value of it.

Elessa sighs a bit and walks in, still having her hand on her sword. Even others that specialize in secrets. You don't trust any of them.

The door is politely shut.

Seated in a massive chair is the Hound of Myrrdion. This massive man is seated, smoking a pipe, and seems quite at ease at the moment.

"Have a seat," he utters. Comfortable chairs await.

"We have much to go over."

Tatyannah eyes the Hound but goes to find a comfy place to sit. He's just so big. It's unnatural and unfair!

Stirling takes a seat and lights up his own cigar, wouldn't pass up the chance to do so in polite company. "So whats the word?" Stirling says in a gruff voice, straight to the point.

Zalara whistles as she sees the huge man sitting before them and she goes to quickly find a seat, "How can we help you today Mr. Hound?"

It's true. He's bigger than Tatyannah. UNFAIR.

"You're here... Interesting," Elessa says as she sits down, watching the Hound warily.

"Of course I am. There's a lot for us to do. I've had reports. But I want you to bring me up to speed, fully, on everything you know, from beginning to end. It's important to asses where we're at before we plan our next move."

The Hound speaks in a low rumble. A few other people are present. Kingfushers, no doubt, as well.

Tatyannah crosses her arms over her chest, but she listens.

Stirling hrms, rubbing his chin in thought with his massive titanfist. "Just bits and pieces on my end. Whoemver bombed the guild had a lot of prep time and knows his magic. Charn is up to no good here at the meet... bits and pieces."

With a nod towards Stirling, the Hound listens and waits for a moment, then says, "Let's start witht he very beginning. You got the assignment, and you went after the Grey Gore, and also went to Alvik Vepps' home, where he and his father did business. Tell me about that and the Gore."

Zalara sits politely and just listens.

"I discredited Grey Gore with his troops and his higher ups, as far as I know, increasing his paranoia and suspicions," Tatyannah keeps it brief. "Though it was a while ago, I don't know if I need to do more, but I certainly did what I could to make him look unstable."

"Because of Tatyannah's work with the Gray Gore," Elessa speaks up, "I was framed for his attempted murder, and so did others involved. Mainly Masterly trying to get at us, since he also attempted to kill us."

"Ah, yes. Of course. That makes a great deal of sense. ALl right. Let's thread these various pieces together. I'll start from the beginning and we'll go over it from the bottop to the top. We need to see if thre's anything we've missed before we make our next move." He nods.

"We know that there's going to be an attempt to perform a coup in Dun Mordren. That three people aligned with the Iron Tide are plotting to knock off the Kings of Stormgard and Dun Mordren while they're here. What's more, we know that they're at least partially responsible for arragning the summit in the first plce."

He turns over a stool and lays his hand on one point of it's three legs.

"Forgehome, you've learned, is incredibly wealthy, but it seems unsure as to what the source of his wealth is. Our agents have informed us that he might've found some kind of treasure in the tablelands. We've been informed that the Secure Panacea has ties to Arendt's home village, which was destroyed and not a living soul left alive within it. We do not know what secret he was protecting."

"We know that Orvin Vepps and his son, Alvik, were involved in bringing the Stormgardian King on board. The Veppshome rulers have extensive ties to the Panacea and Khazad Duin in general. we know that Grey Gore was serving as Arendt's end, which is a little strange to me. Masterly's not involved here, but the Grey Gore is? I find that troubling. I believe we are missing something here -- that's not to say the removal of the Grey Gore was a mistake. In fact, I'd say it was an excellent achivement. Well done, by the way," he nods towards Tatyannah, "but Arendt has been trying to bring him back on board. That's why he was framing the lot of you for crimes. Well, that and to discredit any in roads you might be making amongst his own people." He touches another point of the chair.

"Now, I'm given to understand there's a Charnese bug system and code you've been able to make some progress at cracking." His eye turn towards Zalara. "This is how Masterly is communicating with his agents."

Tatyannah suggests, "Yes, though Mikilos might be able to help on the language and code, Zalara knows the tech."

Zalara nods, "Although I can help with the language I have a contraption that turns all languages into common so I can read them, so it works with Charnese, but not codes."

"Yes, I believe we'll have words with him. And we've made contact, obviously, with Charn. It would appear that many are trying to place a finger squarely on them for some degree of involvement. WE have reason to believe that this is not the case and that Charn is not involved. The presence of the High Prest of Thul is worrisome, but.... I suspect Charn has reason not to want to see this coup succeed."

The Hound leans back and says, "Stability must be maintained. We can ill afford a new axis of power in the north consisting of Dran, a conquered Rune, Stormgard and Khazad Duin. Now, what is Heth's involvement in all of this? I've heard some disturbing rumors floating amongt the adventurer comminity about Arendt's spymaster - this Masterly character..."

"He's not Masterly," Tatyannah offers. "From what I understand. He's something else. I'm still not entirely certain /what/ he is, but you can speak with Stjepan or Aldean about that. Neither one of them were very clear, frankly. But I know he's not the real Masterly, who is mostly likely dead at this point. I've heard he might be a demon."

"And how did we learn this?" asks the Hound, glancing towards Elessa. Seems he knows the answer, but he wants to hear it from the horse's mouth. Or Tsuran, in this case.

Elessa looks down for a moment and sighs before looking back up at the Hound. "I don't know why and now the Vardamans won't leave me alone. I died twice, once by Masterly himself, and more recently by one of his minions. After the second time, I had a nasty feeling like I was forgetting something, and a great chill anytime Masterly was brought up. I went to go see a cleric about it and he said that there was something I should be remembering... I was allowed to remember something from the other side. When I was dead the last time, I saw Masterly there, in the Harpist's Halls. He didn't know me. Later, the cleric did a... a bit spell that allowed him to ask questions. The person who is Masterly now is not the one who killed him, but is native to our world, so not like a demon or something, if I recall the interpretation of the answer correctly..."

Zalara wows softly as she hears Elessa's story about how they came to find out that Masterly was dead.

"...a gift of the Gods, to be sure. And this is why people think he is demon or dragon, especially with the news out of Alexandria implying there are demonic troubles at home." The Hound frowns, darkly, mulling things over with a nod towards Elessa.

Tatyannah gives a little nod. Ok, that was clearer than she's heard. Interesting.

Elessa shakes her head, "No, no demon... Dragon, I don't know... We didn't get an answer as to what he was. There is a cleric you can speak to if you want more information."

"Kerbasy?" asks the Hound, turning to Elessa.

Elessa nods, "Yes, he was the one that helped me see the memory, and did the spells afterward to get the answers."

"I see," replies the Hound.

He taps his chin. "What are you next moves?"

"Well, trying to stop Vepps from somehow arranging the murder of the heir or the regency of the heir," Tatyannah grunts, "though I have /no/ idea how to do that. Also, there's a job, for one of your princes to be done. I'm actually kind of hoping how that's going to lead to something to do with Forgehome's fortune. I feel like I should know something about that, but honestly, I can't remember."

"Yes. Perhaps it's time you paid visit to the Panacea's headquarters here. There may be something to find there," suggests the Hound. "But you won't want to do that one on your own. You'll need others to keep them distracted. Their security is top notch." He leans back, then adds, "The people who were framed: do they know why yet?"

"Oh yeah, I was going to try and discredit them here, too, I've just been busy," Tatyannah speaks up on this. She was! HONEST! "Well, they know that Masterly is an ass and are trying to discredit us, but I don't know if they know specifics."

Zalara smiles, "I'd be happy to do anything to help either as the distraction or going right with the others. I can be very distracting."

Cesran had come back to Alexandria to do some research and he was at the Fernwood pub having something to eat for dinner when he met up with Ezriya Tsarra and Zwrillixae. He introduced himself to the new adventurers and did his best to bring them up to speed on what is going on in Alexandria and the rest of the news from Dun Morden. He also helped with some direction on where to find maps, both to purchase and study. Cesran answered their questions the best he could as he finishes his dinner and bid the new adventurer's fairwell.

"They ought to be informed. That's one of the other next steps. The coup is going to happen. Well, the attempt is going to be made, no matter how succesful we are. The more damage they do, the more they'll push the trigger to get while they still can. You need to start preparing the Alexandrian contingent here for what's to come. Both of you. Spread the word, but /carefully/. Make sure they know to be our eyes and our ears. Starting now, we need to start bringing people into the fold, one by one." He lets out a rumbling breath and nods Tatyannah, adding, "I believe you," he adds. "Everyone knows MAsterlty is an ass, which is good. But if he's not human, this is troubling indeed. If he's from this world, he's not a demon, at least not a true one... but that does leave the possibilities open as to who's agenda he's actually working for."

"So can I," Elessa says, looking to Tatyannah. "I'm still wanted..." Tatyannah stares at the Hound, "One of the Alexandrians is Jibbom. One of the others is quite possibly the dumbest paladin I've ever met in my life. I don't approve of the telling everyone here plan. I think it's a bad plan. And there are a lot of us around."

....everyone here the plan. I think /that's/ a bad plan.

"...don't give everyone the *same* explanation. You don't need to tell Jibbom everything if he's just going to blab it too loudly. Same with the fool paladin. But more people need to know," says the HOund to Tatyannah, "we need more eyes. There's too much going on and we can't be everywhere. My resources are too tied up. And if we don't, we'll miss something vital. That I can garauntee you." He shakes his head.

"How has that Halfling even /survived/?"

"A prank on all of us from Tariel, I'm sure," Elessa smirks.

"He's /amazing/ in battle," Tatyannah says loyally about Jibbom, even if she just slandered his sekrit keeping ability.

"That does explain some things," says the Hound with a sigh, "But he may be smarter than he seems... I hope. Still, both of you need to at least tell those who were framed why -- it's going to be important before long. If the coup happens, you can garauntee each of them tht you will be amongstthe first targets as a way to prclaim fidelity to the Tide bu turning over wanted fugitives."

"So, our next moves: more information, the Secure Panacea, and getting the code cracked. I believe we have a key to that. I will need to see your friend Mikilos. Charn has generously offered it's assistance in the form of one of their older code ciphers. It should help break the last lines you need."

Zalara smiles, "Well I'd be happy to help with the ciphers and cracking that code. I'm good with that sort of stuff. I can try to talk to Mikilos to get him on board."

Tatyannah still doesn't look happy about the telling people thing, but nods at the Secure Panacea thing. This is why she tries to work alone, people!

The Hound looks sympathetic to Tatyannah's plight -- really, he does. He clearly understands the desire.

"Our best plans can be bungled by the wrong person saying the wrong thing at the wrong time. I've found that there is equal danger, however, in our plan being bungled because we didn't tell the right people the right things when they needed to know them, either. If I'd told Gavril something sooner, Myrrdion may not be in the state it's in even now." He rumbles that out with fair bit of chagrin. "Your help is appreciated. But if we can begin to eavesdrop on their comunications, so much the better." He slides a box over towards Tatyannah, "Get this into Narvin's office if you can."

Tatyannah mmms, "Yes, but well, I think it's better that no one knows things so they can't say the wrong thing, rather than knowing some things and then seeing if they can keep their mouths shut. And the whole idea of warning people about being eyes and ears, but only telling people you have faith in, except that those people might turn around and spill to people that you deliberately kept out of the circle. Trying to decide who deserves what levels information? Is above my pay grade, and the reason I trust very few people. I don't want to die. Again. Because of someone else's stupidity. I'm plenty stupid on my own, thanks." Still, she takes the box, "I'll see what I can do."

Zalara listens to Tatyannah and nods in agreement, "Yah there are a lot of people in the city that are with us and some are not the most trust worthy. I've been in Alexandria most of the time anyway. I only was brought in to help with the artifice."

"I'm afraid you're approaching a point where it is /exactly/ your paygrade. You're playing the game of kings and nations, now, and while I can help you decide on who to trust, we /need/ more eyes and ALexandria's adventurers are all we've got. We're stopping a coup that threatens to destabilize the entire north. A new axis of power that would unseat the old. I don't say this merely to guard Myrrdion's preeminent place, but someone has been manipulating all these events. They want this to be far worse, and they want us to believe it's Charn, or at least give them the ability to blame Charn. It's interestng tom e, how much they've gone out of their way to do so. Now, there is the matter of this prisoner that Latenat had, the man from 'Charn' as well. I'm going to see what I can arrange with regards to him." He looks towards Elessa, then back to Tatyannah with a nod and still boundless sympathy. Hard man or not, it seems he has the instinct to agree with her more than he does. "But we all have our orders. I'm not suggesting you tell Jibbom or Benthus, but we can not know what other pieces of the puzzle are out there until people know that what THEY know may have relevance. I've been going over the papers for the Guild of Explorers -- the ones that were recovered from the explosion..." He trails off a moment, then draws in a breath before he nods to Zalara. "Not all of them are, I know. Trust is a precious commodity. As I said, I've been going over the papers. We need to nail down the connection between Arendt and the Pancea, and Masterly and Arendt. We don't know about that yet, or how Masterly was replaced. There must be more we can learn. And this theft on Vepps... we did not arrange that, but it's far too coincidental. I see Charn's handywork in it, or at least someone who wants us to /believe/ that. I'm not sure what game is playing there, but we need to get mor einformation about /that/ as well. And then," he continues.

"Stjepan, you mentioned. Do you know who else was with him on his trip in to 'home town' that was said to belong to Arendt?"