Completed Dog Days (Part 1)

[Yisanareysin]

84th of Fall, 516 AV

Two years in Alvadas had their advantages, it seemed. As of late, his jobs had been growing far more interesting in nature, and far more complex too. This one, though, took the cake in both respects.

Rey smiled cheerfully at his client from underneath his disguise. His black cloak was drawn close around him, the hood covering his hair entirely. Most of his face was hidden from view, the hawk mask he'd bought for the little courier's birthday being put to new use. Only his mouth was exposed now, beneath the beak of the mask.

He'd worked with this one before, done quite a few jobs for her over the last year or so. Now, it seemed, he was trusted enough to deal with something a little meatier. "You are" Desperate? No, part of his disguise included masking his accent. He could suppress the hiss on a handful of words, but not this one. "troubled. Things are truly that bad?"

The woman scowled. "The state of my business is none of your affair. Will you do it? Or am I going to have to find another spy?"

Would he do it, not could he. Rey let his ego bask in that for a bit. "Iss not a problem, Ms Lambard. However." He forced himself not to smile as her eyes narrowed at him. It was a childish thing, but she was so very fun to rile up. "Will need half again my normal fee."

He thought he saw her eye twitch. "Half again." She said flatly. Rey nodded.

"Normal fee workss for reporting what I hear, or following someone. Now you want to find how Emlin is undercutting you, and bring proof? Much harder. Half again, and is only not double because we will work together again. " He told her flatly, adding a dash of hypnotism to the last sentence. He pushed a slight feeling of reluctant acceptance towards her, felt his chest constrict like he was out of breath as he did so.

Alice Lambard sighed heavily, but nodded and waved him away. An ambitious local merchant, Rey had chosen her specifically because of how recently she'd started her career. She looked to be going places, and Rey was angling to be her primary spymaster, which would give him an in with the mercantile sector as well as being extremely profitable. Turning, Rey walked off, deliberately stepping into the shadow of the buildings so he'd appear to melt into the darkness.

No harm in cultivating a little mystique, right?

When he was out of sight, Rey quickly discarded the disguise, swapping the black cloak for a red satin vest and stowing the mask away. Tying his silver hair into a ponytail, Rey slipped his home key from his pocket, and headed home to plan.

Snake Tongue | Common | Arumenic

[Yisanareysin]

The first step would be to find how Alexander Emlin was undercutting Lambard. Rey's personal bet was on him deliberately cutting Lambard out. She was a direct competitor, and Emlin was a far more well established and respected merchant. It wouldn't surprise Rey if a few words in the right ears would keep Lambard from properly breaking in. Which meant it would be up to Rey to whisper some more words to reverse the effect.

Still, that was just speculation for now. Right now, Rey was looking for definite proof. Which was why Rey was now in the Stallion's Rear, scanning the patrons for his prey. A few discrete inquiries, and Rey had been pointed towards a certain Celise Kador, one of Emlin's household servants, who, according to Blanchard, got rather chatty with a few drinks in her.

Curly brown hair, green eyes, around his hight... There. At the bar, third from the far end. Rey approached, putting up a friendly face as he went. He wasn't as good at this as Blanchard was, but he'd make do. Setting down next to her, he took a quick glance at her mug. Drinking to ease into an interrogation was a delicate thing. Rey's experience was that people tended to respond best to those who drank something similar to them, although there was quite a lot of variation overall. Still, he figured that was a good place to start.

Her mug had froth on top, but he couldn't see the colour. Either Ale or Lager, and of the two, Lager was the more expensive. Which to get... Ale made him seem down to earth, like a common man. But she didn't seem the type to appreciate cheapness. Lager it was then, maybe wine if she seemed receptive to the more expensive stuff.

He made his order, tilting his head so his face was angled toward her. He caught her eye for a brief tick, and smiled before turning away. Focusing, he drew pulsating heat from his centre, let it flood his senses until they tingled. Directing his focus at Celise, Rey sorted through the scents and flavours blooming over his tongue. There was a good note of smooth butterscotch curiosity, which boded well for him. A warm hint of interest, a dash of sugary hope, this was a good start.

There was a hum in his ears, a low, light rumble. Not the high pitched whirring of magic being used, but the growl of Celise's focus being drawn elsewhere. Her attention was drifting away from him, it seemed. Now that wouldn't do.

Raising his mug to his lips, he took a sip, then turned to meet her eye with what he hoped was a shy look. Gathering heat behind his eyes, he pushed his intent towards her, forming in her mind the vague thought that he was worth noticing. Smiling a bit, he let his eyes flicker to her lips before averting his gaze. A spike of interest from her, and a tint of something that Rey had no word for, but resembled the desire to hunt. Or to pursue.

Drawing deeper from himself, he turned to glance at her again, and smiled slightly, adding just a bit of extra, magical oomph behind it, hypnotism fanning her interest just a bit. Just enough...

"I don't think I've seen you around here before. You new to Alvadas?"

Rey turned to her with a smile. Bingo.

Snake Tongue | Common | Arumenic

[Yisanareysin]

A bucketful of lies, two mugs of Lager and a shot of Degtine later, Celise and Rey (Revan, he'd told her. Rey found it easier to use similar pseudonyms) were well on their way to being best friends. Or possibly something else. Not for the first time, Rey thanked Siku for his kind's high alcohol tolerance.

"I gotta tell you," she told him, grinning widely. "I love a man who can tell a good story." She'd shifted her seat closer to his, until their knees were almost touching. It had taken a while for Rey to figure out what she was doing, but when he did, he'd played along, leaning into her touches and sneaking glances when he knew she was looking but when it was plausible that Revan would have thought that she wasn't.

Acting was hard, even with auristics to help smooth things along. Rey was so, so grateful that he'd chosen a shy persona for this job. It gave him a lot of leeway to mess up under the guise of being awkward and overwhelmed. Ducking his head, he smiled, trying to look embarrassed.

Akajia's shadows, his face hurt from all this smiling.

"What of you?" He asked, trying to finally redirect the conversation where he wanted it to go. "Any good sstories? Bad employers?" Ooof. That took more out of him than he was expecting. Rey was still getting used to the feel and rhythm of hypnotism, and he worried for a second that he'd overdone it.

"Bad employers?" Celise mused, and Rey swallowed a sigh of relief. "I don't know about bad, but my new boss is pretty weird. Rich guy, and you know how those are." Rey did. Revan, who worked as a personal librarian, most likely would as well. He nodded. "He's sort of paranoid, like he doesn't trust the new staff. I don't know what he thinks I'm going to do, walk out of his house with a silver vase under my dress?" Rey laughed slightly at that, trying to encourage her to continue.

"He goes out at weird hours too, disappears without telling any one where he's going. I think he thinks we don't notice." She rolled her eyes, and Rey nodded sympathetically, taking note. "I followed him once, on a dare from Linnie. He just went around the back of the Cubac.. Cubice... the spinny cube inn, and into the cellar. I didn't even know that place had a cellar. Linnie couldn't believe I actually did it, you know. "

Rey was pretty sure the Cubacious Inn did not, in fact, have a cellar. Or if it did, it wasn't accessible from the outside. What it did have, however, was an entrance to the underground. Looked like someone had some dark dealings they didn't want people to know about.

He sat with Celise for several more chimes, letting her lead the conversation, before interrupting with some excuse about having to go see his employer. It sounded lame, even to his own ears. He really needed to come up with some better excuses. When she offered to come with him, Rey heroically resisted the urge to roll his eyes, and leaned forwards to kiss her on the cheek.

"Wissh you could. But you know how rich people are." He parroted back at her, smiling sheepishly. "Until next time." He offered. She smiled back at him, somehow managing to be both coy and predatory.

"It's a date."

Oh boy.

Snake Tongue | Common | Arumenic

[Yisanareysin]

89th of Fall, 516 AV

It took several days of staking out the Cubacious Inn before Emlin finally showed up. Rey waited until the man disappeared into the "cellar", and then waited another chime before shaking off the illusory, transparent songbirds that had decided to use him as a perch and following along.

When Rey emerged into the underground, Emilin was nowhere to be seen. That wasn't a problem. Breathing in deeply, Rey focused on his vision, until his eyes tingled and paths faded into view. His blue path twined with a deep red one, still fresh enough that it wasn't the least bit patchy.

Flipping the black hood of his cloak over his head, Rey trailed after the path, stepping lightly and keeping to the side of the street in the shadow of the buildings. No need to warn Emlin of his approach. The paths twisted and turned, heading deeper into a maze of alleyways and backstreets, growing narrower all the while, as the shadows cast by the blood moon growing taller, crooked, unnatural. By the time Rey heard anything other than his own footsteps, he was almost squeezing between buildings in a world swimming with black and red.

All at once, Rey emerged into what appeared to be a neatly furnished living room, with a fireplace flickering merrily and voices emanating from a nearby door. Letting his vision fade back to normal, Rey padded carefully over to the door, aware more than ever before of how creaky some floors could be. It was open just a crack, barely enough for Rey to hear if he closed his eyes and focused on listening.

"... report from our... hooded friend? Anyone made any movements?"

"Nothing of note, sir. They're asking questions, putting out feelers, the usual. No one seems to suspect anything of you yet. She's still looking into the last few people on your list, but everything seems quiet for the most part."

"Good, good. And she's set out the precautions we've talked about?"

"Yes sir."

"Both preemptive and-"

"Yes sir, both."

"And we're on schedule? No unforeseen hiccups? I want everything to go perfectly. We can't afford anything else."

"Yes sir. That won't be a problem."

A sigh. "And the... delivery?"

"Coming today, sir. Will you be wanting to pick it up yourself, or-"

"No, no no no. I can't be seen in the underground, it's risky enough that I come down here as often as I do. Pick it up and bring it to the usual drop off location. You know where to find Vane?" There was a pause. "Good. The response is "a shadow from abroad", alright?" Another pause. Rey assumed the other person was nodding. Then, heavy footsteps, heading towards the door.

The door that Rey was currently crouched by, listening intently.

Perhaps positioning himself at what might well be the only exit from that room wasn't the best idea Rey had ever had.

Snake Tongue | Common | Arumenic

[Yisanareysin]

Turning away from the door, Rey looked around frantically. There was some furniture scattered around the room, but nothing he could hide under, and they were too small to provide full coverage. Only two exits from the room. The door about to open, and the hallway Rey had come from. He could backtrack, but he didn't trust the room to still be here when he returned. Come on, come on, there had to be something. Could he put out the fireplace?

The fireplace. With an empty mantel. Right next to a tall cabinet. Well, this wasn't the worst plan he'd ever come up with. Clambering up onto the mantel, Rey managed to get just enough of a handhold on the cabinet to haul himself up when the door opened. He froze immediately. He was in plain sight, but on the opposite side of the room from the other exit, and above eye level. With Akajia's blessings, it would be enough.

It was a fortunate quirk of most intelligent races that just expecting nothing to be out of place was often enough for them to overlook anything that was unusual. Just to be certain, Rey reached for his hypnotism, gathering his focus to push an urgent sensation towards the man, so he'd move on without looking around. The goddesses looked kindly on him it seemed, and the man made no sign of having spotted Rey.

When the other man was gone without incident, he let out a shaky, relieved exhale, then froze again when he remembered there was another person in the other room. He waited a while, straining his ears listening for any sound of movement, but heard none.

Despite having all the grace of a drunken cow, Rey managed to get back onto solid ground without making too much noise. He paused for a moment to see if anyone had heard him, then slipped over to the door and nudged it open.

Peeking inside, he found what looked almost like the inside of a tavern, but with only a single table and four chairs around it. Two were pulled out, and Rey guessed that those where the ones that had been recently vacated.

Closing his eyes, Rey let his vision unfocus, and then refocus again. When he opened them, he grinned at the two paths before him. Emlin's red path led back the way they'd come, but the other, forest green path wound from the chair out another door.

Truth be told, even without the path, Rey would have found this mystery messenger. Vane, Emlin had said. That could only be the Vane, a notorious smuggler. Rey had never had any reason to seek him out before, but he'd heard from others how to find him. When you started seeing images of roosters, you followed where they pointed, and they'd lead you right to him.

Still, Rey wanted to catch the messenger before he got to Vane. The first inklings of a plan were starting to form in his head. Rey grinned to himself, teeth flashing white in the darkness.

Lambard wanted proof of how Emlin was undercutting her. He could get it for her, straight from the horses mouth.

And perhaps, curry a little favour with the speakers along the way.

Snake Tongue | Common | Arumenic

[Kaleidoscope]

 

Yisanareysin

Skills

• Disguise: +1
• Acting: +3
• Hypnotism: +4
• Persuasion: +1
• Stealth: +3
• Deduction: +1
• Auristics: +1
• Seduction: +1
• Pathfinding: +1
• Observation: +2

Lores

• Disguise: Suppressing Words To Mask Accent
• Alice Lambard & Alexander Emlin: Merchants
• Celise Kador: Chatty Household Servant of Emlin
• Celise Kador: Butterscotch Aura
• Next Time Celise Sees You, She'll Want a Date
• Emlin: Visitor of the Underground
• Information On a Shadowy Deal: "Vane", "A Shadow From Abroad"
• Vane: A Notorious Smuggler
• Vane & Emlin: Connected Somehow
• Acting: Putting On a Shy Persona

Comments: A very enjoyable thread, Reysin! I love seeing him in action.

Enjoy your grade. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to send me a PM.