Matters of Safety

Jp with GM and Bandorchu

Ostiarium
Moving into the Keep, the Knight of Salos dispatched a few orders to soldiers and servants as he veered left, bypassing the great hall to traverse a corridor leading towards the keep's inner sections. Further down was a stair that led to the dungeons, however, Sir Eudon Zane halted at a smaller, more intimate room typically reserved for private discussions with visitors. Retrieving a cup from a cabinet, he filled it with golden ale from a small barrel, adorned with an image of a skunk in lavish attire, and took a hearty swig, murmuring appreciatively, "Skunkworks."

He then motioned to Alexis and Tarmen to serve themselves, expressing contentment with a satisfied grunt, as he stood close to a fireplace that had already been made ready. "I assume you're aware of the recent murders. A damn tragedy, the loss of Sadir.” He took another sip. “…and young Riese. The lordling was just beginning to show promise..." Sir Zane's voice trailed off, wondering if Wim would have fared better as his own squire.

“…yes.“

Alexis curtly confirmed. It had hurt, even more lost friends and acquaintances. No silver lining to be had, just more doom and gloom. That was just how it was.

She made no move to pour herself a cup, staring off into a corner of the room, away from the fireplace, in quiet contemplation.

Hearing of Wim's murder sparked Tarmen's rage anew. He was smart enough to put down the offered bottle before it broke in his grip however.

The ale he swallowed callously was much needed as names resurfaced with a rumble in his thoughts. Those he had felt little care for and those that hit too close to home.
And now Gon'yaul...

His previous veneer of good will slipped as an edge came to his tone.

"Quite aware, though didn't take you for one to reminisce while your ships burn."

Sir Zane half-laughed, half-groaned at the obvious sass from Tarmen, “Live as long as I have, jungle cub, and you’ll find yourself reflecting on the past too.”

Fucking shit. He’d like to trade places with the Kr’ull man for one day, just to see how he would handle his duties and burdens. How would things unfold?

“Little left to be salvaged, but make no mistake, these desert dwelling bastards will pay tenfold soon enough. Helian steel, blood, tooth and fucking nail. Now… do you have something you’re itching to say or are you content on keeping at the churlish remarks? I’ve seen enough in my years to know that you were skirting around some truth earlier. Something you were hesitant to disclose in front of that walking corpse, Otho.”

As ever, the old wolf still had teeth. Tarmen almost envied the man's resigned confidence.

He wasn't sure how much Zane was suspecting, but looked to Alexis as a cue. Tarmen had given the initial report, but he wanted her to decide what was worth imparting to the knight.

Alexis sighed.

“Yes. Problem is, I have some trouble explaining, given I barely get it myself.”

She looked the old knight straight into the eyes.

“I’ll assume leadership is aware the Ozainae have a good number of magik users in their ranks. But their magik is… different, somehow. They believe they receive it from their gods. And I have seen measures that worked on ‘normal’ magik not work on magik cast by an Ozainae.”

She didn’t really expect him or anyone to pay something so vague any heed, but it had been on her mind and she didn’t want the Helians run into this fully unaware.

Sir Zane himself had bore witness to Odsier casters that could move the very earth below their feet and others who could seemingly transport themselves instantaneously from one place to another.

But these two... they hadn't been present with the armies on the plains, so what did they know of magik? Dust and water... It was said that the Ozainae could control. How was that any different?

Of course. They had experienced things on Sentinel Island. Something to do with the natives controlling animals and spitting smoke. Fighting off some magikal creature that could turn to wind and dust. The Arbiter.

His analytical gaze narrowed as he connected the dots between Alexis and Tarmen’s evasive details and the scattered intelligence gathered from various sources, including the report from the Purger's man.

If they were in league with the maverick they may be fabricating a story of her death to put the Inquisition off her scent.

“Your hesitance speaks volumes,” Sir Zane mused. “It’s Voah Sahnsuur you’re speaking of, isn’t it? She was reportedly living in their holy city with some tattooed Kru'll man. If her measures failed... What then? Some Ozainae get the better of her?"

Zane's information from Gra'akast threw Tarmen off a little. He hadn't guessed they had heard news from that far and him bringing up Voah let Tarmen know they really shouldn't have risked coming back here.

They were here though and to protect Voah he sought to find any stretch he could.

"We had seen the Arbiter while there, she in fact aided our own escape, though we were separated when Alexis and I sought to follow the artifact. She was never bested from my knowledge, but as Greyriver said, there seems to be an equal power at work."

Tarmen looked the old man in the eye, not speaking with loyal zealotry, but with blunt comradre that sought to know the full picture.

"If the traitor that leads them knows this and no doubt they do, only havin' a few Inquisitors here won't be enough. A damned pile of rubble sure won't keep them out."

In a distant way, Alexis really admired Tarmen’s wordsmithing.

It was something in which she would always be lacking, in a way wilfully so. So she kept her quiet, and let her friend do his thing. She had no intention to throw Voah to the wolves, either.

Tarmen’s remarks raised a myriad of questions, but the most pressing matters rose to the surface.

Ostiarium had had the Silent Flock. They were formidable and helped significantly in their efforts against the Odsier on the plains, to great losses unfortunately. Few remained. If this Ozainae magik was different… unstoppable by their God-backed abilities… If they were to properly defend the city from what was coming, they all needed to know how best to proceed. What works and what doesn’t.

“Well, man. Now’s not the time to skimp on the bloody details. We can’t just pull inquisitors out of our pockets, can we?“

Tarmen was glad to see the topic change in their favor, though his actual knowledge of the matter was very limited. There was a time for wordplay and a time for truth, this requiring more truth. He tried recalling what he had personally seen in the chaos of Gra'akast, but there wasn't much. He knew it had been different from Sentinel, Voah having been soundly triumphant then.

"The Arbiter herself proved more than a match in facing them, but she wasn't able to give much help to us. With the numbers the Horde has, each of our Inquisitors will be too busy fighting for their own lives to lend any real support if separated."

As for explaining the magic itself, he couldn't find the words. Seeing it, such as Silina and her sand magic, was different from understanding it. He looked to Alexis for her experience, choosing not to include her own connection to such forces.

"Greyriver, you know a bit more than I do about the magic."

Yeah, because she was the fucking expert. Gods damn it.

“Fine.”

Alexis shook her head and gave a self deprecating smile.

“I think we can all agree that I’m not a freaking scholar, so, unfortunately, ‘to the best of my knowledge’ is… not going to be very good.”

Where to even begin?

“So, supposedly those Twins have been very naughty and have been meddling with the fabric that would keep magik in check, going as far as to sacrifice their very own sister to achieve it. The Ozainae seem to like to gloss over that. As a result they have a semi immortal leader for their people, and magik is apparently a divine boon to be given. I can only assume that, in that case, those boons might be limited to what the gods represent. Sand and water. I think.”

She shrugged, feeling rather unfit to explain such matters.

“Anyways. When push came to shove down in Gra’akast, there was also a Helian witch present. In Odonine getup, mind you. So you can make your guesses there.”

She continued.

“This magik stopping worked plenty on her. Not so much on that Ozainae summoning a miniature sand storm. Could be a reach thing, sure, or anything else for that matter. I’m not an Inquisitor, after all. But if it is not…”

She sighed and looked at the knight earnestly.

“…if there is, in fact, something different about it fundamentally… then you at least don’t want to be caught by surprise, do you?”

Not a scholar she says… The knight harrumphed. It seemed like Alexis had uncovered quite a bit. Found some Ozainae friends to explain the history maybe. Or perhaps the Arbiter was her mentor? Perhaps Voah wasn’t a maverick after all. At least, he didn’t get that impression by what he’d heard from these two, nor the report from the Purger’s man. She was out in their holy land fighting witches, but for some reason the champion of Zin still wanted her head.

“No, I’d prefer we no longer be caught with our pants downs. But there’s little to be done regarding their strange magik until we find a weakness. We’ll need to have a little chat with our prisoner later to see what we can find out. Perhaps get ourselves one of their casters.”

So… the armies of Ostiarium would be up against water and dust, and maybe more, that may not be stopped by an inquisitor? An annoyance, but perhaps not too problematic. It was a game of numbers and the old Knight of Salos knew they were outmanned. He pondered what options they had left — he knew the Helians still had a few tricks up their sleeves, though he couldn’t help but feel that sense of impending doom that had been nagging at him since he got the message of war.

So many more questions.

“What of this artifact you sought? Lost it to some Ozainae that fled to Sentinel? What importance does it have?”

Tarmen jumped back in the conversation here. None of these upper-crusts needed to know of Alexis’s new “gifts”.

“That would be a matter of the Duke’s. We were never told of its importance nor what it would do, only that he wanted it. And yes, it is now on Sentinel.”