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* Jaret is re-arranging his practice room. The center of the room is a collection of practice weaponry and training geegaws that are usually hanging on the walls. Jaret is dressed relatively plainly, and is slowly walking around the room in a circle, looking from the blank walls to the pile in the center of the floor. * Lisl strides down the path to Jaret's house, the gravel crunching pleasantly underfoot. She takes the porch steps in a couple of long strides, knocking lightly on the front door and waiting, rocking back and forth on her heels. When there is no immediate answer, she swings off the porch and does a circuit of the house, pausing to knock at the outer door of the practice room when she sees signs of life within. * Jaret looks up at the first knock, and apparently convinces himself that he imagined it. With the second knocking, he quickly leaps the pile of stuff in the center of the room and makes for the door. "Lisl! So sorry I missed you earlier. Come in, ignore the mess. How are you?" * Lisl enters, eyeing the pile in the center of the floor. "You know, Jaret, most people loot *other* people's homes. Or were you practicing?" She looks around curiously for a moment. "I'm well enough... decided to take myself out from underfoot at Zoya's, since all I'm doing there is pacing, and see if I could come pace over here for a little." She grins. <Jaret> Oh, no, I'm reorganizing. I've finally reacquired replacements for most of what I lost in the looting of the invasion, and now I've got to decide how to put it all up. And you're always welcome here. I should key you to the door, in case I'm not available and you need to let yourself in. <Lisl> ::looking amused:: I *do* have my own place, Jaret. It was more a bit of a distraction I had in mind. Zoya and I paid our visit to the War Wizards a few days ago... I'm happy to report we're not newts, but I confess I'm no less confused than I was going in. Zoya seems to have a few ideas, but... well, she's researching. You know what *that*'s like with her. <Jaret> I had noticed you didn't seem to be any kind of amphibian when I answered the door. If you'd like we can retire to the study and discuss matters more leisurely? Really, this room isn't fit for company yet. <Lisl> ::with a gesture that's almost a bow:: As milord prefers. * Jaret leads Lisl out of the practice room, through the crowded center of his house, and into the spacious study. The study's decor is more spartan than before, as Jaret struggles to find replacement furniture that meets his exacting tastes. There is a long couch and two high-backed leather chairs at the moment, and a few low tables. "Please. May I get you anything?" <Lisl> ::perching on the edge of a chair and crossing her extended legs in front of her:: A glass of Sembian'd be welcome, since I know you've got it. ::grins:: * Jaret grins, and heads to his kitchen. He returns with a crystal decanter and two matching snifters. "As it so happens, I still have a good supply on hand." He fills each snifter and offers one to Lisl. "To your health, lady." <Lisl> ::raises her glass:: And yours. And here's to not being a newt. ::swirls her glass briefly and drinks:: Ahh, that's the stuff. * Jaret settles himself in the other chair. "So... no trouble yet, I take it? I hope that if something does crop up, and I could be some assistance, word would be sent, if possible..." <Lisl> Not... exactly. I think. ::frowns at her glass absently:: We were given what I think amounted to the grand runaround from the grand mucketymuck at the War Wizards... a... Barise? I think he was one of that lot that sent us to the Abyss. * Jaret furrows his brow. "The name might be familiar to me, I'm not sure. I don't pay much attention to the Wizards." <Lisl> ::dryly:: No one really does... I think that's the root of our problem. At any rate... we came out knowing not a great deal more than we started, to my mind. Zoya called him ::with a twist of her lip:: "an excellent politician." <Jaret> ::he quickly glances out his window, to make sure no one is approaching the house:: You heard Lieutenant Adiethian was reassigned? <Lisl> ::scowls:: Aye. Heard it from Orlann... I came over to find out if *you* knew, some weeks ago, but I think you'd already gone on your trip by then. Is he... have you heard from him? <Jaret> No, I haven't. My new contact was quite precise and repetitious that I wasn't to attempt to contact Lieutenant Adiethian in any way. And he wouldn't tell me where he'd gone to. I've made some quiet inquiries, but nothing's come of it. <Lisl> ::scowls:: I mislike that... especially... ::scowl deepening:: Well, there's more. Zoya sent Tarri to go find out what was doing with Niralan. Barise had gotten our peeping Tim locked up in the Morninglord's monk's lodgings... for his health, of course. Tarri came tearing back saying he'd been enspelled, it wasn't his fault, there was some sort of magical contagion behind all this. Something about a compulsion, I think. That's what Zoya's looking into now. <Lisl> If that's the case, our rumormonger might be a *very* persuasive sort indeed. ::growls softly, and takes another swallow of brandy as if to wash away a bad taste:: <Jaret> Well... perhaps. It does narrow down the field of potential instigators, though. And it's somewhat reassuring to find out it's not a natural dislike for the Hall or its denizens. <Lisl> ::shakes her head:: I've no idea *what* it is. I thought one miasma was more than enough... tho' Zoya says this one's more like the flu... ::shakes her head again:: I don't know. I'll let her explain it, I'd likely make a hash of it. Tho' now I'm wondering if Adiethian was really reassigned, or if he just protested too loudly...? <Jaret> I've wondered that myself. I have no way of knowing which of the options is the truth, however. I try not to dwell on it overmuch. If I didn't wonder who would try to do my job if I wasn't doing it.... Enough of that talk. Was Zoya making any progress? <Lisl> ::snorts and waves her glass:: Damned if I know. She said she'd likely come find me when she did, though. * Zoya knocks on Jaret's door. <Lisl> ::rubs her face:: Gah... I hate going up against mages... tricksy bastards. And this one seems quite the charmer. I'm not even certain it *is* Barise, or if that's not just more misdirection... ::pauses and glances at the door:: * Jaret gets up. "If you'll excuse me a moment." He walks to his door and opens it. "Magus, we were just speaking about you. Credit Lisl for your burning ears. Please, do come in." <Zoya> ::chuckles:: Thank you. Has she been sharing with you the discoveries and mysteries of the last days? <Lisl> ::makes a face:: I hadn't told him about your werewolf, yet. <Zoya> *My* werewolf? <Jaret> No, we were talking about this War Wizard that may or may not be behind the curtain. <Lisl> Well, you're the one who came up with the idea. Not that it's not reasonable, but all my nose got out of that mess was "wolf." <Lisl> ::cocks an eyebrow at Jaret:: Curtain? <Zoya> Would you be able to tell a true wolf from a werewolf? Even after that much time had passed? <Jaret> The hidden source of our troubles, the one pulling the strings. The puppetmaster behind the curtain. <Zoya> ::helps herself to a seat:: At any rate, I've made a certain amount of progress in learning about this... disinformation spell. <Jaret> That sounds promising. Can you phrase it in terms us layfolk would understand. And, if not, can I get you some Sembian brandy to help you in the effort? <Lisl> Ahhh, I see. ::looking at Zoya:: I-- ::shakes her head:: The short answer is yes, but I don't know if I can give you a decent explanation. No matter. What'd you find? <Zoya> A little brandy would be welcome, thank you, Jaret. * Jaret fetches a snifter for Zoya from his kitchen, returns, and pours her some brandy from the crystal decanter. <Zoya> Well, let's see... The spell seems to have been initially triggered in three distinct locations, and is spreading out from those hot-spots. One is a grain-merchant's shop - the same one who put in the complaint about the Hall having done peculiar things to his grain, incidentally. I imagine that spell was initiated when one of the Wizards interviewed him about the incident. * Lisl raises an eyebrow and takes a sip of brandy. <Zoya> A second center seems to be with a middle-aged midwife. I don't know what her connection is, if any. Maybe she examined Niralan after his transformation, but that's speculation. <Lisl> ::dryly:: Maybe he was peeping in her in the bathhouse. <Lisl> ::shakes her head:: A midwife... now there's a fast way to spread something, rumor or contagion both. <Zoya> She's only barely younger than Goody Bea. She doesn't really seem his type. * Lisl shrugs and gestures with her glass for Zoya to go on. <Zoya> The last hot-spot is centered on a tavern. The Tilted Wheelbarrow. Again, there's no obvious connection. But there doesn't have to be, for a tavern, really - it might merely be a favored spot for the grain merchant. <Jaret> Perhaps a barkeep? Or one of the staff. But it would be hard to narrow it down from that group, I imagine. <Lisl> ::cocking her head:: If it comes down to that grain merchant, originally-- hey, the midwife could've been seeing to the man's wife or daughter-- who's to say the War Wizzies are behind the contagion at all? <Lisl> That could be the Hall's own doing, couldn't it? <Zoya> There *are* people who seem immune to the effects. I went looking for commonalty, and- well, I'll sum up for you: People who are aware of assistance provided to them by the Hall patrons are immune. A brief experiment on my way over here provided evidence that providing someone assistance breaks the spell. I'm still working on whether a person learning about aid after they've been spelled is enough to break it. <Zoya> Niralan *did* tell Tarri that "he" was behind the information spell. Though... ::considers:: It might be possible that the spell was placed on the grain. <Zoya> It would really only take a certain amount of footwork to learn that. <Jaret> Can you identify the source of the spell? Or, at least, rule out the Hall as the source? If it turns out that the Hall is the cause of this, it would be a mite embarrassing. And Niralan told Tarri what? <Lisl> ::scowls:: So... how does that explain business each of us've lost? Kevil's unfulfilled contracts? Isn't that providing assistance? <Zoya> Business is not necessarily assistance, you know. Perhaps the person's gratitude is also necessary. I haven't exactly been able to drag an infected person back to the Tower for testing and interrogation. <Lisl> ::grins:: What, surely you've no reputation left to damage? <Jaret> I imagine there's a difference between a usual business relationship and the sort of assistance Zoya is referring to. <Zoya> ::smirks:: There just hasn't been *time*, Lisl. <Zoya> I thought you'd want to know this much before I started doing more in-depth research. And you can perhaps do some of the legwork. Interview that midwife, perhaps. <Lisl> ::looking dubious:: Didn't you just get done saying she hates our guts? What more do you want to know of her? <Zoya> Do her a *favor*, Lisl, and she won't hate us any more. Take her some meat, gratis. After the spell is broken, you can find out whether she had contact with Niralan, or the grain merchant, or that tavern. Or Barise. <Jaret> It might be nice to see if there was a legitimate reason she dislikes the Hall and its patrons. If there was a foothold for the spell to take root in. <Lisl> Oh. ::considers:: I can do that. <Zoya> She's not going to have completely forgotten the rumors, once the spell is broken - she'll just realize how ridiculous they are. ::half-smiles:: See if you can get her to remember who told her the rumors in the first place. <Jaret> If she's a midwife, I can go talk to Goody Bea, see if she knows what this other midwife thought of us earlier. <Zoya> ::to Jaret:: To answer your earlier question, by the way - I'd have to go to the source of the spell and examine it closely to tell for certain whether it originated with the Hall. It's on my list of things to do. <Zoya> And yes, that would be an excellent idea, Jaret. <Lisl> ::grins wryly:: I was just thinking of asking Goody Bea myself if, ahem, professional relations had cooled any, of late. Well... ::shrugs:: She's a patron too, I suppose. I'll take her a stew with both our compliments, maybe that'll mend fences. <Zoya> ::sighs:: I'd *like* to talk to Niralan, but I don't think I can talk my way in. And stealth isn't my strong suit. Ah, well. Maybe if we can break the spine of this information spell, we'll be able to move more openly. * Lisl grins nastily and cracks her knuckles. "We could always break 'im out. But I think that'll tip off our rumormonger just a tad." <Jaret> Kidnapping someone from the temple of Lathander might not be the wisest idea. And I have yet to understand why we want Niralan roaming around free. <Zoya> She didn't get that far? I sent Tarri to interview him, and she found out that he's under some sort of geas - a magical compulsion. <Lisl> We don't, I don't think. We just want him locked up under Zoya's thumb instead of locked up under our mystery man's thumb. ::grins:: * Lisl snaps her fingers. "Geas. That was the word." <Lisl> ::scowls:: Tho... that's a little disturbing, all on its own. I thought only the gods could lay a geas on someone. <Jaret> Ah! No, that hadn't been uncovered yet. Is that something you can undo? Does it wear off? <Zoya> It depends on how strong the casting wizard is. I got the impression that it was being regularly renewed, as well. <Zoya> If I can break the spell, I think Niralan would be willing to help us - but it would also probably alert its caster immediately. * Jaret chews on a lip, a faraway look in his eyes. <Lisl> ::chewing her lip:: And you're sure it's actually a spell? Not just... well, if a mage went paranoid-crazy, I imagine it'd sound a lot like Tarri was describing Niralan. <Zoya> Well, no, I can't rule that out without examining him directly. But *she* was convinced, and she's seen a fair amount of both crazies and magic. * Lisl snorts. <Zoya> I tried a scrying, but... ::shrugs:: Lathander protects his people. The temple is *not* the best place for me to be spying. <Lisl> ::eyes narrowed:: Aye. *Usually.* <Zoya> No one is perfect, Lisl. Not even the gods. Ask Nacheyla. <Jaret> We could try to do a switch. Get Niralan out, and leave someone behind in his place, disguised. Do they pay much attention to him? <Lisl> ::grins at Zoya:: True. And more often than not, I find that sort of reassuring. <Lisl> And who do you suggest leaving in his place? There's not all that many of us to begin with. <Zoya> Eh... I think they're trying to "reform" him, and that involves a certain amount of face-to-face proselytizing. And I think Barise is looking in on him regularly, and he *would* notice a switch. <Jaret> If Barise is looking in on him regularly, then that would help to prove his involvement in this, wouldn't it? And would the priests notice a magical disguise? If they're sermonizing at him, they may be too concerned with the words coming out of their mouths to pay attention to their patient. Especially if Barise has influenced them to keep Niralan there indefinitely. <Lisl> ::sipping her brandy:: D'you think it would help if we did a few favors for the Morninglords? <Zoya> I think we could get an illusion past the priests, but... then what do we do when Barise shows up? <Lisl> Assuming he showed up in person, and not just as... what was Niralan blathering about? Smoke and dreams? <Lisl> ::narrows her eyes at Jaret:: You just want to get in there, don't you? You think Adiethian may be in there too? <Zoya> ::to Lisl:: I don't think the morninglords are suffering the same version of the information spell. They didn't seem inimical toward Tarri. <Jaret> I'll have an easier time passing for Niralan than you or the Lady Magus. And both of you have tasks out here to concern yourself with. <Jaret> And it would get us proof that Barise is involved. You can't deny that would be extremely valuable. <Zoya> ::eyes Jaret for a long moment:: Do you think you can sneak in there? And how would we get Niralan out? <Lisl> It's only proof if you could get out again with it. You'd be locked in a cell at Barise's mercy, and who knows what sorts of spells he's got up his sleeve? And you still haven't answered my question. <Jaret> I imagine I could find a way in. Although I don't know what measures protect Niralan. It would probably require someone else to get Niralan out. I don't want to try getting in, then out with him, and back in again. And I don't know if Adiethian's in there or not. But if Niralan is being imprisoned in the Morninglord's temple, we should try to get him out. And leaving me behind in disguise could help us uncover what's been happening. * Lisl scowls at her glass. <Lisl> I don't like this. Zoya... *if* we could get him in and Niralan out with none the wiser... is there anything you could give Jaret to keep Barise-- or whomever-- from messing with his head? * Zoya swirls the brandy in her glass as she considers. "What, you don't think Jaret's capable of protecting himself, Lisl?" She grins at Jaret. "I *do* like it. We only need to fool them for long enough for me to break the spell - or spells - on Niralan." <Zoya> ::eyes Jaret:: How are you with locks? <Lisl> Against a mage? Only way to defend against the likes of this one is with a dagger in his back, and that won't work if he's too far away to put one there. <Jaret> And there's no guarantee that Barise will visit himself. If he sends an apparition, then I don't know if he could cast any spells at all, or if he'd be reduced to simple conversation, in which case I have no worries. And... I've had some passing encounters with them. I'm not especially skilled, but given enough time, I can usually find some way through. <Zoya> ::nods:: All right. Let's go back to the Tower. I've got an item or two that help protect against mental tampering that you can wear to keep Lisl happy. ::grins:: And we'll get you an illusion to wear. And I'll rig up an item that Niralan can use to teleport to me. I doubt Barise has much more luck than I do, scrying inside the temple, so that much should be pretty safe. * Jaret stands. "Do I need a costume, or can you supply that, too?" <Lisl> ::scowls:: I still won't be *happy.* <Zoya> We'll rig up a costume for you. The Staff sews pretty well, if you're very specific with it about what you want. <Jaret> If Tarri's seen him, we should get her to describe what he was wearing. And I should talk to her, too. Find out how he speaks. <Zoya> ::nods:: All right. You go talk to Tarri, then. Lisl, why don't you go on and interview that midwife? And in the meantime, I'll work on rigging up that 'port. <Lisl> ::shakes her head dubiously:: I still don't like this... what's to keep him from wriggling out of it on the strength if this? "Oh, look, they've spirited the pervert out from the care of the good priests of Lathander, they're obviously in league with him and *he* was behind this whole thing!" We'll have the mob at our door, and I don't think we can do favors for *all* of them. <Zoya> ::gives Lisl a steely look:: We are *not* going to just sit here and do nothing, Lisl. We aren't going to be able to fight subtle with subtle. <Jaret> My testimony will be only a part of the picture. Niralan will be our star witness, assuming that his story clarifies the way we think it will once his mind is healed. <Jaret> Also, if we can uncover whether Barise has somehow affected the minds of the priests, that will be another nail in his coffin. <Lisl> And how-- ::she shakes her head and drains what's left in her glass in a few long swallows:: Fine. I'll go talk to the midwife. <Zoya> Thank you. ::takes a last sip from her glass and leaves the half-emptied snifter on an end table:: Do let us know if you learn anything interesting. <Jaret> And I'll pay a visit to Miss Mandeil, and hope that her suitor doesn't take offense. <Zoya> Surely he wouldn't believe you were trying to steal her away. ::rounds her eyes at Jaret:: You're so OLD. * Jaret laughs. "I prefer to consider myself to be experienced." <Lisl> ::snorts:: Mira's no older than Tarri. <Zoya> ::chuckles and heads toward the door:: * Lisl sets her empty glass down and follows after Zoya, her lips pressed together in a grim line. * Jaret escorts his guests to the foyer, belts his sword on as they leave, and soon follows them out. |
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