K'thosis bows to Medide, and explains, "In the territory of the fearsome General Davan is what we're seeking. As you're currently not that dangerous, he probably won't notice you until you're gone. This is not a mission that will rely on force, it's one which will require subtlety.
"He has, at last report, no border patrols, and only occasionally scouts into his own territory. With only a small bit of caution, you should avoid detection until you're near your quarry. Luckily, it's not inside his fortress, where his defenses are much greater; it's hidden in one of the farms near his keep. As far as we can tell, he doesn't even know that this artifact lies in his lands....
"Perhaps its form was changed by a spell. With that in mind, I've had these created for you," he continues, pulling three medalions from his pocket, and handing one to each demon. "They'll tug you in the direction of the artifact if you hold in in both hands."
"And if that's not useful to you at the moment, they look stunning," Medide supplies. They look like flattened yellow opals set into silver-backed pendants with lacy, woven silver strands forming a sort of frame around them. The patterns in the silver seem vaguely reminiscent of the text from the book Medide had the demons fetch from the library, though.
"Quite," K'thosis agrees, beaming a toothy smile across the chamber breifly. "Now, I imagine you have some questions, and there's no better time then know to ask them. What would you like to know?"
"Where is his territory? What exactly is the artifact?" shoots out Seiz, straight off the bat.
"South of here. You'll need to cross some unclaimed territory to reach it. We don't know; it's been concealed. Supposedly it's an amplifier for your existing powers," K'thosis replies.
"With luck, it will go with my boots," Medide murmurs. "I have these simply darling Nether-whale-hide pumps that I need to set off."
"How did we hear about it?" asks Seiz, curiously.
"I remembered loaning it to a demon sent to work with him before the war," Medide says, shrugging. "I wish I could remember more about it. Anyway, that demon died, and the artifact was left behind. Once I saw the tome I recalled it. Memories from before the war are often fleeting ... difficult to hold in place." She blinks. "But there were so many fabulous balls!"
Babartus stares at Medide. "...Right. Anything else you'd like to add, your Ladyship? If not, we'd best be on our way."
"No, that's it for the moment," she says, shaking her head. "Good luck to you, then!"
"Well, let's get going," mutters Seiz to his companions. "We shouldn't have that much trouble finding the place, I guess."
Kael bows yet again, then turns and moves off, already thinking. He should do research on the area mentioned, see if there were dangers of anything they should be aware of.
"Well, what first? You two know anything about this General that you feel the need to share?" Babartus says as he exits the chamber.
Seiz ponders for a moment, trying to remember a General Davan back from the war. If only things weren't so hazy..
Nothing about Davan really springs to mind in any of the demons' memories. Truthfully, while most of them were wiped out, there were a good number of amazingly mediocre generals involved. Most of those who survived remained mediocre, unfortunately for them.
A blue-skinned demon with six arms and a chef's hat is whistling to himself as he walks through a nearby corridor, headed (one presumes) to the kitchen. Aside from him, and the multitude of clockwork guards, the demons are alone.
"Nothing," replies Seiz, shaking his head. "Look, let's get ready and then head out. Kael, why not go see if you can dig up some stuff on him from the library? We might luck out. I'll round up some supplies, and we'll get going in a while."
"Research!" Kael said excitedly. "Yes.... I'm sure I saw a snippet on him somewhere...." He turns and goes after the blue-skinned demon, to see if he could get a quick snack from the kitchen before he started his dusty errand.
The cook seems a bit distracted, but gives Kael a large sack-lunch to take into the library. And then another one for Mephelion.
Siez finds his way to the quartermaster ... who is apparently K'thosis, perched on a stool behind a standard sized desk, carefully polishing a tiny (in his hands) sword.
"Ah, K'Thosis," comments Seiz, noting that K'Thosis seemed to be everywhere important. "I've come to requisition supplies for our little trip. I don't suppose there's anyone else who needs gear more..."
"Actually, I'll need some." says Babartus, piping up from behind Seiz and breaking his bout of total silence. He hands K'thosis a slip of paper with nearly inscrutable flowing scrawl on it.
"I'll need these before we leave, if you please. Oh, and a good sword, if you have one."
K'thosis puts on a pair of tiny reading glasses to check over Barbartus's list of requested equipment. "Hmm," he muses. "This shouldn't be too hard to assemble. I'll have it delivered to your room before dinner. You'll be ready to set out tomorrow morning?"
Kael arrives at the library and goes inside, looking around for Mephelion. "I got lunch," he calls.
Mephelion rounds a corner, dust-broom over his shoulder. "Excellent," he says, eyeing the sack lunch. "I just cleaned off the front desk."
There's a huge heap of papers and random objects (rocks, crystals, feathers, sticks, bits of metal) all over the cleaned desk. But it is dust free.
After clearing a spot of papers for the lunch, he asks, "Do you need any paper? Most of this is blank, and just taking up space."
"I brought some of my own, but I could always use some more, thank you," Kael replied. He set the lunches on the cleared space and whipped out a couple of clean handkerchiefs from a pocket in his uniform.
"So," he said as he sat down at the table and smiled up at the fellow bookworm. "Have you heard or read anything about the General Davan lately?"
"Oh," Mephelion says, reaching into the stack of papers, and pulling out a folder. "I dug this up." He hands it to Kael, along with some clean blank paper, and then unwraps his lunch. "Sandwiches. Not bad."
He hooks a stool with his ankle and slides it over so he can sit down.
Babartus nods. "If all goes well, then yes. Seiz?"
"Ah, yes. I don't need anything specific," replies Seiz. "Just rations and such that you usally take out on an expedition. I'm sure that can easily be arranged."
K'thosis nods. "Rations for a week, at least," he agrees. "Very well. If that's all you'll need, return to your rooms and enjoy your rest before being sent out."
Seiz nods. "Come on, Barbatus. You can tell me a little of the nature of your... list."
Babartus smiles a private smile as he leads Seiz out of the room. "Of course. What exactly would you like to know?"
"What you plan to do with this equipment," replies Seiz, shrugging. "Honestly, I would like all abilities and gear to be accounted for, so that we may better coordinate our efforts.
For the time being."