The Eye of Anubis: Book Ten

[The Whistler]

Otto's voice is still low, rather despite himself--zone of silence aside, this sort of talk doesn't lend itself to sweeping declarations.

"It occurs to me that quite many of our problems may be solved if one is taking out the core of the riots...I am not sure whether it is simply Snefru's continual influence, or whatever 'thing' Banafrit is, but if there is one principal inciter behind the resistance of the Muhari, then a surgical strike may be in order. A cessation of hostilities in that arena would create goodwill toward us upon the Falkovnians' part--which would, at the *very* least, make it less of a task to escape them."

"Considering the *tactics* necessary for such a strategy, however..." The gunsmith did not look particularly pleased with himself. "I have nothing."

[Rock of the Fraternity]

"The core of the riots equals Cavendish and Snefru," Lia says in a quiet tone of voice. "The former is slippery as a worm in oil, the latter is a ghost. We do not know where either is. ... There are, of course, ways we could draw them out, I suppose, but it would be dangerous."

The Wizard hesitates, then shrugs. "We could probably find a way to make one or both of them angry enough to attack," she says. "Look at what happened with Allikhain. Bruise Cavendish's ego enough, and he will lash out. The only problem is, he's a juggernaut once he gets started. In comparison, Snefru is easy."

Lia turns to Charles. "If we do try and 'deal with' Vedarrak ... shaking him may no longer be an option. He's an unknown quantity, but he has access to considerably powerful divination spells. Having spent all this time under one roof with him, so to speak, he has had ample opportunity to collect foci for scrying, and we have no way to know whether the Lorelei's magic will protect us from him.

And as for other ways of 'dealing with him' ... At the very least, he must be a mid-level spellcaster, to be able to conjure magical mounts. Assuming Murphy's Law is still in effect, he is probably a Mage of a higher level. It would be best if the first attack we made on him would be the only one needed, or we'd face a Mage with an unknown bag of tricks and a large support crew. And that support also needs to be dealt with, somehow."

[Kaitou Kage]

"We really shouldn't get caught up in ideas of 'striking' Vedarrak," Kuzan pointed out, "Remember, he is not the immediate problem here. Cavendish is, and we must not lose sight of that. But still, it sounds as though we should talk to Fassahd's grandfather? How can we arrange that?"

[Rock of the Fraternity]

"We'd need to either convince Vedarrak to let us go," Lia replies, "or sneak out. Much as I loathe to admit it, persuasion is preferable, here."

For a moment, Lia is quiet, brooding on some thought. Then she turns to Andre: "How much of the wizard's hunger does Vedarrak have?" she asks him candidly. "How eager is he to claim new magic, and to work out solutions for problems by using magic? And how powerful is he? I might - might be able to keep him busy by telling him what we know of Cavendish, and offering to work with him on outfoxing that poxy shapeshifter. Would the prospect of such discussion put him in a good enough mood to let the rest of you talk to Fassahd's grandfather?"

[DocBeard]

"You could offer him some information on your pop, too." Tomas points out, wincing internally as he walks onto sketchy ground. "I'm sure that Sorority of Shadows or whatever is not being too keen on people dabbling in the dark arts to the extent he does without being part of the group, ya? At least, that's how these things usually work. You could give your old man some of the trouble and get Herr Kommindant off of our backs at the same time."

[Rock of the Fraternity]

"My father is an unskilled dabbler," Lia replies. "The amount of ability he has shown for the arcane arts is less than I had when we first met, Tomas. While I appreciate the thought, even a cursory investigation of dear father's effects would bring to light an impressive collection of magical paraphernalia, many of which are going to dust, and a collection of spells that do not even reach the middle tier of possibilities. He's rich, he's enthusiastic, and he is useless as a bargaining chip." The wizard shrugs unhappily.

[lostboy]

Sascha hadnt said much, he wasnt the most talkative soul to beign with but each time he allowed the fury loose it was followed by a black mood as he struggled with guilt of what he was.

"Cant punish myself for ever" he sighs and then stands and joins the conversation.

"I agree, we need to push the focus from Muhar to the tomb. True this may complicate matters for us in the long term, but we need to move this nexus of competing evil away from the people of this village."

"As to the problem of the Falkovnians, I dont see Herr Kommandant being easily swayed in letting us have free reign. I am hesitant to involve him further than is necessery so an escorted visit to this grandfather is undesirable."

He crinkles his face thinking for a moment. "Do we have any other leverage we coud use? I wonder how strong the links are in the chain of command here, perhaps some discord could be sown?"

"Or failing that we need to distract him somehow to allow at least some of our number to sneak out, although of course pushing our boundaries with Vederrak further will not help the predicament for either us or the professors."

[NeoTiamat]

Falkovnian Compound, Muhar, Har'Akir
August 27th, 761, 1:40 PM; Day 163 of the Menetnashte Expedition
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There was a knock on the door, and then after a moment the door opened to your chambers. It was Mandisa, the Akiri girl who was Tomas's newest friend. She came, carrying a large platter of fired clay, upon which were a dozen cups, a kettle, and some other assorted utensils.

"Hello sirs." Mandisa said shyly, keeping her voice demure. It didn't work completely, since she her first concern was to keep from dropping the large platter. Given the hand-eye coordination she had demonstrated before, it was apparent that this was a task requiring all of her concentration."Kommandant sent me with tea. I have sugar, and milk too."

"I can get coffee or food." The Akiri girl offered, the tray trembling dangerously. "Um... where can I put this down?"

[Rock of the Fraternity]

"Here," Lia sighs, "I'll take it, I'll take it." She walks towards the Akiri girl, hands outstretched to accept the platter.

[yalenusveler]

Andre was about to answer Lia's question when Mandisa made her entrance, bearing tea. "Mandisa, once Lia's got that tray off your hands, I've got a question for you." He said, trying his best not to appear either angry or impatient. Gods only knew the poor girl probably experienced that enough as it is.

[NeoTiamat]

Falkovnian Compound, Muhar, Har'Akir
August 27th, 761, 1:50 PM; Day 163 of the Menetnashte Expedition
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There was a bit of fumbling as Mandisa passed off the tray to Lia, but thankfully nothing fell and nothing broke. And, to be honest, hot tea was good, especially after the kind of day you had had so far.

The Akiri girl sat down on a little stool near the door, folding her hands and looking at Andre expectantly. She even managed to stop fidgeting for a little while, which was decidedly a mark of heroic willpower on Mandisa's part.

"Yes sir?"

[lostboy]

Sascha takes the tea with what he intends to be a comforting smile that says "dont worry youre safe here". Although given the grizzled warriors social talents it more proabebley came across as something like "I dont think Im going to eat you...at the moment"

Still the sentiment was there.

[OOC Sascha has a rubbish Cha score so not the best to deal with young and impressionable ]

[DocBeard]

Tomas pops up, having been nodding off a little as the tension dissolves into some strange combination of the terror of battle and the absolute boredom of serving on a committee.

"Kohle!" Tomas exclaims, happy to see her. It's something to do besides argue and worry about Snefru killing them in their beds. Oh wait, she should probably worry about that too. "Um. Professor, can I tag along? I, um, found something in the temple that I think is a personal object and I was hoping she could identify it so I could return it."

[yalenusveler]

Andre actually smiled again. "You don't have to call me Sir, Andre will do just fine." Trying to be gentle as possible in his tone of voice. Months ago, this would be nigh impossible, but now..ironically after everything he had been through, simply being humane came easier to him than it had in several years.

"Anyway..I wanted to know if you knew anything about a man named Fasshad..his brother was a local Baker? If you don't know anything about him, that's fine, but any information you could offer would be very helpful."

[NeoTiamat]

Falkovnian Compound, Muhar, Har'Akir
August 27th, 761, 1:50 PM; Day 163 of the Menetnashte Expedition
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"Um... " Mandisa thought about this question, and equally obviously, was not getting any useful responses filtering through her brain. "Um... sorry sir.... er... Sir Andre... Andre... sir... I don't know."

The Akiri girl looked a little sheepish at this admission.