Chapter 5b: Unexpected allies, and a way out?

[Grognardsw]

Deceidon looks at the orb.

"What do you need us to do?"

[MonkeyWrench]

Rand lowers and sheaths his dagger, looking more calm at Matkinsai's reassurance, giving a glare at Flynn after his comment on assassin who he no doubt believes to be Rand, even though Rand has yet to publicly kill anyone. He says nothing but listens to the others, he stays near the older mage, acting the part of a bodyguard.

[Rukellian]

At Matkinsai's promise that no one harm could come to anyone in the room, Elethil relaxes his grip on his sword.

"You say that you came here to hire these 'shadowy warriors' if you could. But how can you do that if, as you say, they would have a moral obligation to kill you?"

"This is precisely the reason why I am seeking them out, because they would kill me, kill what I stand for. I need their moral compass, their dedication to their cause to accomplish the orb's destruction. I am not so powerless as to not get a conversation with one of such person's, especially if I offer them a greater evil to slay then say someone like me. And if I were to find such a shadowy warrior, and we do not come to friendly agreement, I can defend myself just fine." Matkinsai smiles an almost crooked smile, traces of confidence or smugness peeking through, you can't seem to tell...

Sunshine keeps his bow trained on the old man as the former Captain, Hal, contemplates the sorcerer's words. "I will have to share in Flynn's opinion on the matter. You appear to be a necessary evil, for now that is. You have our way out, given we can find one of these shadowy warriors, and that is more than enough for me at this point. But if half of what you said is actually true, I think we will be needing more than just the Dathanian army for the battles to come. As much as I hate saying it, we will probably need to work with the other races... Getting back to the person you are looking for, Matkinsai, do you have any idea who he might look like, or she for that matter? I could have some men that are still loyal to me search the town for whom you seek. The Dunnet Community is a haven of former criminals, I'm SURE there is a shadowy warrior somewhere inside its borders."

"Easier said than done Hal. You see, throughout history, they've been masters of disguises, a necessity in their assignments in hunting down magic-users, getting close enough to do the job. They do not have a uniform, but they are organized. I've been spending the better part of my time here trying to pinpoint the orb's exact location, so we will be searching blindly.

"Tell me Hal, how many citizens does the community hold, roughly speaking?"

Hal sits down and thinks for a moment. He mutters a few names and then nods his head as he looks up and says with a bit of half-certainty in his voice, "Eighty to ninety, last I checked, that are still alive that is."

[Rukellian]

"Right, well, our first order of business then, first and foremost, is to get out of this realm. All this talk will be for nothing if we cannot get out. I will stay here and make some last minute preparation on my part. While I do this, I you all may feel free to stay here or go back to the community and help in the shadowy warrior search. It would be worth noting that there is no guarantee that everything in this realm will follow us to the real world. With this said, we will most likely have to do some packing, as well as the town villagers; in fact, it would be great if you could all tell them about what is to happen in the near future. I'm sure they will want to be prepared for such an event! Better you all relay this message than I, for obvious reasons as I'm sure you've guessed."

Matkinsai falls silent for a moment, as the zones out and thinks of something again. He nods his head after coming to some sort of mental conclusion and motions for Elithil, Rand, and Deceidon to come forth. "If you will follow me to another room, I have something important to tell you three, and you three in particular." Matkinsai looks at them with eyes that say they mean business. Whatever it is that he has in mind for those three, it must be important enough to want to talk to them alone.

[tooleychris]

"And even more secrets..." Flynn says below his breath and makes to leave, eyeballing the sphere one last time. He then looks to the others "Do we just walk out the way we came in?"

[onlyme]

Whitsell ponders and answers,
Do we even know where we are? Are we back in our world completely? and could we be have marks against us? we may want to proceed cautiously...

[Zhym]

Elethis raises one eyebrow and follows the wizard.

[MonkeyWrench]

Rand simply nods and follows along with Matkinsai to the next room.

[Grognardsw]

Deceidon takes the orb, not wanting to lose sight of it again, and follows.

[Rukellian]

For those who are staying to talk to Matkinsai, remain on this thread. The rest of you can resume using the Chapter 5 thread, The Fabricator of Planes.

For Zhym, MonkeyWrench, and Grognardsw

Elithil, Rand, and Deceidon follow the old mage into another room, one shaped in similiar grandeur as the previous. This room in particular is a bit more spartan, showing only a select few pieces of furniture and ornamentation, a much smaller room in comparison as well (big enough to seat 4-5 persons comfortably). Matkinsai takes a seat and motions for everyone else to do the same.

"Now for the main order of business. As some of your friends may have surmised, I know a lot more than what I have let on. Take for example, the shadowy warriors I spoke of." He looks towards Deceidon with a nod. "We already have one amongst us, this I have confirmed a while back. He knows how to destroy the orb, if he so desires, but for that to happen, we will need something in addition to his magic-breaking knowledge, an instrument to carry it out."

Matkinsai then turns to face Elithil directly as he continues to speak. "A former member of Deceidon's group came to an untimely end under a partial tunnel collapse. He had with him a dagger of elven origin. Do you still have it on your person Elithil?"

[Zhym]

Sunshine grabbed the dagger, not Elethil. AFAIK, Sunshine still has it.

viewtopic.php?f=80&t=2598&p=104731#p104741

[Rukellian]

Sunshine grabbed the dagger, not Elethil. AFAIK, Sunshine still has it.

viewtopic.php?f=80&t=2598&p=104731#p104741

A mistake on my end then, got items mixed up with characters. Can still make it feasible though, showing that Matkinsai is not all-knowing. He may assume that you have it, but that doesn't mean its a fact. I'd encourage you to work this problem through via in-game chat.

[Zhym]

Are we posting all our actions in spoiler tags?

"I do not have the dagger of which you speak," answers Elethil. "The other elf, my would-be assassin Sunshine, snatched it as soon as he saw it. As far as I know, he still has it."

[Rukellian]

Are we posting all our actions in spoiler tags?

"I do not have the dagger of which you speak," answers Elethil. "The other elf, my would-be assassin Sunshine, snatched it as soon as he saw it. As far as I know, he still has it."

I will leave this up to you. I only did it the first time around because some players were transitioning back to the previous thread line. If you want to keep it all in spoiler tags, we can do it. Still much easier than handling multiple PMs.

[Rukellian]

Matkinsai looks to the floor, a look of genuine surprise on his face. "I admit, that complicates things. I don't have to talk to Sunshine to know that he wants to see me dead. His reasons will be his own, but I cannot ignore the fact that he has what we need to escape this realm. That dagger, Elithil, has a spell-breaking properties forged into it, a finesse in craftsmanship lost to most races today, save yours."

The old mage faces everyone as he continues to speak. "From direct experience in interacting with this person, what you do all think should be the best way to handle retrieving this dagger? Can Sunshine be reasoned with, will we have to use force, or... Rand, do you think you could use your specialized skill set to better effect?" Matkinsai ends this remark with a sly, knowing smile. The old mage doesn't seem to mind whichever direction this takes, or at least that is the feeling you get when you listen to his words.

[MonkeyWrench]

Rand thinks for a moment before nodding, "Wouldn't be the hardest thing I've had to steal." His gaze points towards the orb with a sly, knowing smile that matches Matkinsai's. He then looks towards the mage, "I also have something I'd like to speak to you about..." his gaze shifts towards Deceidon and Elethil's for a brief moment before resting back on the older mage, "In private..."

[Zhym]

Elethil gives Rand and Matkinsai a curious look.

"I believe you already know my opinion of Sunshine," he says.

[Rukellian]

Rand thinks for a moment before nodding, "Wouldn't be the hardest thing I've had to steal." His gaze points towards the orb with a sly, knowing smile that matches Matkinsai's. He then looks towards the mage, "I also have something I'd like to speak to you about..." his gaze shifts towards Deceidon and Elethil's for a brief moment before resting back on the older mage, "In private..."

"Even more privacy? If this is something that you will need to hide from the others," Matkinsai waves to Elithil and Deceidon, "then that will just spur their current suspicions of you even further." The old man shrugs his shoulders and shakes his head casually as he says in a casual tone. "If you cannot trust these two before you, then the tasks ahead will be that much more difficult I'm afraid. Must this being something that only you and I can know?" Matkinsai double checks with the young man before he indulges this request any further.

Elethil gives Rand and Matkinsai a curious look.

"I believe you already know my opinion of Sunshine," he says.

"This is noted." Matkinsai affirms with a nod of the head. "I'd not ask of you to talk with your assailant on friendly terms. Elithil, I thought I should also let you know something, while we are here, something that I'm sure will help bring some closure. The person whom you were tasked to save, back in New Dathan, he did not make it. The royal guard got to him before any of us could. Not all is lost though. You see, he had a pupil of sorts, and passed on information to him before he left us." The old man looks towards Rand and back to Elithil again. "Markus lives on, through him."

Info for Zhym

(Markus is the name of the man you were set out to rescue before finding yourself in this prison realm. The man was a friend of Matkinsai and a former brother of your order.)

[MonkeyWrench]

Rand's face reddens in embarrassment at being chastised by the mage, he speaks softly, "It is a simple request, the urge for privacy was born with you in mind, not some notion of hiding things from others... It was also a safeguard for myself, depending on your answer I doubt I'd want others to know..." He shifts his feet nervously. "If you truly feel the need for me to speak publicly between a member of an assassin order, known to hunt down mages, and Elethil, a third party associate of the magi order. Then I will..."

[Rukellian]

Rand's face reddens in embarrassment at being chastised by the mage, he speaks softly, "It is a simple request, the urge for privacy was born with you in mind, not some notion of hiding things from others... It was also a safeguard for myself, depending on your answer I doubt I'd want others to know..." He shifts his feet nervously. "If you truly feel the need for me to speak publicly between a member of an assassin order, known to hunt down mages, and Elethil, a third party associate of the magi order. Then I will..."

Matkinsai simply smiles. The silence speaks for itself as the old mage's eyes look upon the others in the room. After some dramatic emphasis with a slow sweep of the arm, Matkinsai continues. "If we are to have any inkling of hope in surviving the coming war, we will need to be able to set aside old grudges, if only temporarly, and find common ground against a greater threat. Rand, I have brought you three here for you three alone seem to have the greatest potential to lay down the foundations for bridges to come, the words from you all holding more weight then some may realize."