Soldier Dream

[Rezantis]

Nathan, nod having anything major to add to this, sits there quietly going through the transcript.

[Bjorn]

Bjorn grunts.  "Not much useful there, beyond knowing there's a connection," he says, idly eyeing the librarian.  "Anybody else have anything to add?  Nathan?  Did you get any further on Paul's situation?"

[Rezantis]

"Absolutely nowhere.  You seemed fairly certain on the point that Verrik's somewhere in the keep, and we've got absolutely no leads, so . . . no.  I actually spent a few hours playing Hunter-Hunted."

[Bjorn]

Bjorn looks at Nathan for a long minute, and then shakes his head, going back to his breakfast.  "Anybody else have something to add?"

[Rezantis]

Nathan shrugs.

"Well what do you propose we do? Go around the keep asking 'Are you the legendary assassin king'?  This approach was your idea, so deal with the fact that we're now purely reacting."

[Ginrai]

Ginrai shakes his head.  "Not much other than the conversation with Devin."

[Bjorn]

"We're not reacting," Bjorn says coolly, cutting his eyes towards Nathan.  "If there's another assassin in the keep, we need to find him.  That means looking -- like I was looking for Fletcher, like Paul was doing while telling stories, like Parthipan did when checking out the Lorekeepers.  If we don't have leads, we have to find them."

He holds Nathan's eyes unblinkingly.  "If you don't like my approach, you're free to come up with your own.  Spending time playing hunter-hunted was probably very good for your men's morale.  It doesn't solve any of the other problems we have."

He looks away, then, and glances at Parthipan.  "Do you want to spy on the Dreadmarch before the strategy meeting?  Or is there not much point?"

[Ginrai]

"If there's time I can do it now though it might not be necessary if we follow Devin's plan."

[Bjorn]

Bjorn stares at Parthipan, and then looks down, rubbing at his eyebrows.  "Do you want to talk about Devin's plan, Parthipan?" he asks, half-despairingly, and half-amused.

[Rezantis]

"What do you propose we do to be proactive, then?" Nathan hisses, "Especially when carrying a large glowing sword around that announces 'look at me'?  I have no fucking idea what to do.  I am completely out of my depth, and I freely admit it.  And you know what else I'll admit?  Yes, I blew off my other duties to go and play Hunter Hunted.  There was nothing crucial where I could do any major work and rather than sit around and accomplish nothing I decided to relax.  Suck it down.  Your teammates are human, Bjorn, and that means we have human failings, and in this case I'm fucking sick up to here with stress and terror and if I choose to go and spend a few hours trying to relax and get some of this shit out of my system, you have no fucking right to gainsay me."

Nathan stands up, kicks his chair back under the table, and promptly walks out of the library.

[Ginrai]

Seeing the departing figure of his comrade, Ginrai comments, "You know, he was the last person I expected to react as such."

Shaking his head, he says, "Anyway, about Devin's plan.  As I already mentioned in this meeting, it would involve combining the powers of multiple lorekeepers, each of whom would be following similar paths.  Devin and I would be leading the links which he believes would be powerful enough to even take down the night's General."

[Rezantis]

Nathan pauses as he hears what Ginrai's comment, and waits for Ginrai to finish speaking as he has one last thing to say.

"Yeah, well, the last thing I expected was people I knew from void to be eager about the whole 'killing people' concept, so I guess we're even."

Not waiting for a reply, he stalks out. (Heading to the stormrider encampment).

[Dracos]

Dracos shakes his head, standing up frowning slightly and saying nothing.  "I'll see you guys at the strategy meeting."

Dracos follows Rez out, pacing himself to catch up to Nathan, but remaining silent.

Nathan and Phil now move to A Shot of Crisis.

Dracos

[Bjorn]

Bjorn doesn't say anything, though a close examination might reveal that his eyes hardened at Nathan's last shot, shuttering his emotions behind them.  Instead, he looks over at Parthipan.  "Do you want to do your spying?" he asks.  "If not, I think I should go do a morning inspection."

[Ginrai]

"I think I should still do it.  Can you look after my body during the spell?"