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Midnight Fathoms (DragonSong)

Started by quaggan, March 23, 2018, 03:51:29 PM

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quaggan

 "Unfortunately, my suggestions that she visits Adela fell on deaf ears" he sighed. "I would think that this would be the place to achieve her dreams of partying with dragons."

The musicians finished their piece and the other dancers began to break away. Coriander considered his options. They could stay here and hope that some nice dance would be played, or they could go enjoy the party somewhere else. "I've heard - from my army of spies, of course - that our gracious host is spending a small fortune on getting a hedge maze for his garden parties" he began. "Shall we go and see the progress on it?"

DragonSong

"That sounds delightful," Kana enthused with a quick smile. She slipped her hand into the crook of his arm and gestured vaguely. "Lead the way. I'm afraid I don't exactly know my way around the grounds."

quaggan

 Neither did Coriander, but it would be awkward to explain it now, wouldn't it? Either way, he doubted that the good lord would let people just wander into unfinished section, so it should be barred off, or guarded. He noticed a man in armour and the house's colours standing near one of the gates. A good start.

It was time to begin the act. He widened his eyes in fear and moved in an inelegant, half-scurrying way as he approached the guardswoman. "Good s-sir-" he began, stuttering as if he saw something he couldn't believe. "I- I believe I might have witnessed an attempt on your lord's life!"

She gave him a look one might expect from a parent saddled with an unusually awful child. "My lord, I believe if there was a murder attempt, more people would notice it. Those things are hard to hide."

"No, I- I saw a woman in blue dress pour some kind of powder into a wine glass! Must be poison!"

The guardswoman's eyes narrowed. No matter how stupid his story sounded, this wasn't something she could just ignore. "Can you describe the woman in more detail?"

"Oh, I wasn't paying attention, she wasn't my type... blue dress? Long hair?" He intentionally gave her the broadest description possible.

The guard grumbled in response. "I will... go look for her. Please wait here in case we need you to verify her identity."

Coriander waited a few seconds for her to leave before waving at Kana. "I believe the way is open now."

DragonSong

"I do hope that doesn't come back to bite us," Kana murmured with an arched eyebrow as she tucked herself a little more securely against Coriander's side. "Though I suppose that is certainly one way to clear any potential nuisances."

quaggan

 "Well, if it does, you can always say that you followed me here because I looked suspicious and you wanted to make sure I'm not a spy or an assassin" he suggested. Getting a reputation as a spy or an assassin would be so cool. Completely worth getting thrown out of the party. Better that than having to go home because a drunk lady puked on his new ensemble.

DragonSong

"Ohh, how exciting," Kana said with a soft laugh. "Imagine, little ol' me stopping an assassin." She wrinkled her nose playfully with another chuckle.

quaggan

 Coriander glanced down at Lady Moonglade's boots. She appeared to be a type holding common sense above the whims of fashion, as she wasn't wearing any high heels or other abomination. "Well then, madam, can you snap the neck of an assassin by stepping on it? I've tried doing it once, but didn't work out - perhaps I need instructions."

DragonSong

Her eyes widened slightly. "Ah...when on earth did you have occasion to test that out?" she asked, dumbfounded.

quaggan

 "Why, on an occasion when I attended an assassination" he joked. "But I should probably tell the whole story, now that I've mentioned it." That, and the details weren't really secret - Lady Moonglade would be able to find out with minimal amount of searching anyway. "I was attending a party Lord Haldane threw to celebrate the engagement of his son. Turned out one of the servants offering wine to the guests was an assassin who infiltrated the place in order to murder either the lord or his son, I can't remember. I wasn't exactly told the details."

"His intention was probably poison, but Haldane's son was being gallant and offered his fiancee the wine. When she started choking, the assassin threw all caution and pretenses of discretion to the winds and just charged at them. A fight broke out, and against common sense, I moved in to get a better look. The assassin rolled close, probably trying to disengage. I saw an opportunity and tried to stomp on his neck, but he tripped me and used me as a hostage. Oh, how amused Visti was when I described this whole incident in a letter to her!"

DragonSong

"Goodness!" Kana pressed a hand to her lips. "Were you hurt?" she asked, concern plain in her tone and eyes, and she tightened her grip on her escort's arm just a bit. "I mean, obviously nothing too serious or I doubt you'd sound so cavalier about it, but that sounds just harrowing."

quaggan

 In Coriander's experience, it was actually best to be cavalier about harrowing matters. It was perfect for misdirection - most people, when looking for weaknesses to take advantage of, would gloss over what they targets described in cheerful terms. Then again, the biggest injury incurred on this particular evening was to his pride - by taking him hostage, the assassin proved that he had no interest in his life. He would have to work harder to earn the degree of importance of being valuable enough to be wanted dead.

"He didn't even leave me a cool scar to show off" he grumbled. "I would think I'd get at least something out of the experience! What an ill-mannered assassin!" He glanced back at her. The reaction seemed to be genuine, rather than feigned out of politeness or convention. "Judging by the tone of your voice, I'd assume assassinations aren't very common in Thanatos?"

DragonSong

She shook her head slowly. "Not...exactly. At least not in the circles I traveled." Her brow furrowed slightly. "There was a boy I knew, a maoin. I'd heard...but never mind." She forced a quick laugh and shook her head with a smile. "I'm sure you're not interested in island gossip."

quaggan

 Bugger.

Coriander's disappointment was quickly shoved aside at the dilemma presented to him. Were her evasive words a genuine attempt to get him to forget about the earlier tantalizing hint of intrigue, just a conversational ritual, perhaps maybe even a way to test his interest in the matter? Most of the time, he prided himself on the ability to read other people and figure out his true intentions, but this time, he was at a loss. And rightfully so - he was talking to Ambassador Moonglade's daughter after all, he shouldn't expect her to be as easy to read as just another person.

"We could swap gossip, then" he offered. "I keep up with all the juicy rumours here in the capitol." There was little else he could do, after all.

DragonSong

"Oh?" She raised one eyebrow delicately. "Pray tell then, what is the most interesting rumor you've hear lately?"

quaggan

 Coriander tapped his chin. "Well, you probably heard about Lord Mortigen's hunting accident." It wasn't exactly something that would be new to her - everyone in Arca was talking about it, even though Lady Moonglade has just arrived, it was unlikely that she hasn't at least heard of it. But he hoped that at least the tidbit he was about to reveal would be juicy enough. "Well, a friend of mine's maid knows one of the grooms who tended his horse, and apparently the strap was cut just before the hunting party left. It's not exactly an assassination attempt like the one we've been discussing, since he survived and the house healer says he's going to recover, but it's something."

Coriander personally suspected it was a play on the part of Lord Mortigen himself - the man wasn't very fond of the new guard captain his wife hired, and missing something like that would provide him with an excuse to fire her.

DragonSong

"Oh yes, I had heard." She tutted and shook her head. "That's terrible though, just terrible. I wonder who would have the motivation to do such a thing," she mused, brow furrowed and lips pursed slightly.

quaggan

 "Oh, people have been thinking up theories about it. Personally, I think that... oh."

They reached the goal of their little excursion: their host's maze-to-be. It was clearly a work in progress, for the hedges were obviously not ready - the tallest of them barely reached up to Lady Moonglade's head. Coriander suspected that a gardening mage or a few were hired to speed up the growth, considering the diversity in their size and maturity. When it was finished, it would probably be a wonderful place worth visiting. Right now, it wasn't much of anything.

DragonSong

"Ah, our destination," Kana laughed lightly. She eyed the hedges a moment, then suddenly bounded ahead a few steps before spinning and grabbing Coriander's hand to tug him after her. "Come on, let's see how far in we can get."

quaggan

 "I fear any intellectual pleasure that can be found in solving a maze would be diminished by the fact that we can see the whole design and therefore we are not approaching it from the perspective it was meant to be approached" he commented. "Alright, I'll stop being a party pooper." He could always learn the path through the maze, wait until their host had the work completed, then lead others through to amaze them with his brilliant mind.

It wasn't even that he was bad with puzzles - he just preferred riddles of people to riddles of the mind. The hurt child's mother cheating on her husband was a more compelling story than the healer brought in being the mother herself. Still, he could every now and then enjoy a purely intellectual entertainment. "If I remember correctly, the idea is to always turn in the same direction in order to reach the exit?"

DragonSong

"I believe so," Kana said, eyes sparkling, "but actually solving it isn't the point right now."

She took his hand and stepped back between the hedges. "We're just seeing how far we can get from the party before it becomes suspicious."

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