After the departure of Shroud and Neave the group were left
at a cross roads. Not one of them had any real direction. It was too late at
night to go searching in the dark and the myriad of offshoots and dead ends. Of
course this was under the assumption that the children were either going to a
safe place at the time, or were already there. Regardless, they were all tired,
aching and they needed their wounds tended to. With what had just had happened Lily was not keen
on going to a more well known establishment to rest for the night, in fact any
place with a name was off the list. She remembered a small spot that was recommended
to her by her employer. It was a small sliver of an inn, with most of the rooms
occupying the lower floors rather than above.
The interior as well as most of the furnishings were made out of a dark
stained wood, while the lighting was provided by candles that burned in
different hues, giving off an intense concoction of aromatics. The innkeeper
was a woman portly woman known as Areanna.
She was a kind soul and perhaps at some point she accepted
and even enjoyed being part of something more but out of her control. She had a
habit of being able to procure anything within the city, given enough time. At
the bar counter Lily asked if Areanna could pass on a message for her, that her
assignment was complete. Areanna nodded the disappeared for a few moments
behind the bar and returned with a nod. She asked Lily to stay a while and
there will eventually be a response. Chloe on the other hand had decided that
if this woman could possibly get anything, then perhaps she could get her a
dress of a fitting stature, something nobody could argue with or mistake her
for anything else. Areanna nodded and said to Lily that getting this dress will
count towards her favours and disappeared before Lily could respond.
She shot a piecing look over at Chloe who had now gone back into herself muttering
words under her breath.
By the time the focus had turned to Eryn he had already disappeared
below to find his own quarters to sleep in. Unfortunately for him, he found
that the sleeping arrangements were communal, although luckily nobody was here.
He sparked the fireplace back into life with his finger tips and took some of
the woollen blankets and curled up. His mind was working overtime in the quiet,
trying to figure out the best possible solution to get to the children and to
get them out of the city. He cast his mind back to the first few hours after he
had been let go from the execution, back to the Pale Spine. House Ethis was transporting illegal substances out of the
city in barrels designed to look like casks for ale. If the children were small
enough, or flexible enough, perhaps a repurposed barrel could give them
passage. The only problem was gaining a silver coin for the Palm, since they
were the ones carrying out the actual transport. He remembered that on the way
to the hide out on the sixth floor, talking to an old man who was worried about
his missing son. He had gotten involved in a criminal gang called the Minotaur and had not been
heard from the past few days. The man also mentioned the extent of his worry, that
he had heard that that the lower floors were apparently being 'cleansed' by the
Silver Palm, reducing any opposing faction that did not join the syndicate to
smouldering corpses. If he brought the
leader of the Minotaur gang to the Silver Palm then perhaps they would exchange
the life for a coin. He decided this perhaps would be the best course of
action, and not to risk any further complications, he was to do this alone. Since
Dehart was the only contact he had, he
would need to descend down the Foundations to find him and of course this would
also mean the the right area to find Neave's house.
Back at the bar no customers had entered to this place since
Lily had arrived and she was thankful; a
peaceful night for once. Areanna was slowly snuffing out the candles when the
door creaked open and cast curls of smoke billowing from the doorway. Areanna recognised the old woman that now
stood hunched with a sack on her shoulder at the door. She disappeared into the
back leaving Lily and Chloe alone with the woman. Lily recognised her as the key
giver from the Tangent Bank, and under the thumb of a man named Silas and in
league with Styenbeck. The old woman was dressed in more refined clothing, although
the colours were muted. Her adornments and jewellery were plain silver and the
cloth had an almost humble quality to it. She shuffled over to a table with
Areanna instantly popping out to light the extinguished candle at the table. In
the flicking cyan light, she curled a wrinkled finger to Lily in a gesture for
her to sit.
Lily was in two minds; this woman was deceptive,
intentionally so, but so was her employer
and perhaps the two were linked. Chloe was pushed into a chair in the
corner of the room to stay out of trouble. Lily cautiously walked over with her
hand on the hilt of her blade. The old woman told her that she had done well as a
puppet, and although their mutual employer was forced to intervene, the results
were satisfactory. In fact her competency was to be rewarded. Inside the sack
was a small plate with a gold scarab inlay set into a deep green gemstone. She
passed it over to Lily who, as instructed, put it over her finger without much
thought. The metalwork legs lifted themselves from the gemstone and curled
round Lily's finger to form a ring. The woman proceeded to take out another
stone and opened up a compartment hidden under the ring's facade. She placed it inside and closed the lid, with the stone
reappearing in the old woman's hand in blink of an eye. She then informed Lily that she was now as
they called an Entwined, a step up from being a Marionette as she the old woman
described. With this new position however, her record was wiped clean, and so
her behaviour and results were deeply unsatisfactory and would therefore she
would be getting a new assignment in the morning to prove that their employer's
investment was the right one. Lily kept quiet and nodded. On the other hand
however, intrigued by the glimmer and the movement of the ring, Chloe had tried
to sneak up to the table. The old woman turned to Chloe and asked what her business
was. With little prepared for being caught, the only thing she could offer up
was the flower. The old woman's only response in a bitter tone was Melvile.
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