The Safehouse

"I see my dear wife Mia has a good head for business right Elthien Talagar?"

Auriel put down her visor as the group continued to ride toward the city. "That seems to be the case, yes. Which is good, 'cause my wages ain't cheap."

The group continued to chat in-character for awhile as they approached the city. Auriel led the team into the city through one of the less frequented entrances. Radogast was an unusual city in that there was no outer wall around it. There was a wall around the heart of the city, but the explosive growth of the settlemant over the past 20 years made it uneconomical to expand the wall or build another one. That being the case, Auriel, LeLu, and Jack were able to get into the city without being detected. To get to the heart of the city, though, Mia and Ikan Keekbutay were going to need to legally exist, and that meant finding Auriel's associate, Isai Akbaje.

Auriel first led the team to one of the outside-the-wall safehouses. "Remember this address, friends. This is one of our safehouses in the city, and should be a good place to lay low if find yourself in a tight spot, just as long as nobody follows you into here."

After looking about to make sure no one was watching them, Auriel led the team's horses into an alleyway where there were some hidden stables. She then led them into a secret entrance into the safehouse. The interior of the safehouse was oppressively dark. After lighting some nearby lamps, Auriel handed one to Jack and one to LeLu. The light emitted from the lamps revealed a large room filled with a multitude of shelves, laden with weapons, preserved food, distilled water jugs, various outfits, and so on.

"You two can have a look around if you wish. Perhaps you can find some items in the clothes section that can aid the disguises you were thinking about adopting..."

"Who goes there?" a voice called out from the gloom.

Auriel turned her lamp to reveal a gaunt, white haired elf. "Elthien Talagar, and some friends." The later part was something of a code. Had Auriel referred to Jack and LeLu as 'guests', then Telebrin, the aged elf and agent of the Rising Star in front of her would be informed that the couple were threats, and he would be able to take appropriate precautions.

Telebrin nodded. "Welcome to my warehouse, make yourselves at home."

Auriel turned Jack and LeLu. "Ikan, Mia, this is Celebrian. This place is under his care." Although she trusted Jack and LeLu, she wasn't sure how comfortable they were with all of the cloak and dagger stuff yet, so she introduced them to Telebrin's false identity just in case.

Auriel lifted her visor and approached Telebrin. "Celebrian, do you happen to know where I can find Isai? I need to have Mr. and Ms. Keekbutay's identities established."

There were very few people that risked doing Isai's side job as a document forger, and of the few that did, most didn't do it as well as Isai did. As such, Auriel made liberal use of his services. Hopefully she wouldn't come to regret that one day.

"I believe he was last seen heading to Barble's shop. Isai is known to get most of his meat from that particular hunter."

"Ah, thank you Celebrian, you're the best," Auriel replied with a smile.

"You know what the price of that information is, don't you?" Telebrin replied sternly.

Auriel's smile faltered. "I don't really have time for that..."

"Nobody has time for it, but if I don't enforce the rule, I can't do my job. No exceptions. Sorry commander."

Safehouse Sitters, on top of their job of looking after the safehouse(s) they were assigned to, were also tasked with collecting information from all of the agents that they came across. Keeping everyone up to date on the going-ons within the Rising Star and Dalen was a difficult task, but one that could make the difference between life or death out in the field. Due to the amount of agents they would see, especially otherwise hard to reach undercover operatives, as well as the Safehouse Sitters' otherwise fairly limited range of responsibilities, Safehouse Sitters were deemed to be the most appropriate conduits for information distribution and collection throughout the organization. Of course there were risks associated with making the keepers of the Rising Star's information so easily accessible. As such, only the most loyal members of the Rising Star were allowed to become Sitters, and Sitters were trained to commit suicide if they should find themselves in a situation where capture was likely.

All this to say that Auriel was now obligated to update Telebrin on what was going on in the world so he could in turn update other agents that came through. "Umm..." Auriel looked over her shoulder as she considered how much information she was willing to divulge that Jack and LuLu could potentially overhear.

"Would you like to take this conversation to another room?" Telebrin whispered.

Auriel paused. Usually, she wouldn't even consider letting new recruits overhear the confidential information she was now obligated to share, but Jack and LeLu were not normal recruits. Jack was her brother, and her going to a different room might cause him to (correctly) assume that she wanted to hide things from him. As fresh as their relationship was and as critical as Jack's cooperation was to her strategy, she couldn't afford to strain her relationship with him at this time.

Auriel shook her head. "We can stay here. So, uh, where should I begin?"

"Let's begin with Sunday morning, last week," Telebrin replied.

"Hmmm, okay..." Auriel began as she searched her memory. "So I woke up in my bed in my place in Velmontaire, then I emptied my bladder into the chamber pot I keep under my bed. From there I went to the bathouse to clean myself, and I..."

"I'm sure we're all fascinated by your morning rituals, commander," Telebrin interjected, with a hint of irritation present in his voice, "but I was under the impression that you were short on time. How about we skip to the important details, please."

"Aww, I was just getting to the spicy part," Auriel smirked. Telebrin's stern look told Auriel all she needed to know. She sighed. "You're no fun," she muttered.

From there, she told Telebrin about the various reports that had come across her desk. "...King of the Timber Crag Kingdom was murdered during negotiations with Dalen diplomats. Agent Keyes is under the impression that the people of Timber Crag believe the assassin was from Dalen. He doesn't know if this is true or not, but either way, Thalia's lords seem to be bracing for retribution. Our spies have reported that the lords of the territories that border the Timber Crag Kingdom have begun to raise their levies. There could be war. And Crown Prince Thierri has vanished, though Keyes assures in the report that he is still alive and probably is on some sort of secret mission."

Auriel took a breath before continuing, "Then I got reports of a disturbance in the town of Gaffen. Apparently someone offed the slaver lord that ran that place..." Auriel couldn't help but glance back at Jack as she said that last part. "The same person was then reported to have attacked another slaver gang in the town of Llandry. I sent some agents to these towns to capitalize on these opportunities then made my way to Rohan to prepare to search for the heroic individual responsible for putting those slaver scum in their place."

"I saw the bounty for him and the slave that was accompanying him," Telebrin stated. "I assume your friends are them?"

Auriel grimaced. "Is it that obvious?"

"In context, yes it is, but the guards shouldn't be so quick to catch on. They are quite occupied with a number of other things at the moment. There have been a number of strange murders recently that have the guards in a tizzy."

"Is there anything else you need to know?" Auriel asked.

"No, that will do, commander. Thank you for your time."

Auriel nodded, then waved him away. She turned back to Jack and LeLu. "I forgot about that particular process. Hopefully I won't need to give such a report at every safehouse we stop at, otherwise, this could take a very long time. Are you two ready to go?"