Movers and Shakers

[Priscilla Malatrast]

The image of Sarlinna seemed to collapse into itself. It made a frightful crackling noise as it and the air around it wrenched and twisted. With a final pop and a brilliant flash, it disappeared.

"Me tell you?" said a young man with soft, pleasant features, who now sat in the chair before the two intruders. He tied the front of his red, silk robe shut, hiding all but a narrow 'V' of his firm, golden chest and flashed them a dazzling smile. "Isn't it supposed to work the other way around?"

A few of the closest servants had rushed to the scene upon hearing the melodic, lust-filled voice they recognized from prior encounters, and even more were beginning to filter into the room, drawn by the sweet, familiar scent of roses. They entered and pressed themselves against the walls, afraid to come any closer, faces awash with a dull, listless pleasure.

"Zapar..." one of them whispered. He lolled his head to the side and fixed his serpentine-yellow eyes on her. With a wink, he returned his attention to the pair.

"I'm afraid that you'll find the old woman a touch more receptive," he said slowly, letting his words spill out of his mouth with the luscious torpor of honey. The chambermaid who had spoken his name fell to her knees. "You see... she is under the impression that there are games she could play with you... perhaps even services you could render. But I know better."

After crossing his long legs, he began to play with his nails. Without looking up, he continued.

"After all, what is it you've come here to offer me.. or her.. or whomever? Hmm...? Those trinkets? Priscilla was right to turn them away. Your service?" He blew at his nails and looked up, focusing directly on Krevster's eyes. "If I wanted you, I'd simply possess you."

"So what is it that you have left to offer?" he asked with a mock-sigh. "Sex?" He smiled upon noticing a few of the servants, whose attention seemed to have been piqued at the suggestion.

"Let's face it," he said. His gaze trailed down from Krevster's broad shoulders to his crotch. He focused his attention on Gia in the same way, noting her lovely face, but also taking in her flat, brown hair and stained, unattractive clothing. "I could do better for myself."

"Now don't get me wrong; I only wish you the best, and I'd love to help you with whatever it is that's sent you here. If only you could come up with something that interested me..."

He returned to picking his nails.

[Shadowsong]

Right. By now he had been going along with this long enough. So far these buffoons had been trying to fake a strong position by yowling on and on about their superiority. Which was very amusing from a distance, when he was not busy with important things. Fact remained he was not some weakling from the street, he was a powerful warrior with great ambition. Whether he was popular or not, that was something to utilise.

"The old woman is preparing to leave." People going back and forth packing things away did not go unnoticed, and Krevster regretted not calling her out on that state of weakness earlier. "Probably something to do with her boasts of holding a battlemage hostage. Fleeing." Krevster's face was flat, with an undercurrent of amusement, privately hoping the miserable old shrew could hear all of this. "As for sex, it's a good thing I don't like what I see, or things could get painful."

"You know, both you and the shrivelled bint you use as a shell could get alot further by naming your price. Try this for interesting, a grateful Fenris. He takes tribute in blood, and I am suited to mindless violence even if you wont admit there is any other use for me." By now, he was holding back laughs at having to explain what he felt was so obvious. "Arrange the pact, we gain Fenrir's gifts, he gains my service, you get to be the one who found us for him. A reward right there, unless he passes the task on to me, in which case I will be far more powerful when you do want a favour from me."

Then Krevster shrugged, with a clank of his pauldrons. "Since your current host is an ancient hag on the run, keeping favours in reserve would do you well. So you can play the silly games your host seems to love, but you don't need to because we both know you are the one really in control, not some wrinkled hag. So assuming you can actually do that, the approval of a greater power seems a worthwhile use of your effort."

Of course, by now, out of sheer meaningless spite, Krevster had every intention of destroying her home unless given an incentive otherwise.

[Gia Rilan]

Gia resisted the urge to bare her teeth at the insulting young man. She was not versed in much illusion magic, and she wondered where all thses humans were coming from. She wasn't too sure either about human reproduction, but she knew the basics well enough to know that this... human male, she guess he was, wasn't paying ehr a compliment.

The wolf didn't like that. She was a vain creature that enjoyed looking at her reflection in still pools and those strange human contraptions that were called mirrors. She stood in the back of Gia's mind, snarling, eyes rising in Gia's own once more and turning her look more feral... again.

Gia wanted to quiet the wolf, but she felt rather insulted as well, and suffered a low, almost impreceptable growl to escape from her throat. She lifted her head slightly and stared at him in a lupine challenge, her upper lip skimming her teeth in a very small snarl. Her stance shifted a bit and she moved forward a bit, also a challenging posture. She looked briefly at Krevster, who didn't look pleased either, and took some heart in that she wasn't the only one who wasn't appriciating this young man's comments.

Krev was talking about things that she didn't understand, so she kept her peace until the end. She'd been quiet in the house up until now, but, fueled by the wolf's anger and indeed, her own as well, she spoke softly and slowly. Her words came half from the human side of her, and half from the wolf. She knew that the young man would likely not take her seriously, but she spoke anyway. "I did not appriciate that. Should you continue to speak in such a way, I daresay you won't live much longer, regardless of your magic. I don't know what my lord Krevster wants of you, and I somehow think that I don't really care. I don't know why we are here, but I do know that i will not tolorate being spoken to in such a way. I may be what I am, but I do have a pride and sense of dignity."

She'd changed her reference to Krevster. Now he was her 'lord.' The wolf agreed that it sounded better than 'master,' and no doubt that the young man woud just make a joke out of the title. Or whoever appeared next would, anyway.

[Priscilla Malatrast]

Zapar wasn't sure why neither his looks nor his scent seemed to have even the slightest effect on the guests. He felt somewhat baffled, but mostly enraged. A dark look settled on his features, and his flirtatious smile was replaced with a disdainful sneer.

He took a pad of paper from the side table and scrawled angrily upon it. Without looking up from his strange, looping symbols, he spoke.

"Lord Krevster? Tell your servant to mind her place. As for Fenris, he belongs to an entirely different pantheon than myself. You'll have to speak with Priscilla for that."

After a few moments, he finished writing and flipped his work aside. He took a moment to scowl at the two before waving his hand. With the flick of his wrist, he was gone, replaced suddenly with Priscilla, who sat comfortably.

She leaned back and unleashed a great yawn, allowing herself to peek at the note Zapar had left her without being noticed.

When she was done, she looked up expectantly at her two guests.

"So what did you settle upon?" she asked, feigning ignorance to what Zapar had informed her of in his note. Then she thought of an interesting ploy that would allow her to better accomplish what he'd suggested.

"Oh," she added quickly, giving the friendliest smile she could manage. "I'm certain that he's already received payment from you, so I'll simply be asking you to cover the reagents I'll need."

[Shadowsong]

"Then a suitable member of your pantheon." Krevster dealt with the important stuff first. His wishes. No response was given to the demon's admonishment, a deliberate choice to ignore it. Part of him was impressed by her threat to this Zapar, part of him thought she was progressing too fast, out of control, potentially outgrowing her need for him. This would need watching.

Aside from the investment made in opposing potential ritualists for her, he found himself disliking the notion of her moving on. Almost as if he would miss having her present.

"I gain your aid in becoming Demonsworn, you gain Fenrir's favour, none of us have to deal with the infantile garbage of putting each other in their places." rattled Krevster off calmly. "Our trinkets can help cover the reagents, the rest we can gain by force." Krevster's smile was chill, enjoying the fact his 'uselessness' worked to his advantage.

And then, just for fun. "We know putting you in danger can bring out Zapar, you may wish to tell us of another way." Thus demonstrating that he knew what a mere brute would not. Looking around the room, he smiled with a small offer of explanation. "I had some knowledge of your defences. Enough to know I could try that approach. So you are not dealing with an empty-headed thug, just as I am not dealing with a petty-minded crone. We will all gain more by treating each other with respect from now on." And then with the pissing contest out the way, they could get on with the business of becoming powerful.

That Gia was tired of this did not go unknown to him. So now he turned his smile her way. "You will see the gains of this soon enough."

[Gia Rilan]

She damned well hoped so. Normally she'd have been a little sorry that she had nearly accused him of something, which she rarely, if ever, did to one of her masters. She ducked her head slightly in deference to her lord Krevster, and then returned to her alternate watching of the wall and the crazy person who kept shifting forms and scents right in front of her. She'd smelled strange things before, but she was more concerned with getting out of there alive, which for some reason she felt was getting to be a smaller and smaller chance.

She didn't really want to shift forms in the middle of the city. It would be problematic to get out, because a larger than average brown wolf is highly noticable, especially when it accompanied an armor-clad man like her lord. She sighed and waited for the situation to resolve itself, wolf and human alternately looking out of her eyes at the confining room.

The wolf was even more restless and snapped at Gia, who mentally snapped back. This was no time for fights in the 'family,' she decided, and the wolf retreated a bit, still baring her fangs at the back of Gia's mental conciousness in the direction of the strange old woman, who actually looked like she had when they came in.

[Priscilla Malatrast]

It was hard for Priscilla to keep the endgame in mind when faced with such idiocy. Obviously the man had some insight into the nature of demons, but he had no grasp on the mechanics of dealing with them. She maintained her smile and decided to avoid the issue of Zapar entirely. Suffice it to say, the two wouldn't be seeing him again, or at least not the nice side of him. He'd been too badly offended by their poor behavior.

Instead, Priscilla opted to respond to his first comment.

"Yes, well.." she said, feigning a politely embarrassed shyness that she'd used many times in years prior during her life as an aristocrat's wife. "I apologize for my rudeness, but, as you pointed out so many times, I am an old woman, and, as such, I have grown accustomed to certain.. formalities. I hope we can all be more mindful of these in the future, so that my delicate sensibilities aren't offended again."

Priscilla didn't want to let on to how much she knew, but she didn't want to dawdle either, so she kept her talk about the plans with Fenris direct and brief.

"As for this 'Fenris' business, I assume you mean that you want me to arrange the pact. This would require me to summon him."

She sank back into a more relaxed, yet still courteous position.

"I'm afraid that what you've brought won't be able to cover the reagents. You see, these sorts of things cannot be purchased. They must be acquired. I suspect you will be gaining many of them by force, perhaps others by subterfuge, but the first step will, in all likelihood, require a mix of both."

Priscilla gestured for her servants to come.

"You see, I was just reading up on Fenris a few days ago, which shows you what an auspicious meeting we have here. I believe I have located a book that contains very specific details about the ritual of his summoning."

She inhaled deeply, and the polite smile left her face. Leaning toward the two 'guests,' she talked in a lower tone. "But there's a hitch--it's located in the Justice Hall."

A butler approached her, and she spoke to him, "Bring two of the chairs, one of the small tables, bread and a few cheeses."

Priscilla turned to Gia, and the polite smile returned to her face. "Would you both like wine?"

[Shadowsong]

Once again he was suspicious. Summoning Fenris directly seemed perhaps excessive, from what he knew of cultists a proxy or minion or contact with the astral would suffice. So that led to another conclusion, she was exploiting his ignorance.

Which left him one of a nastiest options in the world... he would let her.

"The first?" Krevster raised an eyebrow. Suddenly he felt like he was going to be a nice guy running errands rather than the future champion of destruction. Aside from that, if he needs to break into the Justice Hall and then do more he would probably have an easier time contacting a mighty demon by himself.

Finally he sat down, declining the cheese and wine, and making sure to keep his arms off the chair. Sat forward, he clasped his hands and leaned his forearms on his knees. "That is some hitch indeed. The walls move in that building, and the only way in or out is to obtain permission from the Porter." Which left him with the option of in turn recruiting someone who had permission from the Porter. A battlemage.

Looking back to those trinkets, he found a use for them. They were taken from the body of a blood cult. They had some monentary worth as a bribe. Perhaps more significantly, they would provide the battlemage the option of claiming credit for destroying a new magical cult in the area. That would be fun at least.

Contemplating, he turned to Gia. "Tell me your thoughts." Back to Priscilla, "I can make sure to hear you out at least."

[Gia Rilan]

Gia was now listening with a bit more intent. She took a bite of a small bit of cheese and nibbled some bread as she took in the conversation, processing it slowly. She had heard about some of these things, not about the moving walls in Justice Hall, but she'd heard about battelmages and how they weren't that nice, even as humans went. She'd smelled the cells one day and had her nose nearly shut down... and she wasn't even in wolf form that day.

She idly wondered if a wolf would count for making the walls move... or rather, a dog. Gia's ability to make the wolf small and rangy for speed actually made her look more like a dog, and she could easily help that with a good dirtbath and a bit of leather around her neck as a collar. Would they let dogs into Justice Hall? She decided to broach the subject later with Krev, if it ended up that they were headed for the bad smelling place. She'd bring it up after they were away from the strange old woman.

Gia nearly yelped when Lord Krevster asked for her opinion. She stifled her yelp by turning it into a cough and cleared her throat a bit, drawing her words half from the wolf and half from her own mind. She frowned a bit... this half-and-half business was getting confusing. Pushing thoughts of confusion out of her head, she spoke softly, hoping that she wasn't making a fool out of herself.

"Justice Hall doesn't sound like a nice place at all. If it is absolutly certain that we will go there, I may have a few ideas on how to get in, it just depends on the defenses of the place, what makes them trigger." She fell silent, picking at her cheese with her fingers. "Whatever we do, my lord, I am yours to command."

[Priscilla Malatrast]

Priscilla repressed the urge to smile, and instead let out an exasperated sigh. They'd taken the bait, and the big man finally seemed like he'd been put off-guard. There was a strange shift in the power balance when he deferred to his weak-willed counterpart, and it was time for her to capitalize on the vacuum the shift had left.

"Well," she said, picking daintily at a piece of bread. "There's one other option, though I daresay it's not my preference."

She took a sip of wine and feigned losing her train of thought, allowing a little time for the idea of an alternative to the nasty business of dealing with the Justice Hall to ferment in the minds of her guests.

"I say first because until I have a detailed description of how to perform the summoning ritual, I can't anticipate what reagents would be needed. I'd hate to have you collect all of these items and have them be unnecessary. But wait.."

Priscilla cradled her head in her palm, pretending to think for a moment. The entire act was tiresome, but she'd go to any length to achieve the end result. The arrival of the pair had turned out to be less auspicious than the cards had foretold, but if she'd learned anything over the years, it was that fate was what you made of it, and a woman must occasionally take it into her own hands.

"I'm sorry I lost the thread for a moment," she said. She set her glass of wine on the low table that had been brought out with the refreshments. "I am acquainted with a man who may be able to help, or who may be in possession of things that can help."

As if having second thoughts, she reached for her wine again, hoping that her body language would indicate her reluctance on this matter. "But as I mentioned, it is not my preference. The contact I mentioned is rather unstable."

She drank. "He is being kept in Thar Shaddin's mental asylum."

[Shadowsong]

By now he found a sense of consistency in her methods - blackmail rather than trade. This did not bode well for a partnership, it did not bode for a master. Ultimately, he felt he would be working against her as much as with her, and that would be frustrating. He did not mind serving her aims, what he would mind was having to fight her every step of the way to meet any of his own.

Still, demonologists did not grow on trees. This meant he had to be careful before dismissing such a potential resource. Ideally, this contact would have the necessary information, and the hag would become unnessecary.

What she was doing was only a thin disguise, but Krevster humoured it because it had the potential to be getting things done. "Interesting." casually boomed the lumbering warrior, "Getting access to your contact may require some preparation, which is why you want me. I will need to know who he is, then I will begin looking into this immediately." Betraying an appearance of eagerness may allow her the illusion of power. Perhaps she would seek to draw him out and prolong it by giving out barest tidbits of information, but he was getting something to work with.

Even a lie was something to work with.

Time to throw a surprise into the works. "Very well." announced Krevster, rising to his feet. "I accept your terms. Tell me all I need and I shall begin now."

[Gia Rilan]

Gia was really surprised that Krev was giving in so easily. Especially since… the insane asylum? She sighed a bit and shifted slightly uneasily. She’d go along with it, but were there absolutely no other ‘contacts’ that this crazy old woman could have? She smiled slightly to herself. Of course there weren’t. There never were with these people.

Gia was beginning to realize ever so slowly that the people she had been working with lately weren’t exactly the greatest people to be near if she was to keep her limbs and fur attached, and her mind sane. This business with the insane asylum wasn’t helping. Gia didn’t particularly want to go to the asylum, as any person or werewolf in their right mind should feel.

Of course, she’d never be the one to break off the partnership for something so trivial as going somewhere less than pleasant. She had a rather convoluted sense of honor and dignity, but it was there. And loyalty, in the highest degree, was present in her mindset as well, loyalty more than anything. If she was the one to run her loyalty would be worth less than nothing, so she would stay.

If something went wrong, however, she would have no qualms about leaving her master. Should the plan (whatever plan Lord Krevster was concocting in his mind as he spoke with the woman) go off and Gia could escape, she would flee.

But those were traitorous thoughts. She pulled her mind once again back to the present and waited for a response from the old woman. The wolf chastised her for having such un-loyal thoughts about her master, but the beast didn’t really mind as much this time. If the little human was finally developing a backbone, well… it was about time.

[Priscilla Malatrast]

Delighted as she was to have things finally seeming to go her way, Priscilla was worried. The girl had fallen silent again, obviously brooding. And what was to be made of Krevster's acquiescence? It was so much more.. chipper than she had expected. She reassured herself that the worse case scenario would be that the pair would simply leave her home and not return, and if things were to go well... There was much that stood to be gained.

"Certainly, Mister..." she said. She called for a butler, and as he approached, she folded her hands and said, "you obviously know my name, so it might be my failing memory.. but I don't think you've properly introduced yourselves."

When the butler arrived, Priscilla spilled her sour breath into his ear. He excused himself gracefully and left the room.

"Well.. Anyway. The man in question is my brother-in-law, Rex Malatrast. The family had him committed ages ago, but only recently did I discover the true nature of his insanity. Of course, my hands are tied in the matter. If I were to say something about the forces at work behind his affliction, I would give away a little too much about what I've been studying for the past twenty some odd years."

The butler returned with a small brown-leather journal. Priscilla set it on the table before the group and opened it. It was filled with her tall, spindly handwriting. She flipped a few pages and stopped when she had reached almost the dead center of the book. Two full pages were taken up with a very detailed drawing of a book. The material seemed simple enough--it was a leather journal much like the one describing it, but hypnotizing, swirling symbols covered its front, back, and spine.

"I recognized the symbols on my first visit to him after my husband's death. They were demonic seals, but they belonged to an unfamiliar hand. Unfortunately, when I tried to borrow this book from him, Rex became very hostile. He flew into a rage and pinned me against a wall, threatening to kill me. Had the attendants not intervened, I'm sure he would have. He now refuses my visitation. Just recently I saw several demonic seals relating to Fenris, and they matched very well. I think this book will contain information about him. "

Priscilla indicated for the two to take a look at the page for a moment while she slurped at her wine. With a decidedly unladylike belch, she leaned forward again to flip back a few pages. She stopped at a page with another sketch and tapped at it with her gnarled index finger. It was a sketch of a man's face. It bore proud features--a high, gently sloping forehead, prominent cheekbones, and a sharp nose that hooked downward slightly. It sat upon a stout, muscular neck, surrounded by a nest of thick black hair. Though there were hardly any wrinkles to be seen, the face appeared world-weary and troubled.

"This is a drawing of Rex, my husband's older brother, and how he appeared on my last visit just ten years ago."

[Shadowsong]

"Then I shall delay no longer." answered Krevster with a bow. With a clear goal ahead of him, he was happy. "I will have steps to prepare before seeking him out in the asylum."

Taking near a minute, he examined the picture, memorising every detail of the man's face. Krevster had no intention of forgetting, no intention of overlooking any aspect of the man's appearance.

"Know me as Darkheart." This gave her a name, but not necessarily a useful one. It could easily be a description, epithet, or nickname. Hopefully there would be little for her to track. "Thank you for your time m'lady." Smiling to himself, enjoying the sudden change in demeanor, he bowed again and turned to leave.

[Gia Rilan]

They were leaving? Gia nearly yelped in excitment. They were leaving! She quickly controlled her emotions and turned as Krev did, nodding slightly to the woman and snatching up one last piece of cheese to take with her, nibbling on it as she inched out the door.

The wolf was pleased too, and readily turned her eyes from the old woman with a final teeth-baring.