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Lazo -> RE: The Hunt (3/1/2015 17:14:57)
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Faint was not able to learn much of use before the doors to the warehouse opened, only a short distance away from her. She instinctively shied away from the light, repositioning herself so that she could see a man clad in white robes, the indicatives of a long life beginning to surface in his face. She heard him address the people outside, beckoning them to join him. She had been right when she guessed the one who arranged the meeting would be inside, but she was still surprised she had not come across him on her trek within the warehouse.
As they followed, clearly eager for the slimmest morsel of information they could scrape from this meeting, Faint was surprised to see that only most of those walking inside were human. In particular, she found her eyes falling on with odd, reptilian features, his skin covered in orange scales. Suddenly, the comment about smelling people in the warehouse made a lot more sense, and Faint found herself wishing she could magic her scent away.
However, if she matched voices to faces, this would also be the one with the group’s descriptions. Nabbing that might prove useful, if only to quell her fears that one of those letters had, indeed, been meant for her.
For the moment, however, she held her breath, trying to memorize features as the group passed, and only when they had all went past her hiding spot did she dare move to follow.
The group led her to a large table positioned in the middle of the room, enough chairs arrayed so that all present could seat. Faint spared an unsettled thought towards the fact that, even if she matched one seat to each person present, there was still an empty place left.
Regardless, the man only spoke once everyone had seated.
Gavin was his name, follower of the Waking Sun. She filed that information away for later, frowning. She had come across the name during her investigation – a cult of sorts, if she recalled correctly – but until then had had no reason to differentiate it from any of the other conspiracies surrounding Vlade.
It turned out that Gavin had little to say beyond that, and once she recalled the purported purpose of the group, she was not truly surprised by what he had to say. Abandon your quest, he said, but Faint was damned if she did, and damned if she did not. As if she needed more people to remind her of simply how untenable her position was.
She did, however, perk in interest when the old man mentioned the vouchers under the seats, and she had to restrain herself from peeking out of cover too overtly. It was only made harder by the fire lighting from the other side of the room. As if by magic.
Still, doubt struck.
A blank check, one for each. Just like that? What kind of resources must an organization have to do such a thing? Even royalty would balk at such a thing. And they offer as much simply because a few people decide to look for something that might not even exist? She suppressed an amused chuckle. Why, I believe I found the cure for poverty. Just look for Vlade and hope this cult shows up. Everyone should give it a try.
Not that it would do any good for her. Even if she could take the voucher and exchange it for a king’s ransom, she would have a whole guild of trained killers after her head. She could not withdraw such large quantities of coin on her lonesome without attracting their attention, nor would she be able to make good of such resources before a stray blade found its way into her neck. Nor was she sure she could trust the same thing not to happen if she took a voucher and continued to search for Vlade.
Better the devil you know, after all.
It was rather surprising when every other person in the room rejected the offer as well. The fact that half of them did so out of pride and principle, of all things, was maddening. Taking the risk in order to exact revenge, or doing so because of someone one cared about, those motives she understood, even if it had been a long time since such feelings had managed to move her hand, for she knew from experience the drive they could bestow on one.
As the man in black robes answered the man in white with his own speech, Faint could not help but to instantly dislike him. So polite. So serene. So disgustingly self-righteous.
His words had the make those uttered by politician or a religious fanatic, painting Vlade as this dark figure that wreaked havoc across the kingdom and needed to be stopped, and by the end of his spiel, she was not sure he was referring to Vlade, or to every single danger that lurked in the night, herself and her shadowy patrons included.
Did he have enough concrete information to make that claim? She certainly did not.
Still, ‘snatching babes in the night?' Hah! Does it also kick puppies and stone beggars on the streets?
Either he had bought entirely onto the fears of the crowd, or he was maneuvering for alliances. It was a matter of intransigent stupidity or shameless manipulation, and Faint could not bring herself to trust either. In fact, she did not believe for a second that the man expected anything from this chase other than vengeance for the men ‘Vlade’ had supposedly killed.
She was not disappointed when the man proposed an alliance between those present in order to find their mark. Before one who would likely prefer to stop such a venture, in fact, something that did little to dispel her concerns about the man’s judgment.
Faint checked behind her, trying to make sure no one had sneaked up on her. She did not want to be there when things devolved into a scuffle, but she was also resolved to learn as much as she could from these men.
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