Alone

[Brian]

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]

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?"

[Brian]

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.

[Rezantis]

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.

[Brian]

"And?" he asks, glancing briefly at Bjorn, then focusing his attention on Nathan.

[Rezantis]

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?"

[Brian]

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."

[Rezantis]

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.

[Brian]

Durant looks pretty stunned at this.  "Well, great," he says.  "So, I'm totally screwed now?"

[Rezantis]

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.

[Brian]

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.

[Bjorn]

"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?"

[Brian]

"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."

[Bjorn]

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.

[Brian]

"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."