After parting ways with those who are heading to the tower, Nathan finds Alec rejoining him, swiftly journeying to the hated prison and execution chamber.
Nathan walks quietly towards the prison.
"So, what're your thoughts on our new arrivals?" he queries Alec as they walk.
"Never seen a beastie like that," Alec says after a moment, glancing over his shoulder, where the light glints off of a shoulder. "Didn't pay much attention to the old guys, though." He shrugs.
After descending a spiral staircase, you reach the door leading to the prison area.
"Quite a piece of engineering, it is."
Rez knocks, then opens the door and steps into the prison area.
The guards look up from their table again. "Can we help you?" one of them asks.
"I want to speak to the Priestess Lindsey, then to Paul Durant," Rez answers simply.
"There shouldn't be a problem with that," the guard says amiably. "This way for the priestess."
He ambles across the room with a bit of a limp -- looks like an old wound -- and unlocks a loudly protesting door.
The cell is pretty small, and has a rough bed on the far wall. The floor is strewn with straw, and there's a blanket on the pallet ... but entire area is actually fairly warm.
Lindsey looks at you expectantly, sitting on the edge of her cot and raising an eyebrow. "Yes?" she asks, while the guard limps a short distance away, giving you enough privacy to speak, but not enough for Lindsey to try and escape.
Before Nathan can formulate a response, the doors to the execution chamber open again, and Bjorn strides in.
Rez looks around, sees that it's just Bjorn, then turns back to Lindsey.
"You'll be let out of here pretty soon," Rez says without preamble, "We found evidence of treachery in Dorian's quarters, which means that you're off the hook. Durant, however, is still mixed up in it. Anyway, for completeness' sake, can you tell me exactly what happened leading up to the whole mess?"
Lindsey eyes Bjorn as he enters the room. "Well," she says somewhat doubtfully. "As I said to Bjorn when he asked me the same questions:
"I was watching Durant to help him find out who this 'Fletcher' was. Dorian came to the alcove where Durant was hiding -- I was invisible -- and stabbed him, quickly leaving him for dead. I healed Durant, and then we chased after Dorian, trying to catch up with him while invisible."
Bjorn enters earshot, and she continues, "When we caught up to him on the tower, he was trying to shoot arrows at Serril. And Parthipan. Anyway, Durant and I attacked him. Dorian shoved me off the tower, from what I saw, Durant slit Dorian's throat, and then Liandral caught me.
"Then the guards hauled us away." She shrugs. "That's really it."
"My apologies for that," Bjorn says. "I was fairly confident that Durant was safe from Fletcher. I obviously misjudged that situation."
He sighs. "If Sir Shuker hasn't already told you, you're free -- or will be, as soon as the official order comes down. One mess cleaned up. Two left."
Then, he frowns. "Or... maybe three," he says, slowly. "Your other two friends, in the South. Could you tell me their names? They might have just arrived."
"Jack Merrick and Scott Lewis," she answers. "But I'm sure if they were arrived Serril or Liandral would ask after them."
Bjorn exchanges a glance with Nathan. "Then it seems we have two wild cards on our hands," he murmurs. "An alchemist and a golem-maker."
"Ah," Lindsey says, relaxing a bit. "The independants. What is their affiliation?"
"Serril didn't seem to know them, no, so that was my assumption. Liandral mentioned two independents in here before we got back to the keep."
Nathan turns back to Lindsey. "Know anything in particular about them?"
"To answer your question, first," Bjorn interjects smoothly, "I'm afraid I don't know; they're questioning them in the Lorekeeper's tower, and that was a problem." He grimaces faintly. "One of them -- Derrick -- was wearing a Star of David, for what it's worth."
He drums his fingers across his forearm, in a short staccato beat. "I could contact Lord Bloom now," he offers, slowly. "It's a bit risky, not knowing their abilities."
"Or if they have any," Lindsey notes. "It's entirely up to you. Most likely it's nothing that can't wait until after anyway. As in, when they release me."
"You're better off not, Bjorn. We don't really know the risks there anyway and it's being overused."
Bjorn grunts. "I'd rather avoid the risk whenever possible," he admits. "It's a good policy."
Squaring his shoulders, he continues, "I should probably let Paul know what the situation is. Unless there's somethinge else you'd like to know?" he directs to Lindsey.
"Knowing I'll be let out is enough for now," Lindsey says, shrugging. "The conditions are better than I had feared, but still...."
"Not much fun. Well, at least you're getting out of here."
He nods to Lindsey and heads for the door, planning on asking the guard to let him speak to Paul.
Bjorn also steps out to the main chamber, and addresses the guards. "Mistress Lindsey is to be released," he says. "Have the appropriate orders arrived yet?"
"Oh?" the guard asks, frowning. "By who's authority?"
Bjorn raises his eyebrow. "Lord Kevin ordered her arrested," he points out. "The only one with the authority to release here would also be Lord Kevin."
"Of course," the guard says, shaking his head like it was obvious. "You may leave, then," he informs Lindsey, who seems more than happy to step outside of the cell. Turning back to Bjorn, he asks, "And the other?"
Bjorn holds up a hand to forestall Lindsey, and eyes the guard sternly. "I did not order her released," he says quietly, "or claim to carry the order. I asked if the orders had yet arrived. I gather, by what you have said, they have not."
He pauses, and his gaze softens a little. "The orders should arrive soon, however, and I see no harm in allowing Mistress Lindsey out of her cell -- under my authority. However," with a nod at the priestess, "I am afraid that until the orders do arrive, you must still remain in this room, in the presence of the guards, Mistress."
Turning back to the guard, he continues, "To the best of my knoweldge, Master Durant is to remain in custody. However, Sir Shuker and I will speak with him."
Lindsey looks a bit annoyed at this, but apparently the execution chamber is a better place to be than the cell.
Somehow.
The guards look confused, though. "If the order is coming, then it's okay," the guard says. "Right? I mean, that will be the order, so, what's the problem?"
Bjorn's gaze on the soldier hardens again. "This is war-time," he says, in a soft and icy tone. "In war, success and survival depend on following orders to the letter. If you think that the knowledge that an order is coming is the same as holding the order itself, then perhaps a stint in the front ranks might convince you otherwise -- and you can see that even knowing the order to charge is coming does not make it wise to charge before the order is given." His eyes narrow. "Is that clear?"
"As clear as the wound I took yesterday fighting at your side that put me here," he replies in a very strained voice. "Anything else, my lord?"
Bjorn's lip curls at the guard's near-insolence, and his eyes narrow. Irritation surges in his mind, and, for a second, he reacquires the body language and mannerisms of who he was on Earth.
"If you were injured in last night's battle," he says softly, meeting the guard's eyes with an even, cold glare, stepping closer just a hair and looming, more with will than by stature, "then I will assume that the pain from that is the reason that you've forgotten things every recruit should know about the chain of command."
Stepping back again, he continues in a business-like tone, "This is, of course, unacceptable. So have Captain Stuarts appoint a replacement for you on this shift, and then go rest. If you haven't been to the healers yet, do so, and tell them I said I want you ready to be back in your place in the front ranks where you belong as soon as possible. Understood?"
OOC: Putting influence in to boost my PRE to 14. Conversation if necessary: aiming both to establish my right to throw orders around, and placate him with the offering of some time off and back on the front lines where he'd apparently rather be. ;)
The guard looks like he's about to say something else, then pauses, as if to reconsider. Grudgingly, he nods. "It is as you say," he says, not meeting your eyes. "My words were uncalled for." Bowing his head, he says, "I will go to the healer now."
With that, he hands the key to another guard, his limp still noticable, but not slowing him down as much when he leaves the room.
Bjorn turns to the now key-holding guard, and nods. "Sir Shuker and I would like to speak to Master Durant," he says, as if none of the previous had happened. "Would you open the cell, please?"
Nodding, the guard does as told, unlocking the door.
Durant is inside the cell, looking up from his bed/bench when the door is opened, and blinking a bit. They saw fit to let him keep his lute, which he is playing when the door is opened.
Rez steps inside.
"Morning, Uns. We've got good news and bad news for you. The good news is that we found proof that Dorian was a traitor . . . and the bad news is that he kept notes - notes that included you . . ." Rez grimaces.
"And?" he asks, glancing briefly at Bjorn, then focusing his attention on Nathan.
Rez continues in a quiet voice. "And apparently you're previous self was some assassin king or some such that Dorian forced to serve him - and killed a priestess. As you can imagine, Lord Kevin isn't particularly amenable to the idea of freeing y-" Rez cuts off abruptly and blinks, "your notebook - do you know where that is?"
He blinks a few times, and then shakes his head. "I ... it should still be in my room. But...." He trails off and then shrugs. "Could be anywhere, now."
Rez nods, then flicks his gaze across to Bjorn before looking back to Paul.
"That was mostly what I wanted to know, 'cause . . . well, we'll need to be the ones who search your room," he glances at Bjorn again and deflates some.
"So what are we going to tell Lord Kevin? You can straight-out deny and I can try to get you out of here myself - and I may be able to convince Lord Kevin to do that, but I'm not sure and you'd have to be kept under armed guard. And, well . . ." Rez trails off, looking at the two others - hoping for some input.
Durant looks pretty stunned at this. "Well, great," he says. "So, I'm totally screwed now?"
Rez, as something occurs to him, looks Durant over quickly as the bard speaks for bloodstains/rents in clothing - ie, where a stab wound would have been delivered.
Durant's shirt is dark blue, and has what looks like a wet spot under one arm. There's also a miniscule cut there, but it's quite precise.
"I'll be honest," Bjorn answers Durant quietly. "I don't know what the hell we're going to do. I thought all we had to do was convince Kevin that Dorian was a traitor while keeping him from finding out about anything that your other-self had done. So far we've managed it, but this whole assassin-king thing is a big complication. It doesn't matter if you've done anything or not as long with this story in the air."
He frowns thoughtfully, thinking out loud. "The only way to get you out of here now is either to convince Kevin that you're not this Verrick, or to find a way to convince him that Verrick can either be trusted or controlled."
A thought occurs to him, and he looks up at Durant. "You know a lot of the stories of this world," he realizes. "Do you know anything about, what was it, Verrick the Unseen, assassin-king of Soth?"
"Oh," he says, grimacing. "Let me think.
"So ... Verrik started out as a vassal of Liene. He never learned her blessing, though he was pretty good at first aid and had a good grasp of medicine, so they actually kicked him out and asked for money to cover the time he was with them." Durant frowns. "So the easiest way for him to make money was by killing people since there were more experienced and magically-inclined healers around him anyway.
"By the time he payed off his debt, he'd established quite a reputation for himself -- and the church wasn't very happy about the fact that it was their fault. So they hired vassals from the church of Aestock to catch Verrik. Apparently, Verrik out-stalked and out-snuck a bunch of invisible men, killed them, and then managed to convince a dwarf somewhere to make a knife from the scraps of their armor he kept.
"Supposedly this knife gives him the power to turn invisible." Durant shrugs. "Seemed like a kind of 'eat your vegetables or Verrik the assasin-king-will get you!' story, so I never told that one. That I remember, anyway."
Exchanging a glance with Nathan, Bjorn says, "Dorian had a knife that he claimed was Verrik's. Some papers he'd left behind claimed that the knife was how he had been controlling Verrik." Shrugging, he adds, "I'd guess from what you said that it was blackmail, and not some mystic control or the like."
He studies the ceiling, remembering. "Kevin said Verrik was famous for his ability to pose as other people, getting so into the role that even he would forget who he was." He looks at Durant, seeking confirmation or further explanation.
"Well, that's new to me," Durant says, shrugging. "I'm guessing Verrik didn't pay much attention to his own stories when he was trying to lay low."
"That's if you're Verrik," Bjorn corrects. "The only person's word we have for that is Dorian's, which is a bit convenient. And there are things that don't exactly make sense. Your journal, for starters, didn't really give me a lot of hints that you were a legendary assassin. And you'd have to be pretty cocky to jump someone like Verrik in a dark hallway."
"I don't know," Durant says, frowning. "Dorian was like a shadow with sharp parts in the alcove. Didn't see him, I was just suddenly wondering why my lungs were being tickled with a knife through my armit and then bleeding out on the floor."
He pauses for a moment, and then sighs. "Well, I saw him, but I didn't see it coming. I actually ... turned my back on him for a second. But, fuck, I didn't expect him to stab me."
Bjorn shrugs. "I just have a hard time believing that a guy who could take out invisible assassins chasing after him would be taken so easily by a double-cross like that." He frowns. "Of course, you're not Verrik, in the ways that matter, and so it's not surpising that you got caught -- not your fault. But if Dorian honestly thought you were, you'd think he'd take a more sure approach." Bjorn fall silent for a second, thinking things through.
"I think what worries me the most," he says finally, "is how easy this was. Verrik's knife was there in a flimsy little chest, and there was this handy-dandy little confession just lying around that happened to identify who and what you were. And now everybody thinks that Verrik is locked up in the dungeon -- which would probably be a big help to the real Verrik, if he was still chasing after somebody in the Keep."
"I don't feel like a legendary assasin king," Durant supplies, sighing.
Bjorn is still for a second. "You sure?" he asks, finally. "The oddest stuff comes into my head at times. None of this makes you... remember anything?"
"Well," he says slowly, "not really. Just stories about it." He shrugs.
Bjorn shrugs. "I didn't think they would, honestly. I don't think you or your other-self are Verrik. The job we have now is convincing people of that." He looks over at Nathan, and then back at Durant. "I know this sucks, but hang in there."
Nathan nods.
"I pretty much agree with Bjorn's reasoning there. We'll see what we can do . . ." Rez glances across at Bjorn, then back at Paul, "We'll go and search your room, and figure out how to approach this. I'll see you later on, then?"
"Oh, yeah, sure," he says, looking a little downcast. "I'll just be hanging out here, then."
Bjorn grimaces. "Sorry about this." He hesitates, but unable to think of anything more to say, exits the cell.
Rez winces.
"We'll get you out of here, don't worry."
And then turns and follows Bjorn.
Durant just looks kind of melencholy and shrugs. The guards close the door on him and latch it.
Rez raises an eyebrow at Bjorn.
"Should we go and search his room quickly?"
"Thoroughly," Bjorn corrects Nathan, mindful of the guard's presence. "But yes." He looks around to see if Lindsey is still present.
Lindsey is loitering near the door to her cell, waiting for the orders that complete her release.
"Well, yes, thoroughly - but I meant we should go quickly and make it a priority."
Bjorn looks at Lindsey, then the guards, and finally back at Nathan. "I'll meet you there, Sir Shuker," he says. "I'm afraid I need to wait here until the orders for Mistress Lindsey's release arrive."
Nathan raises an eyebrow, and nods.
"Alright. Mind if I start without you?"
"Certainly," Bjorn replies courteously. "I'll be there as soon as I can."
Nathan nods to Bjorn and Lindsey, then heads off to find Durant's chambers.
Before Nathan manages to leave the chamber, a courier arrives with the order for Lindsey's release.
Rez taps his foot and raises an eyebrow at Bjorn, a questioning expression on his face.
Bjorn nods at Lindsey. "Mistress," he says gravely, "it would seem you're free to go. I apologize for the detaining, but I hope you understand it was necessary." Sketching a bow to her, and nodding respectfully at the remaining guards, he turns to Nathan. "Shall we go, then?"
"Let's get going, then," Nathan nods, and walks out the door to start looking for Durant's chambers. Again.
Lindsey follows you until you're above ground, whereupon a group of about eight vassals of Aestock protectively leap out of the shadows and surround her.
After that, a servant directs you to Durant's quarters, which are unguarded. The door is currently closed.
Nathan opens it, and steps inside.
Bjorn frowns, glancing sidelong at Nathan. "This shouldn't have been left unguarded," he mutters. "Not a good sign."
When the door is opened, what's revealed is a perfectly neat room. It looks like room service has been through a minute ago, at most.
Everything is neatly put away, in its place. The room contains two beds -- you seem to recall that Durant originally shared a room with Parthipan before all the lorekeepers were cloistered away in the tower. Each bed has a footlocker at the end of it, and there's a fireplace in the wall between the two beds. It's set with logs, but not actually burning.
The candlebra on the room's one table is lit, providing enough illumination to see, but barely.
"Probably not - but I bet nobody thought of it. Let's go through the place, I guess."
Nathan starts poking around, looking for Durant's notebook - and anything, he supposes, of potential interest to an investigation.
"They thought about Dorian's room," Bjorn points out, moving to the footlockers, and opening them. "This should have been just as obvious."
Nathan pauses.
"That's . . . a more than valid point. Do you know who ordered the guards to Dorian's room?"
Searching through the room you find Durant's clothes, a handful of coins, a flute, some replacement strings, and a shined brass cloak-pin.
There is no sign of the book.
Squatting on his haunches, Bjorn looks pensively about the room, tossing a copper coin in his hand. "Well. At the very least, there's nothing incriminating to be found here."
He tilts his head in though, and then looks over at Nathan. "I don't think we have to worry about the journal coming out right away," he says, "since it doesn't fit with the whole Verrik story. But if we do manage to show Durant isn't Verrik, I'll bet good money that someone finds it not long after." His brow furrows. "Why so much effort on keeping Paul out of action?" he mutters.
"Possibly. I reckon we need to go and interrogate some servants. Someone may have seen someone come in here . . . although, of course, bloody unlikely. Why there were no guards is something we're also going to have to ask."
Rez sighs.
"So, what do we do about Durant?"
Dropping the coin back into the footlocker, Bjorn scrubs at his face tiredly. "I don't know," he confesses. "My gut feeling is that Verrik is still walking around, and finding him is our best option." He broods for a second. "Easier said than done, though."
Standing, he adds, "The other thing we need to do is search Dorian's body. Want to do that first, or after trying to find whoever cleaned this room last?"
"Whoever cleaned the room. Dorian's body will keep for now, but the longer we put this off the less likely we are to get anything useful."
Rez makes for the door.
"Hold on a second," Bjorn says, putting a hand out to pause Nathan. "Searching Dorian's body is a priority, too. Somebody's already grabbed one piece of real evidence, and I don't plan to give them any time to strip the corpse if we can help it. Why don't we split up? You can take examining the body, because, no offense, big hulking barbarians tend to intimidate the help." He grimaces. "Not that I likely do much better, but we can hope."
Nathan grimaces.
"Odds are that we're already far, far too la-wait, Kevin was going to have Dorian's remains kept under watch, wasn't he? Any idea where, or should I go and ask?"
Rubbing at the back of his neck in thought, Bjorn narrows his eyes. "He said the remains would be sealed, or such. Probably means they're in the catacombs, but I don't know for sure."
"Hm. In that case, I'd probably better go and get Lord Kevin's permission first. I'll tell him you sent m-" Nathan yawns, "Meet up tomorrow in the library again, or do you want to come and find me when we're both done?"
"Library tomorrow," Bjorn says, fighting off the urge to match Nathan's yawn, "unless either of us finds something big. Then go look for the other person." He shrugs. "If I don't find anything amazing, I'll probably be in my quarters."
"Mmhmm. I'll either be asleep in my tent in the stormrider camp, or at the archery range if I can't sleep. Either way, g'luck."
Nathan walks off to try and find Lord Kevin - assuming he's still awake.
Nathan goes off in search of Lord Kevin.
Nathan now goes to In Too Deep (http://pishoque.net/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=39178#39178).
After watching Nathan amble off in search of Lord Kevin, Bjorn searches for a servant.
However, the nearest servant informs Bjorn, "We don't clean Master Durant's room -- he asked us not to bother, since he liked things set up in a specific manner. I don't think anyone's gone in there to clean since ... Bethany, I think, woke him up when she came in to clean. And that was near a week ago, now."
Bjorn hums thoughtfully. "I don't suppose you've noticed anyone else about these chambers recently?" he asks.
The servant looks thoughtful for a long minute, and finally says, "I've been cleaning this hall most of today. I haven't seen anyone near that room until you and Sir Shuker arrived."
Bjorn nods at that, his face expressionless. "Thank you," he says. "You've been very helpful."
With a parting nod, he makes his way back to his quarters, bent on getting some sleep before the next day of siege.
When you get to the quarters, the fire has been stoked up, so it's pleasantly warm. The door to Mirallia's private chamber is closed, and those two other vassals -- Jeff and ... what's-his-name -- that Donovan sent are watching the door to the ante-chamber. They both nod at you, but say nothing.
Bjorn nods back at them, but returns the silence as well. Making his way to the antechamber, he settles down to sleep.
Bjorn sleeps relatively well, waking up when a servant knocks on the door, wishing to bring in a tray of breakfast things (whee, bread, eggs, cheese, and ... meat, of some kind again).
Bjorn rolls to his feet, greeting the servant politely. Before tucking in to the food, he checks to see if Mirallia wishes to eat as well.
She's awake and in the interior chamber, working on her notes pensively. She looks well rested, at least, and doesn't notice you calling to her for a moment. "Oh," she replies, once she realizes you're asking her a question. "Yes. Certainly." Putting away her notes, she approaches the table and helps herself to some of the food.
Bjorn quickly tucks in to the food, eating neatly but efficiently. "Another day of siege," he observes quietly. "And, I presume, another planning meeting." He eyes her thoughtfully. "You've been rather quiet at the sessions."
"I haven't as much to contribute as yourself," she says, sighing. "I'm not a warrior. Merely a servant of Hammar, and a less capable one than yourself in tactics. My gifts lie in healing, instead."
Bjorn grunts wryly. "It's not training from the Church that I've been using," he points out, a touch of irony in his voice.
He falls silent for a long minute, then, chewing on a chunk of cheese. "At some point," he says soberly in a low tone, "I think it might be good if we talked about... the sort of person I used to be." He looks at her, a slightly regretful expression on his face. "With the others here, I need to know more if I'm to keep from eliciting suspicion. I know that you likely won't want to talk about it, but...."
Mirallia frowns, but nods. "I will keep that in mind," she says quietly.
Finished eating, Bjorn stands up from the table. "I'm sorry to rush," he says, apologetically, "but I'm supposed to meet with Sir Shuker before the strategy meeting. If you'll excuse me?"
She nods, at the same time a servant knocks on the door. "Lord Bloom has requested your presence in the library," she says, before scurrying off.
The way to the library isn't difficult to remember.
Bjorn acts on his memory, and heads to the library, nodding at Jeff and Carl as he goes by.
Jeff and Carl nod back, and Bjorn quickly retraces his steps to the library.
Bjorn now moves to In Too Deep (http://www.pishoque.net/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=39300#39300).