[CoC/Eberron]Morgrave Gambit-Ex Oblivion, Eberron! IC

With a nod to nonamazing, I have a few quick words about formatting:

Please denote OOC comment and questions with an {OOC} and {/OOC} tag. Long comments or questions should be sent to the original thread. All speech should be in "quotation marks" and all thoughts should be italicized. You may use colors, if you wish, just make sure that you choose a color that will be fairly easy to read off a black background.

If your characters run across something in a foreign language, I will note it like this: [Language] - "spoiler text" (The spoiler text will be invisible unless highlighted, of course. Any characters who speak the appropriate language or are under the effects of an appropriate spell may highlight and read the text--others should ignore it.) Use the same technique if you wish to have your character say something in any language other than Common.

I'll also use spoiler text for messages that are intended for one or two characters only, generally in relation to skill checks. Same format as the language thing: [Character] - "spoiler text"

Here's some examples:

The frost giant looks at you, grimaces, and says [Giant] -
The strange purple lightning dances up and down the sail lines, terrifying the crew. [Aalin] -
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Morgrave Gambit{Morgrave Logo}
Lost Knowledge, Hidden Treasures, Lost Empires, Forbidden Arcana
By Joint Venture of Morgrave University, The Wayfinder Foundation, and The Twelve, a Quest for the Above and more shall be Discoursed upon by the Enlightened of Sharn. Also invited are stalwart, healthy chaps of an Inquisitive and Adventurous breed

-----Flyer Ripped here-----

of an Organized Nature, bearing Arms and Minds of at least Four Sentients, Diverse Races appreciated. Warforged allowed in Mixed Groups, Changelings Need Not Apply! Final Zor of Sypheros, Morgrave Tower, Fifth Antechamber {Sivis Seal}

You enter into the plush and antique-filled antechamber by pushing through the curtains covering the portal. Your ears are caucophonously greeted before your eyes, which take over as they jealously absorb and guard all new information. You can't help but eavesdrop on conversations as you mill about the room. Thus, you discover, to your dismay, that the Morgrave Gambit to which the ripped flyer in your hand referred to requires a group of at least four 'stalwart, healthy chaps of an Inquisitive and Adventurous breed' to register.

"Damn, so much for that idea ..." you mutter as you look about for other persons of an equally fooled nature. That is when you spy a sweating, leg-dodging gnome in Official Xen'drik Safari gear working his way toward you, almost miracuously avoiding blind knees and scabbards.

"You, you, you're supposed to be over there, over there! You, you're getting lost in the shuffle!" he exclaims, dodging past you, pointing to an unnoticed supporting column on the side of the room. It looks like he has a very specific route he follows, going to specific people and ignoring others. Two human women stand out; they watch the gnome very obviously from a dais as they converse, facing each other.

He must mean that column in the corner, you think to yourself. You notice that it and every column has people around it, but not everyone is at a column. You're a little surprised by who you see standing at your, but head over anyway.

Velious

Three years in Sharn, Velious thinks, and I'm still constantly awed by the endless complexity of these towers. How very quintessentially human they are--on the surface, fragile and often not much to look at, but they can conceal surprising wonders. Behind his mask, Velious smiles at the frantic gnome and muses over the torn document in his hand. A joint venture? Granted, the current political situation may make for strange bedfellows, but Morgrave, the Wayfinders, and the Twelve have always been rivals. What could be so important as to cause them to work together? And could there be a connection with House Thuranni? Or is it only coincidence that I found this flyer among the possesions of a Thuranni assassin, an assassin like the one who killed my mother? Velious deliberately takes his time as he passes through the room. His shadowy clothing, deceptively graceful motions, and fearsome eyeless mask elicit more than a few nervously whispered comments as he stalks the outer edge of the antechamber.

Should I be in Shae Lias? Should I be watching over my people? But there is so little for me to do, and my heart aches to make proper use of the power that I have been chosen to wield. Velious takes careful note of the two human women. Besides, I can see that there is a mystery in this gathering, one which calls to me. Only a few moments here, and my mind races with questions...

The patterns are the key. The people here are being chosen, arranged, formed into certain groups. Randomly? Perhaps, but that is not how it seems to me at first glance. There are patterns at work here. Velious looks at each assembled group, considering possible similarities that might indicate hidden patterns.

{OOC}Velious will look around the room and see if he can notice any reasons why the groups are being assembled the way that they are, and why some people are being ignored. He'll also keep a eye on the two human women and try to spot as many details about them as he can. He'll observe the people he's been grouped with carefully, but will remain silent for now.{/OOC}

Calach, standing at the column, hums a tone poem to himself, using it as a mantra. Four bars wrapping themselves around an unresolved perfect fourth. Exemplary church music, really. As he does this, he meditates on his sword forms, picturing them in his head, flowing from one to the other. When he spies the newcomer, he looks at him, grins, and continues humming quietly, waiting to see who arrives and what happens next.

'eezer mutters to himself grumpily. He is a large, burly fellow, although somewhat stooped and loping in his movements, and a heavy green cloak obscures most of his features and clothing, despite the warm climate of Sharn. A worn and polished hilt pokes up from his back; blued steel pommel and leather-wrapped handle, worn smooth and shiny. His eyes gleam yellow like a wolf's from the shadows of his hood.

The burly shifter glances from side to side, unsure of what to do next. Must need to be next to a column, he thinks, and ambles over discreetly to stand near one, studiously ignoring whoever is already there and trying to look as if he belongs right where he is.

Calach noticed Velious approaching, and went back to the swordplay in his mind. If he had any thoughts on the masked figure, he didn't speak them aloud just yet.

Velious looked about, his senses active. Something nagged at him, but he was unable to grasp the pommel of it. He was then distracted by the arriving humanoid, gruff, almost out of place, walking his way.

The now sweating gnome was on a path to cut off the shifter when he stopped and looked back towards to the women on the dias. Red faced and lost in the humanoid forest, he could not see the women any more than a child lost in a market could see their frantically searching parents moving about. Yet, Velious noted, he seemed to act on command from the woman on the left, who was looking directly at him. The gnome broke 'eye-contact' at the same time the woman did, and moved off in a different direction.

'eezer arrived, and leaned on the column, much like Calach was.

The little gnome intrigues and worries 'eezer. Did it look like he was just about to cut him off? The shifter makes sure to keep an eye on the gnome as he heads off in another direction {OOC}Spot check necessary?{/OOC} even if it means leaving the column to keep him in sight.

Well before he reached the column, 'eezer took notice of a gnome moving about the crowd. Seeming to be heading for him, the gnome stopped and looked back moments before they would have interacted. 'eezer warily continued on to the column, seeing that its base extended out enough to be partially stood on.

'eezer slides himself up the column with his boot and his keen senses take over. The gnome's movements noticeable, mainly by recognizing the movement of others he's near. There seems to be no pattern to the tos and fros of the bee-like man.

{OOC}I made a spot roll for you, and you hit the DC exactly. I'm keeping a database of them if desired.{/OOC}

Velious looks over the two men standing at the column, the youthful Human paying little attention to his surroundings and the hooded Shifter effortlessly remaining keenly aware of everything around him. How very opposite they are, Velious muses, like light and dark. There's something unique about the Human, although I can't quite put my finger on it. The Shifter looks decidedly unfriendly, but from the way he's watching the gnome I think he suspects something odd is going on here.

Velious turns to the Shifter, standing a few feet away to show proper respect. "Greetings, Wild One." Velious' Elven accent lends his words an eerie, almost musical effect, as though part-spoken and part-sung. He spreads his hands in a show of peace, bowing ever so slightly. "I take it you have noticed, as I have, that there is something unusual about this gathering? It has intrigued me." Velious slowly looks aroud the room once more before facing the Shifter again. "Would you consider comparing observations with me?"

Velious casually indicates the two mysterious human women. "While their Gnomish partner attacts all the attention, those two guide the proceedings from the shadows. I have seen them communicate with the oddly-dressed Gnome, although I cannot guess at the exact methods they are using; perhaps magic, although it does not quite have the feel of that. To my eyes, the women appear human, but I wonder--are they?" Velious speaks softly, loud enough to be heard by the Shifter, but just quietly enough so that the noise of the crowd renders his speech incomprehensible to those more than a handful of feet away.

Turning to the Human, Velious raises his voice slightly. "An intriguing tone, subtle in its simple complexity. Very human. Perhaps I am mistaken, but is that not a fragment of a holy song dedicated to the Sovereign Host? It strikes me as unusual, for you do not, to my glance, seem to have the bearing of a priest, although first impressions can be decieving." The blank eyes of Velious' mask reveal very little of his thoughts.

'eezer glances while scanning the progress of the gnome, and then double takes at the eyeless mask before him. He cocks his head slightly at the strange figure, then mumbles to him.

"The gnome; he seems to be in charge here. Let's team up; I'll keep an eye on the gnome; you keep an," here 'eezer stops, peering intently at the mask, "...eye, I guess, on the two women."

He then turns, somewhat haughtily, and nods his head acknowledgingly to the humming human, but otherwise ignores him and dives off into the crowd to keep the gnome in sight.

'eezer moves about the crowd like a sahaugin moves through water, and some of the crowd pretty much saw him that way. However, as they were used to being shoved at the knees by the gnome, they gave up on enforcing civility and tried to ignore him.

{OOC}Do you want him to know you're following him? Do you want to meet him, or just stay near him?{/OOC}

Velious -
Calach -