IC: Dichotomy's Age of Worms Redux, Part V(b)

[TiCaudata]

Erdolliel pauses in thought as she begins to work on her disguise. "It is possible that he never sent the first message. We likely should have questioned the delivery boy more thoroughly. Talking with him will hopefully answer more questions than create new ones. We must be extra wary yet again as we enter his house."[sblock=oc]Disguise +0 to assist with Neth... I never meant to imply that she was able to use the kits I guess, but everytime we've divvied treasure up, everyone has said "give the rogue the disguise kits"... or maybe I have wanted to just get rid of them, who knows. Neth can get practice making us both up... +2 circumstance bonus![/sblock]

 

[Dichotomy]

Nethezar helps make only subtle changes to Kushnak and Erdolliel's appearances. The scholar covers their armor with cloaks. With application of some make-up, he makes Kushnak look slightly younger, perhaps 13 or 14 years-old. With the same, he brings Erdolliel up to middle-age. As for himself, with the aid of his magic augmenting the makeup, Nethezar becomes a middle-aged half-orc.

At the gate, Nethezar spins a fanciful tale of a family: a half-orc, his elven wife, and the half-orc son from a previous marriage. Farmers with a good crop that year, coming to the Free City on holiday. With the incredible story, plus a couple of coins, the trio enter the gate without having to subject themselves to a search.

Once inside and clear of ears, Nethezar suggests, "We should head to the sage's promptly. It will attract attention if I have to cast my spell again, and these disguises should get us that far without the guards suspecting our true identities."
[sblock=OOC]I'm moving ahead.[/sblock]
Soon enough, the trio has made their way, unmolested, to Eligos' white home. From the outside, at least, nothing appears to be amiss.

 

[o3caudata]

"There's little reason to delay, prepare as you would for any fight. I'm certain this will be one."

 

[Dichotomy]

Nethezar nods and gives each of the three a blessing. "In case this illithid is here."
[sblock=OOC]Neth casts protection from evil on each of you, unless either of you cast the spell for yourself.[/sblock]

 

[TiCaudata]

Erdolliel gives a nod and casts additional protection on herself. [sblock=oc]Since I don't think she could nonchalantly knock on the door with a drawn sword, she'll just cast extended mage armor on herself and then knock.[/sblock]

 

[Dichotomy]

Erdolliel knocks on the door. The aged elf Pollard opens the door almost immediately. He quickly stands to the side, however, and you can see Eligos coming toward the door.

Eligos looks askance for a moment as he looks at the trio. "That is you. Come in. No formality is necessary. I have had only the briefest communication with my contact with the guards, but there may be trouble, based upon what little my contact has told me."

The sage waives you in begins walking toward a different room than the parlor you've seen before. "I assume you've not had breakfast yet. Pollard will prepare a full meal, if you have time for it."

 

[TiCaudata]

Erdolliel sighs and mutters under her breath, "Can't we ever just get a simple brawl in this place?" Louder she says "We recieved word from you last night Eligos, but you were not at the meeting place. Our troubles would be much less if we never left the inn."[sblock=oc]Listen +13 Spot +13 just in case she can detect anyone hiding in the askance room... She'll follow Kushnak's lead on entering the house, being sure to not stay too close to either him or Nethezar.[/sblock]

 

[o3caudata]

"Someone, either you or someone who knows an awful lot about you, is dragging us around this city by our noses. We will be dead or driven mad if we don't have some direction soon. Left waiting for your whims will certainly leave us dead."

"Unless you can provide us concrete answers to our original purpose NOW, we could do as well to ask random strangers on the street. I'm beginning to believe that you may be as much a part of this deception and delay as the illithid plot is."

"Do you have ANYTHING for us? And don't bother again with the 'i dare not blah blah blah' speech. If we are to survive long enough to do anything with your research we have to know that you are at least accomplishing SOMETHING. Otherwise we would be better served to eliminate this illithid and as much of his plot as we are able to in hopes of discovering the reasons for his apparent interest in us."

 

[Dichotomy]

Eligos seems taken aback, as he abruptly stops mid-stride. While the sage quickly, and obviously, adopts a steely calm as Kushnak lays into him, Kushnak's words are clearly a surprise.

"I... see," Eligos replies as he thinks for a moment. "Things have clearly escalated. Pollard," he turns to the elven manservant, "we will have a breakfast in the dining room."

The sage turns back to the trio. "We've a great deal to discuss. First and foremost, I did not send you any message last night. Second, do come in. You cannot stay on the street much longer before someone notices."

Eligos steps further inside, toward the direction of, you presume, the dining room.

"Shall I start with what I know, or do you want to tell me what happened?"

 

[o3caudata]

Kushank follows Eligos and continues unphased. "Of course you didn't send us any message. Well you are in as much danger as we are if that's true. They know about you and at least some details about our association."

"We received word from a messenger that we were to meet you at a bar outside the city. On our journey out of town, our lovely companion, lead by a voice in her head, rampaged against a group of guards. We fought, they lost. 1 died. We presumed him to be a shapeshifter, again at the advice of the lady, but it does not appear that he was in anyway. We evacuated and went to the meeting place. We waited there to no avail. We rested, contacted you and came back into the city. Here we are again."

"Is that sufficient?"