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<blockquote data-quote="Lylandra" data-source="post: 7595876" data-attributes="member: 6816692"><p><strong>Of friendships, deals and lies</strong></p><p></p><p>Just when we're about to discuss about how to proceed further, we spot a flock of birds emanating a magical aura. As we don't know whether these avians have been sent by the beran referees or whether they are actually danoran spy birds, we decide to ignore them for now and just let Carlyle link everyone's mind so we may communicate telepathically. </p><p></p><p>Regarding Lya's deal, we do hope that she'll get a positive reaction, so we don't have to take more drastic measures than we'd like to. Should our plan fail however, we agree to immediately contact Damata and Ejeka Griento to get them on board. Fortunately, Lya and company are completely in the dark about our connection to the family as even Luc Jierre didn't know that the Grientos and the Fernandez were more than just people who conincidentally traveled in the same train along the Avery Coast. </p><p></p><p>We also discuss the roles of each official and inofficial member of our team and decide that Margit will be officially in charge with managing and securing the Liss construction site. Flying Spark, who may take more liberties in his approaches as he's falling under the third-party rule, shall be both guardian and optional saboteur should Team Danor decide to take actions against Liss' tracks. </p><p></p><p>Burton will use his camouflage and disguise skills to get hired by the Grientos so he can act as spy, contact and possible saboteur later on. </p><p></p><p><span style="color: #008000">(yeah, we always read the fine print, even if using Flying Spark who's clearly our co-agent as “third party” is certainly not intended. It did put quite the risk on both him and Burton, but the former is a deadly magical cannon with wings and the latter is the best deep cover agent we've ever seen)</span></p><p></p><p>Just when we're finished talking, Flying Spark announces that he's hungry for poultry and goes hunting for the birdies. Meanwhile, we cast a couple of Sendings to King Aodhan. We explain our dilemma that the Oddcog mission has the potential to threaten the peace process with Danor, add that we may strike a deal with Lya which may endanger getting Oddcog exclusively and ask how to proceed. </p><p></p><p>Aodhan responds that Oddcog has to be our top priority as the Obs' actions already threaten all of the world. However, we're free to agree to any fair deal of the Danorans. In response, we tell our King more about Lya's mission for Man Hill and ask for the outpost to be warned immediately. We also ask for financial support regarding the railway construction and for maybe one-upping our already generous offer for the minister of dragon affairs. Last but not least we mention that Lya might very well be a full Obs agent now. </p><p> </p><p>In return, we get the coordinates for the Impossible and are asked to attend to a meeting aboard as soon as we're allowed to do. Which is after sunrise. So at least we'll be able to get a bit of sleep.</p><p></p><p>Shortly before sunrise, Lya Jierre returns to our tent and declares that sovereign Han Jierre agrees to our deal. Before she leaves again, she hands us a small chest containing a lily crest which we identify as the same fleur de lis that's symbolizing betrayal in danoran culture. We're very obviously disappointed by this development, but have to give Lya some credit for at least giving us an honest and honorable warning about her intentions. </p><p></p><p>As we now know what to expect from her team in the upcoming challenges, we decide to waste no time and put up a sending to Damata Griento in which we tell him that we'll have to meet him as soon as possible regarding his company's latest job for Bruse Shantus. He replies that we may meet this very same morning and calls for a meeting point near Renza. </p><p></p><p>After this message, we meet till sunrise and then teleport to the Impossible where Chief Inspector Delft has already been waiting for us. We tell him all about that mess we and Lya Jierre got ourselves into without sparing him all the details and add that it'd be really wise to officially end the engagement of King Aodhan and Lya Jierre. We then brief Delft about the game's rules and stress out the situation for each of our colleagues, especially as everyone who's not Margit, Carlyle or Auryn may intervene freely at the risk of being targeted themselves. Then we add that it would be quite interesting to get our hands on Ulrik, Lya's manservant, as he has voluntary first-hands experience with the Nicodemus transfer process and might be a key figure in understanding how this process works. So this might be a good mission for a second RHC team. </p><p></p><p>Regarding the railroad challenge, we discuss our financial framework and Delft responds that we'll be given appropriate allowance soon. We also ask our boss to get more information on Pemberton as we might try to ask him for an assessment of our plans for Borne should the Oddcog mission fail. And we really don't wish to hand someone top secret information we hardly know or hardly know whether or not to trust. </p><p></p><p>Should Lya be able to convince Cavallo to attack Man Hill, the fortress needs to get a warning and possibly reinforcements, the sooner the better. Delft promises that he'll do whatever he can and asks us to keep him informed every now and then.</p><p><span style="color: #008000"></span></p><p><span style="color: #008000">(which is something we really tend to forget during abroad missions... it's basically “everything's fine as long as we don't call you, mom”)</span> </p><p></p><p>Fortunately, we also get a map and illustrations of Renza, so we may just try to teleport there directly. One lucky Carlyle-port later and we find ourselves in a harsh landscape near a smaller town. There, we ask for the head of the Griento company and are being directed to Nagranha, a sort of construction outpost.</p><p></p><p>There, we meet with Damata who's really curious why a publisher and a pianist would be interested in railway construction. Then he spots the difference in hairstyle (Carlyle) and hair color (Auryn) and ask whether there's any kind of secret he needs to know before we proceed. We hint that there may be more to the two of us than meets the eye, assure him that we're truly his friends and that we don't wish to get him into trouble by telling him more about our mission than he needs to know. </p><p></p><p>Then we tell him that it would be of utmost importance for us that he finishes his part of the railway shortly after Liss as there will be a team of Danorans joining his men very soon who'll try to speed up the construction process. We promise Damata that we'll make up for any bonus payment he may lose due to the delay and hint that we may put in a good word regarding getting him involved in the construction of the most likely soon to be announced Risur-Ber railway. </p><p></p><p>Damatra Griento agrees that he still owes us a favor for saving him and his name when he was indebted to the Familia and so he promises to do the best he can to cause an unobtrusive delay. We take some time to discuss ideas on how such subtle self-sabotage may work and immediately think about spreading the obvious rumors about how a proper Danoran treats their workforce: They mistreat anyone below their status, dislike foreigners and try to control everything with a rigorous routine while being foreign lunatics themselves. On top of that, getting the Danorans involved was another one of the Bruses' strange “fun projects” which may cost the hardworking beran employees their jobs. </p><p></p><p><span style="color: #008000">(trying to play the nationalist strings a bit. We know that berans tend to be a proud lot who hate being controlled)</span></p><p></p><p>In addition, Damata may try to appeal to the Danorans by letting his workers do their jobs extra carefully and slowly by checking every routine process at least twice. Senor Griento appears to warm up to these proposals and we end our brainstorming with a healthy breakfast. Before we leave again, we promise Damata to stay friends who'll come to his help again should he ever need it. Oh and we also ask him to say hello to Ejeka and the kids. </p><p></p><p>Next, we plan to get in contact with Liss constructions and assign both Margit and Flying Spark to their temporary new jobs. When we return, Flying Spark informs us that Lya Jierre and her two servants already left the summer court and boarded a ship while Merton Goncala and Rush Münchhausen simply “vanished”. </p><p></p><p>So we do the map-landmark-teleport again <span style="color: #008000">(and again, Carlyle's lucky streak when it comes to successful teleportation continues)</span> to get to Reo Pedresco. From there, we lend horses to go to Aigotsura where we plan to meet up with Soutan Liss, owner of the Liss construction company. We're quite surprised though to see the lizardman in a friendly chat with none else but Mr. Pemberton who's drinking a... water cocktail with celery. And there we thought Fordren was the eccentric one. </p><p></p><p>Pemberton is trying to sell construction robots to Senor Liss and he's advertizing them under the new “Made in Flint” label, which they obviously (at least to anyone stemming from Flint) aren't. We're curious how Pemberton could have gotten wind of the label as he's never been much of a player in Risur, but we'd first take on his fake flintish bots. </p><p></p><p>So we approach the duo, introduce ourselves to Senor Liss and say hello to Mr. Pemberton whom we've already met back in Sawyer. We then state our pleasure to meet them both under such convenient circumstances as we already tried to contact Mr. Pemberton at court. </p><p></p><p>“There is just one small detail that we have to mention before the honorable Senor Liss decides on whether or not to buy these magnificent automatons: Unfortunately, they are not made in Flint, but most likely made in Macdam. Which is well known for its industrial prowess, but not at all affiliated with the esteemed circle of industrialists who established their supreme standards in Flint”, Carlyle adds, smiling confidently all while knowing that he probably just ruined Mr. Pemberton's advertisement. </p><p></p><p>“Oh yes, yes, but they are produced in Flint, Risur. Pemberton most recently bought a grand production site there.” Pemberton says, trying to save his face.</p><p></p><p>“Is that so? Lord Vantrys never mentioned Pemberton Industries applying for membership. Also, you'd most likely be able to name your factory's registry number then?”</p><p></p><p>“Gentlemen, there is no need for nitpicking, even if Mr. Carlyle is absolutely right about the label. I guess we can settle this little dispute with an appropriate discount on the automatons?” Auryn inserts, finally causing Liss to look both rather confused and happy when Pemberton agrees to reduce his price, even if he's still unable to afford all of them. </p><p></p><p>We take this as an opportunity to tell Liss that Risur would love to provide the difference and sign a second bill for Pemberton which allows him to claim the debt at the risuri embassy. Before the surprised railway construction specialist can ask us why the heck Risur would help him out this way, we explain the Bruse's construction challenge to him and ask him to allow us to support him. As we already secured him a lot of bots, he doesn't really know why he should decline our help and so we introduce him to our colleagues Margit Stenz and “dragon tyrant” Flying Spark, who'll both look out for any signs of danoran troublemakers. </p><p></p><p>Pemberton starts blinking heavily and seems less amused when we mention dragon tyrants, even if we initially don't understand why an industrialist from Macdam would have any troubles with these creatures. Liss takes a good laugh though and he welcomes the faerie dragon aboard his enterprise. We also warn Liss about possible sabotage attempts and are being told that he already has had troubles with roaming bandits before. We promise to try to hire additional mercenaries to protect the construction site, even if Mr. Carlyle and Auryn will have to take care of another mission and be absent for the next couple of days. </p><p></p><p>After informing Liss, we then turn to Mr. Pemberton and ask him for a short talk in private. We then thank him again for his help in Sawyer and hint that King Aodhan might wish to strengthen the bond between Macdam and Risur in the future. When Pemberton is a bit irritated by the fact that we, being risuri agents, take so much interest in a colonial city like Sawyer, we tell him that the security of Kellandia is of personal value to us. </p><p></p><p>Before we go into further detail regarding the colony, Auryn switches subjects and lauds Pemberton for the creation of the Shaggy Mk.2, a truly fearsome creation. However, she'd like to share one weakness of the bear-shaped automaton with Pemberton, as a sign of her goodwill. She then talks about how she had been able to free her partner from the Shaggy's clutches by striking a small cogwheel near its paw. </p><p></p><p>Suddenly, Pembreton is pretty much enthralled by the technical topic, tells her all about the paw's joints and asks her how she'd fix this weakness. As Auryn is not really that well-read in terms of technology, she suggests to hide the joint behind an additional layer of metal plates.</p><p></p><p>Carlyle takes the opportunity to point at the striking resemblance between Shaggy and Fordren Industries' B.E.A.R. He adds that the Shaggy is unmistakeably the superior creation, of course, but asks whether someone of them might have taken inspiration or more from the other. </p><p></p><p>“Oh, no, not, this is merely a coincidence. It appears that the Old Fox and I simply prefer the shape of a sturdy bear” Pemberton explains while unsuccessfully trying to tell this obvious lie. He then takes much effort to try to convince us that he has never had a closer relationship with Fordren and would not spy on his enterprise either. But he's so bad at telling these lies that we almost get the impression that he's not even trying. </p><p></p><p>However, as soon as Auryn hints that she does know Mr. Fordren personally, Pemberton gets totally interested in hearing her opinion on his competitor that she has to put quite the effort into changing subjects again without sounding rude or suspicious. </p><p></p><p>All in all, we get the impression that Pemberton does lie more than he speaks the truth when it comes to Fordren. He denies having ever been to the KATE <span style="color: #008000">(another lie)</span> and we suspect he's been there because of Fordren as well as Pemberton Industries didn't officially exhibit their craft at the fair. We talk a bit about Guy Goodson as well and this time Pemberton doesn't even try to hide his disgust for the deceased industrialist. When we then tell him that it was Fordren Industries that profited most from Goodson's death <span style="color: #008000">(a semi-truth as Vantrys profited just as much)</span>, Pemberton utters a short laugh and claims that it is deals like these that show the Old Fox' ultimate cleverness. </p><p></p><p>After a while, Pemberton excuses himself as he's still got business to do at the summer court, takes his servant-bot Maggie and leaves.</p><p><span style="color: #008000"></span></p><p><span style="color: #008000">(This whole talk with Pemberton was ultimately weird and we tried to wrap our heads around his possible relationship with Fordren. Our best guess back then was that Pemberton had been a senior student of Fordren, maybe even an admirer, who at some point broke up with him, took some of his schematics, improved them and established his own business. </span></p><p><span style="color: #008000"></span></p><p><span style="color: #008000">But I promise you, it will get even weirder once we go out and try to see Fordren's side of this relationship.)</span></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Lylandra, post: 7595876, member: 6816692"] [b]Of friendships, deals and lies[/b] Just when we're about to discuss about how to proceed further, we spot a flock of birds emanating a magical aura. As we don't know whether these avians have been sent by the beran referees or whether they are actually danoran spy birds, we decide to ignore them for now and just let Carlyle link everyone's mind so we may communicate telepathically. Regarding Lya's deal, we do hope that she'll get a positive reaction, so we don't have to take more drastic measures than we'd like to. Should our plan fail however, we agree to immediately contact Damata and Ejeka Griento to get them on board. Fortunately, Lya and company are completely in the dark about our connection to the family as even Luc Jierre didn't know that the Grientos and the Fernandez were more than just people who conincidentally traveled in the same train along the Avery Coast. We also discuss the roles of each official and inofficial member of our team and decide that Margit will be officially in charge with managing and securing the Liss construction site. Flying Spark, who may take more liberties in his approaches as he's falling under the third-party rule, shall be both guardian and optional saboteur should Team Danor decide to take actions against Liss' tracks. Burton will use his camouflage and disguise skills to get hired by the Grientos so he can act as spy, contact and possible saboteur later on. [COLOR=#008000](yeah, we always read the fine print, even if using Flying Spark who's clearly our co-agent as “third party” is certainly not intended. It did put quite the risk on both him and Burton, but the former is a deadly magical cannon with wings and the latter is the best deep cover agent we've ever seen)[/COLOR] Just when we're finished talking, Flying Spark announces that he's hungry for poultry and goes hunting for the birdies. Meanwhile, we cast a couple of Sendings to King Aodhan. We explain our dilemma that the Oddcog mission has the potential to threaten the peace process with Danor, add that we may strike a deal with Lya which may endanger getting Oddcog exclusively and ask how to proceed. Aodhan responds that Oddcog has to be our top priority as the Obs' actions already threaten all of the world. However, we're free to agree to any fair deal of the Danorans. In response, we tell our King more about Lya's mission for Man Hill and ask for the outpost to be warned immediately. We also ask for financial support regarding the railway construction and for maybe one-upping our already generous offer for the minister of dragon affairs. Last but not least we mention that Lya might very well be a full Obs agent now. In return, we get the coordinates for the Impossible and are asked to attend to a meeting aboard as soon as we're allowed to do. Which is after sunrise. So at least we'll be able to get a bit of sleep. Shortly before sunrise, Lya Jierre returns to our tent and declares that sovereign Han Jierre agrees to our deal. Before she leaves again, she hands us a small chest containing a lily crest which we identify as the same fleur de lis that's symbolizing betrayal in danoran culture. We're very obviously disappointed by this development, but have to give Lya some credit for at least giving us an honest and honorable warning about her intentions. As we now know what to expect from her team in the upcoming challenges, we decide to waste no time and put up a sending to Damata Griento in which we tell him that we'll have to meet him as soon as possible regarding his company's latest job for Bruse Shantus. He replies that we may meet this very same morning and calls for a meeting point near Renza. After this message, we meet till sunrise and then teleport to the Impossible where Chief Inspector Delft has already been waiting for us. We tell him all about that mess we and Lya Jierre got ourselves into without sparing him all the details and add that it'd be really wise to officially end the engagement of King Aodhan and Lya Jierre. We then brief Delft about the game's rules and stress out the situation for each of our colleagues, especially as everyone who's not Margit, Carlyle or Auryn may intervene freely at the risk of being targeted themselves. Then we add that it would be quite interesting to get our hands on Ulrik, Lya's manservant, as he has voluntary first-hands experience with the Nicodemus transfer process and might be a key figure in understanding how this process works. So this might be a good mission for a second RHC team. Regarding the railroad challenge, we discuss our financial framework and Delft responds that we'll be given appropriate allowance soon. We also ask our boss to get more information on Pemberton as we might try to ask him for an assessment of our plans for Borne should the Oddcog mission fail. And we really don't wish to hand someone top secret information we hardly know or hardly know whether or not to trust. Should Lya be able to convince Cavallo to attack Man Hill, the fortress needs to get a warning and possibly reinforcements, the sooner the better. Delft promises that he'll do whatever he can and asks us to keep him informed every now and then. [COLOR=#008000] (which is something we really tend to forget during abroad missions... it's basically “everything's fine as long as we don't call you, mom”)[/COLOR] Fortunately, we also get a map and illustrations of Renza, so we may just try to teleport there directly. One lucky Carlyle-port later and we find ourselves in a harsh landscape near a smaller town. There, we ask for the head of the Griento company and are being directed to Nagranha, a sort of construction outpost. There, we meet with Damata who's really curious why a publisher and a pianist would be interested in railway construction. Then he spots the difference in hairstyle (Carlyle) and hair color (Auryn) and ask whether there's any kind of secret he needs to know before we proceed. We hint that there may be more to the two of us than meets the eye, assure him that we're truly his friends and that we don't wish to get him into trouble by telling him more about our mission than he needs to know. Then we tell him that it would be of utmost importance for us that he finishes his part of the railway shortly after Liss as there will be a team of Danorans joining his men very soon who'll try to speed up the construction process. We promise Damata that we'll make up for any bonus payment he may lose due to the delay and hint that we may put in a good word regarding getting him involved in the construction of the most likely soon to be announced Risur-Ber railway. Damatra Griento agrees that he still owes us a favor for saving him and his name when he was indebted to the Familia and so he promises to do the best he can to cause an unobtrusive delay. We take some time to discuss ideas on how such subtle self-sabotage may work and immediately think about spreading the obvious rumors about how a proper Danoran treats their workforce: They mistreat anyone below their status, dislike foreigners and try to control everything with a rigorous routine while being foreign lunatics themselves. On top of that, getting the Danorans involved was another one of the Bruses' strange “fun projects” which may cost the hardworking beran employees their jobs. [COLOR=#008000](trying to play the nationalist strings a bit. We know that berans tend to be a proud lot who hate being controlled)[/COLOR] In addition, Damata may try to appeal to the Danorans by letting his workers do their jobs extra carefully and slowly by checking every routine process at least twice. Senor Griento appears to warm up to these proposals and we end our brainstorming with a healthy breakfast. Before we leave again, we promise Damata to stay friends who'll come to his help again should he ever need it. Oh and we also ask him to say hello to Ejeka and the kids. Next, we plan to get in contact with Liss constructions and assign both Margit and Flying Spark to their temporary new jobs. When we return, Flying Spark informs us that Lya Jierre and her two servants already left the summer court and boarded a ship while Merton Goncala and Rush Münchhausen simply “vanished”. So we do the map-landmark-teleport again [COLOR=#008000](and again, Carlyle's lucky streak when it comes to successful teleportation continues)[/COLOR] to get to Reo Pedresco. From there, we lend horses to go to Aigotsura where we plan to meet up with Soutan Liss, owner of the Liss construction company. We're quite surprised though to see the lizardman in a friendly chat with none else but Mr. Pemberton who's drinking a... water cocktail with celery. And there we thought Fordren was the eccentric one. Pemberton is trying to sell construction robots to Senor Liss and he's advertizing them under the new “Made in Flint” label, which they obviously (at least to anyone stemming from Flint) aren't. We're curious how Pemberton could have gotten wind of the label as he's never been much of a player in Risur, but we'd first take on his fake flintish bots. So we approach the duo, introduce ourselves to Senor Liss and say hello to Mr. Pemberton whom we've already met back in Sawyer. We then state our pleasure to meet them both under such convenient circumstances as we already tried to contact Mr. Pemberton at court. “There is just one small detail that we have to mention before the honorable Senor Liss decides on whether or not to buy these magnificent automatons: Unfortunately, they are not made in Flint, but most likely made in Macdam. Which is well known for its industrial prowess, but not at all affiliated with the esteemed circle of industrialists who established their supreme standards in Flint”, Carlyle adds, smiling confidently all while knowing that he probably just ruined Mr. Pemberton's advertisement. “Oh yes, yes, but they are produced in Flint, Risur. Pemberton most recently bought a grand production site there.” Pemberton says, trying to save his face. “Is that so? Lord Vantrys never mentioned Pemberton Industries applying for membership. Also, you'd most likely be able to name your factory's registry number then?” “Gentlemen, there is no need for nitpicking, even if Mr. Carlyle is absolutely right about the label. I guess we can settle this little dispute with an appropriate discount on the automatons?” Auryn inserts, finally causing Liss to look both rather confused and happy when Pemberton agrees to reduce his price, even if he's still unable to afford all of them. We take this as an opportunity to tell Liss that Risur would love to provide the difference and sign a second bill for Pemberton which allows him to claim the debt at the risuri embassy. Before the surprised railway construction specialist can ask us why the heck Risur would help him out this way, we explain the Bruse's construction challenge to him and ask him to allow us to support him. As we already secured him a lot of bots, he doesn't really know why he should decline our help and so we introduce him to our colleagues Margit Stenz and “dragon tyrant” Flying Spark, who'll both look out for any signs of danoran troublemakers. Pemberton starts blinking heavily and seems less amused when we mention dragon tyrants, even if we initially don't understand why an industrialist from Macdam would have any troubles with these creatures. Liss takes a good laugh though and he welcomes the faerie dragon aboard his enterprise. We also warn Liss about possible sabotage attempts and are being told that he already has had troubles with roaming bandits before. We promise to try to hire additional mercenaries to protect the construction site, even if Mr. Carlyle and Auryn will have to take care of another mission and be absent for the next couple of days. After informing Liss, we then turn to Mr. Pemberton and ask him for a short talk in private. We then thank him again for his help in Sawyer and hint that King Aodhan might wish to strengthen the bond between Macdam and Risur in the future. When Pemberton is a bit irritated by the fact that we, being risuri agents, take so much interest in a colonial city like Sawyer, we tell him that the security of Kellandia is of personal value to us. Before we go into further detail regarding the colony, Auryn switches subjects and lauds Pemberton for the creation of the Shaggy Mk.2, a truly fearsome creation. However, she'd like to share one weakness of the bear-shaped automaton with Pemberton, as a sign of her goodwill. She then talks about how she had been able to free her partner from the Shaggy's clutches by striking a small cogwheel near its paw. Suddenly, Pembreton is pretty much enthralled by the technical topic, tells her all about the paw's joints and asks her how she'd fix this weakness. As Auryn is not really that well-read in terms of technology, she suggests to hide the joint behind an additional layer of metal plates. Carlyle takes the opportunity to point at the striking resemblance between Shaggy and Fordren Industries' B.E.A.R. He adds that the Shaggy is unmistakeably the superior creation, of course, but asks whether someone of them might have taken inspiration or more from the other. “Oh, no, not, this is merely a coincidence. It appears that the Old Fox and I simply prefer the shape of a sturdy bear” Pemberton explains while unsuccessfully trying to tell this obvious lie. He then takes much effort to try to convince us that he has never had a closer relationship with Fordren and would not spy on his enterprise either. But he's so bad at telling these lies that we almost get the impression that he's not even trying. However, as soon as Auryn hints that she does know Mr. Fordren personally, Pemberton gets totally interested in hearing her opinion on his competitor that she has to put quite the effort into changing subjects again without sounding rude or suspicious. All in all, we get the impression that Pemberton does lie more than he speaks the truth when it comes to Fordren. He denies having ever been to the KATE [COLOR=#008000](another lie)[/COLOR] and we suspect he's been there because of Fordren as well as Pemberton Industries didn't officially exhibit their craft at the fair. We talk a bit about Guy Goodson as well and this time Pemberton doesn't even try to hide his disgust for the deceased industrialist. When we then tell him that it was Fordren Industries that profited most from Goodson's death [COLOR=#008000](a semi-truth as Vantrys profited just as much)[/COLOR], Pemberton utters a short laugh and claims that it is deals like these that show the Old Fox' ultimate cleverness. After a while, Pemberton excuses himself as he's still got business to do at the summer court, takes his servant-bot Maggie and leaves. [COLOR=#008000] (This whole talk with Pemberton was ultimately weird and we tried to wrap our heads around his possible relationship with Fordren. Our best guess back then was that Pemberton had been a senior student of Fordren, maybe even an admirer, who at some point broke up with him, took some of his schematics, improved them and established his own business. But I promise you, it will get even weirder once we go out and try to see Fordren's side of this relationship.)[/COLOR] [/QUOTE]
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