Lord of Azure Flame: Chapter 15: Happy Birthday Esphyr!

[-Cynthia-]

"My captors left me for dead in a nearby town, the others found me there and brought me back here." Morgan stated simply to Tessa. Änd no need to worry too much, I was merely bound for a while, no torture or anything of the sort." Morgan coughed after this last statement. Damned traitorous infection

"I will go and tell Mother and Father the news then." Tristan said to Alex. "We should be careful not to harm the Princess though, that would be unfortunate."

[Snike]

Alex

"Rest assured, Your Highness, that I will not lay a finger on her," Alexandra said, getting up herself. "I must be retiring now. Farewell, Prince Tristan," she said, curtsying and heading for the door.

[Balcerzak]

Oblivious to Arrin's attention, Tessa managed to restrain herself from latching onto and hugging Morgan fiercely. The woman looked the worse for wear, despite her protestations to the contrary, and her denial was punctuated by a small coughing fit. The troubadour seemed to remember that the shaman had been feeling a little ill before the capture as well, and was wondering whether she should be getting seriously concerned. Prolonged coughing could be symptoms of pneumonia or a bronchial infection or something. She would have to keep an eye on her.

Not content to just leave things at that, she also expressed her concern vocally. "Are you sure you're alright? 'Left for dead' can't have been pleasant, whether there was torture or no. And you're coughing... You work harder than anyone else here, make sure to not wear yourself out."

Edited August 1, 2010 by Balcerzak

[-Cynthia-]

"Well I would not really want to do it again, but they were not trying very hard to kill me. I wonder what their motivations were for getting the Crimson Weapons...perhaps when I find the mole he or she will be able to tell me. And don't mind the cough, it's well..." Morgan paused for a second. "I'll be sure not to wear myself out, let's get a move on then." she said, packing up her things and preparing to set out on the road.

[riariadne]

"I'd like to see what's been stolen now," Conrad inquired, walking towards Damian. "Apparently, something's being stolen every night... I think it's crucial to find out what."

--

Chase exited the tent, and loudly asked, "Why's everyone have their... oh. We're leaving, aren't we," he finished, answering his own question. "I'll get my stuff... not that there's much." He entered the tent, and a few moments later, exited with no visible changes except that his sack had been slung over his shoulder. "I'm ready to go."

Edited August 1, 2010 by Lightning

[Ether]

"What was stolen? No one has reported anything missing, not yet anyway, so I don't know." Damian replied to Conrad.

[Snowy_One]

"I'm ready to head out as well. Do we have a destination in mind?"

[Ansem]

"The capital for starters." He sneered.

[Snowy_One]

Esphyr shot him a nasty, almost insulted look. "I mean, that we can make it to today and rest at an inn for."

[Snike]

Derek

"I would say Anglenar," Derek interjected, attempting to stop the conflict. "It is only a few hours away."

[Snowy_One]

"Never heard of it." said Esphyr, streatching as she mounted Aiya's wyvern. "What's it like?"

[Snike]

Derek

"It's a bit of a rising town, developing pretty swiftly. Probably even more bustling, now that the TISME branch is completed," Derek said, as he mounted Ann. "Spent a few days there three or four months ago."

[Snowy_One]

"TISME has a branch there?" asked Esphyr, curious. "Wonder if that means we will meet up with the headmaster again there."

[-Cynthia-]

"Perhaps we will." said Morgan, and thr group set out on their journey.

The journey was fairly pleasant and unveventful as the group made their way across the Septimian plains. After a few hours, they reached a moderately sized town. A large building with magical sigils was the most interesting thing there, the rest of the town seemed rather mundane.

"We need to restock supplies, yes?" asked Morgan of the group. "Let's do that then."

Edited August 1, 2010 by -Cynthia-

[Psych]

Rita and Cess:

"Morgan, I suppose you can interview me now. We can go find an inn or something." Rita dismounted Morrey, and petted him.

"He's such a cute horse. I'm gonna take him to the stables and go shopping."

"Okay, but don't go too far."

--------

Pary:

Pary walked ahead of the group, and headed towards the market to pick up some supplies. Maybe some fresh bread, or a good chili.

[Ansem]

"How much time do we have?" He asked Morgan seeing a couple of people wandering off. "Or are we going to stay here for the night?" Helios wouldnt mind. He could check out the TISME building while everyone was asleep.

[-Cynthia-]

"I would prefer we keep moving as soon as we restock supplies and such." Morgan answered Helios.

Morgan and Cess found an inn, and she sat down at a nearby table and motioned for him to follow. Then the questioning began.

"So Cess, you joined the group because you were supposedly interested in the Crimson Weapons. What interests you so much about them? Perhaps the allure of gold involved with spying on their wielders?" Morgan said, pursing her lips.

[Psych]

Cess:

"Well, my grandfather had fought in the war many years ago, and told me about the weapons. I wanted to find out more about them. Plus, as I see it, I have plenty of money thanks to my diamonds, and I probably couldn't get very much for you all anyway."

---------

Rita:

Rita stabled Morrey. Horses were so cute. She never had a horse before. She walked outside, and saw a tiny curio shop across the street. She went inside.

Edited August 1, 2010 by psychout50

[Snowy_One]

At the Inn

A young man was also at the inn which Morgan and Cess had chosen to conduct their interview in. A young man in plain, unremarkable armor whom had taken a seat at a table far away from the others. He didn't have any major business with them, or even know who they were. A cup of water rested at his table, emptied a long time ago as he yawned and stretched. After a moment, he got up and walked past the pair, paying neither any attention as he exited the tavern and went around to the stables to mount up.

[Ansem]

After getting an answer he found himself by himself. Everyone was off. He did stock up last time they were in a town but he might as well do some light shopping. Seeing a bunch of people headed towards an inn, he decided that leaving his horse there was the best decision. His horse however grunted and pushed in the opposite direction trying stop his master from leaving him in another stable. He seem to have made quite a scene since people were staring at him. After a bit of struggling, Helios succeeded. The horse found a spot to lay down and rested for a while. Helios headed out. This was the first town that they havent been kicked out off. Knowing the group, they would get thrown out sooner or later. He would enjoy it for as long as he could. He dug through his pocket and found a couple of gold pieces. Enough to by him a new tome or better, forge his old one.

[-Cynthia-]

"The Crimson Weapons are very important business, so you could get a fair amount I wager. You do have the diamonds, but many people simply want more." Morgan paused for a bit. "And what did your grandfather know about the weapons? Who did he work for?" Morgan pressed.

[Ether]

"She's really intent on these interviews, isn't she?" Aiya noted as Morgan took Cess into the nearby inn.

"Yeah... but she has her reasons. A mole in the group could be disastrous." Damian replied, sitting on a nearby bench. As Aiya took a seat next to him, she continued.

"I don't know if she is the best person to conduct the interviews, either. Scary as she can be at times, she isn't an interrogator, she doesn't know how to get info out of people. Aside from that, she says that anyone who was not in the group that went to the capitol, as well as herself, is suspicious. That alone is a better statement to look at then anything she is likely to get out of these people."

"Oh? How do you figure?" Damian asked Aiya, curious now.

"Think about it. After her weapon was severed, she was the wielder who was kidnapped, and then, despite having her in a near perfect situation, they just left her there where we could find her. Any hunter worth his salt would have either kept her as a hostage, squeezed any info possible out of her, or killed her. And that's not limited to one of the three. Letting her go like that wouldn't make sense unless the hunter was an incompetent idiot, or Morgan herself was the mole."

"How do we know the hunter wasn't just incompetent, though?" Damian asked.

'Her idea makes sense. There's a reason that I put her in charge of taking care of dissent in the ranks... she's good at this sort of stuff... and even better at disciplining it.'

"The hunter got a mole in, didn't they? Granted, it isn't hard to squeeze into this group, but the hunter had to have some sort of mental capacity to even bother with such a thing. Besides, there's one more thing I'm suspicious of."

"Yeah, what's that?"

"No one protested the interviews. A mole would have tried something, either to get out of it, or make sure they weren't caught. I've dealt with spies before, Damian. They aren't so overconfident as to let something like that slide. If they aren't doing anything, it isn't a stretch to assume they are already in the best position. And Damian, the best position for the mole is to be the one asking the questions, because that means they can't get caught." Aiya finished.

Damian was shocked. He hadn't thought of it before, but the proposition made sense. And Morgan was easily smart enough to pull something like that off.

'She always said that we were a bunch of idiots... so she wouldn't think anyone would catch her? ... Could Morgan actually be the mole?'

[Ansem]

Wrong thread. Sorry

Edited August 1, 2010 by Solf J. Kimblee

[the_whistler]

"Really?" Heinz widened his eyes. "I suppose I'll have to thank him sometime." When he's not arguing. "And wish Esphyr-" cutting off the rest of his sentence when he saw the mercenary had a staff in hand. "Where'd she get that staff?" he muttered to no one in particular.

Overhearing the healer announce her noble origins to Tessa, Heinz chuckled. Looks like not everyone paid attention.

Walking in the direction of mercenary and ex-guide, Heinz heard Morgan calling for everyone to move and headed towards the horses, replacing the fixed bridle on Ralf. Later arriving at Anglenar, Heinz noticed the shamans walking towards an inn. Questioning Cess probably, I have time. Wandering around the streets of Anglenar aimlessly, Heinz ran across the new TISME building and frowned.

"They probably have a branch in Halton too," Heinz grumbled. Damn mages showing up everywhere, turning his back away from the institute.

Edit: Word switch.

Edited August 1, 2010 by the_whistler

[Snowy_One]

"I'm surprised as well that she discounted the wielders." said Esphyr. "I'm a mercenary who works for Damian, but my loyalty is technically to money. That would make it perfect for me to be the mole, regardless of my weapon. This isn't to mention that the loyalties of all the wielders aren't 100% obvious. Why are you here Damian? Do you even know yourself? And yet, you're a wielder. Helios is still here even though we all treat him awefully, so could he be the mole? Iso blows up almost everything as well and has put the group through more strife than anyone else in the party, and she won't interview him either? Either Morgan is a mole and looking to scapegoat someone, or there are two moles and Morgan is one and the other is a wielder, if what you say is true."

---

With another yawn, the man mounted up his steed, his helmet under his arm, as he directed the animal out of the stable and into the main street. Nothing seemed remarkable at all about him, except for the crest on his helmet. A sun and moon in embrace. He was the mounted man from before whom had confronted Kelas. Altion.