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Post by Katerina on Aug 5, 2021 17:43:21 GMT
Kat:There are a few Deigans on the list, but no name is recognizable from her time in the city. Some servants are too low in importance to be named. She is told that she has the public list of names, a more extensive collection of names and ranks is only for the castle's security staff. " And would would that be who is in charge of Castle Security now? My last information was that it was probably Prince Caine but he is no longer around I understand." Kat asks. Whoever it is then they must already be kicking themselves about losing the King of the Gods to an assassin, so maybe he might want some help. If they were just a mortal rather than a God then she could see how they might make such an error.
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Post by Admin on Aug 5, 2021 18:32:02 GMT
Katerina:
She is directed to rooms underneath the castle. Not down the great spiraling stairway, but a more modest flight of steps. At the bottom are a few corridors and offices. Armed guards patrol the area and nod to Kat as she passes.
She finds the captain of the guard, one Lord Rexin, as he is called, sitting in his chair with his feet up on the desk. He stares at the ceiling.
"Lady Katerina, what a pleasant surprise! I rarely have people come down here for a friendly chat. Have you concerns about your security detail? Rest assured my people have eyes on you at all times and will protect you from harm. Unless you choose to engage in combat with Lord Xu - in those cases I tell my people to keep there noses out of it."
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Post by Eivor on Aug 5, 2021 19:06:58 GMT
"The center of all things," Eivor replies, fearing a trick question. "However necessary the party, the endless hours of preening are a luxury I can ill afford. I already have the ashes of Deiga on my conscience I would rather not have the same thing happen here."
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Post by Katerina on Aug 5, 2021 19:10:26 GMT
Kat laughs at Lord Rexin's jest. "No I have very little worry about my security. After all I'm no one here of any note, so I wouldn't expect anyone to be trying to kill me."
Back home maybe, but not here. Besides Kat knew to watch her back at all times, it had been drilled into her very core by now.
"Actually I came down here to offer my assistance. You will have no doubt read the report of Lady Eivor about my abilities. Recently I was warned by a servant called Luke to watch out for a man called Wollen. Looking at the lists of guests I saw no one of that name on it, but of course the public lists never include the real people who will be arriving and will be almost invisible to the majority of the party. That of course being the servants of the guests. If this Wollen is a threat posing as a servant then you need to be warned."
"Secondly I checked the mirrors of the room that belonged to the man who called himself Coy that was involved in the killing of the God King Random and his wife the Goddess Queen Vialle. He was trying on a disguise and I figured that it was something he might use again in the future." Kat describes what she saw.
"Now you might want to tell me to butt out of your business, in which case I can walk back up those stairs and try my best to enjoy the Goddess Princess Florimel's party. However I hope that you might want to get some eyes on the party floor who may be able to help in the security operation."
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Post by Admin on Aug 6, 2021 6:30:21 GMT
"Don't think so little of yourself, Lady. Reports say that you survived a trip through the Mirror Maze, which less than one percent of people can do. After that, you made it through the Hall of Mirrors with your sanity intact. People know of these feats, and they do talk.
"And some want you dead. There have been three verified assassins hunting for you that we were able to intercept and destroy. It's just another day on the job in Castle Security.
"Princess Florimel's party is meant to be a friendly celebration of friendship, peace, joy, and camaraderie. All the virtues we down here distrust. You couldn't be one of us and attend the party as an honoured guest because if you were unmasked then how could the princess explain spying on her supposed friends? In fact, I don't doubt that someone has observed your coming here and will already be circulating rumours that you are and have always been a member of my team and the stories of your past are fabrications meant to disguise your true role in the castle.
"Coy is an interesting case; I'm not entirely convinced that he was involved in the killing of the King and Queen, but he did have his reasons for breaking into the dungeons of the castle that night. I continue to be interested in his and his accomplice's whereabouts. Trust that I have people searching for them in the Golden Circle."
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Post by Katerina on Aug 6, 2021 6:53:19 GMT
Three assassins already? Who could hate her that much? She hadn't really done anything and the one thing she had done to the Maitre'd was in disguise and no one say her true form there.
Kat shrugs.
"I do what I have to for my home. I don't however understand how I could attract three assassins already. I've not been here that long and certainly not done anything that much that could make me enemies."
"The chances of the party being a friendly celebration of friendship, peace, joy, and camaraderie are exceptionally low I'd say. Even if nothing major happened thanks to your team, there will be undertones in every conversation from what I've seen so far and read in the history of the Gods. The offer stands and if you need my help you know where I'll be. I'm sure that you can get messages to me covertly. If you do then address them to me as 'Nomad' and I'll know its from you and not someone else. If you don't think Coy was responsible for the killings, then I suspect that you have another in mind for that, but like any keeper of secrets you'll not divulge a name."
Kat thought it an ironic touch to use the name that many of her tormentors in the castle back home used for her. She turns to leave.
"I'll keep my visit here brief then to lower the chances of detection. I hope my information was useful." She heads back up the stairs and back to her room. No doubt someone will be looking for her by now to start preparations for the party. If she was going to be some sort of honoured guest then she would need to be dressed appropriately for the role.
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Post by Admin on Aug 6, 2021 19:16:18 GMT
#s://i~ibb~co/j5FLskF/Florimel~jpg Eivor:"Well, we certainly are at the centre of things and the Pattern and all that, but really Amber is the society that has been built around Kolvir and through Shadow. Why sit here alone for eternity? Why would any of us want to spend all our time waiting in that cavern in expectation of some eldritch attack or something? No. it is the city that gives us meaning. This is why these parties are so important - a useful distraction to the emptiness of centuries of duty. It's why your uncles fight amongst each other to relieve the monotony.
"And it is why we must plan for this celebration."She takes a moment to look at the gown. "Much more revealing than I would have expected from you. Is this the beginning of a new Eivor for the new era?
"The loss of Deiga is a blow, but such a thing couldn't happen here. It was always a haphazard place of conflicting families and divided loyalties. Here, no matter the drama people come up with, they always line up in defence of the realm when the need arises."
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Post by Admin on Aug 6, 2021 19:26:01 GMT
Kat:
"Your existence and potential for future involvement in events are enough to mark you for death. The same can be said of all the royal family and us castle staff. There can be no doubt that those invading your homeland have mystic powers of their own. Powers that can reach across worlds and reach you even here.
"Nomad. I will remember that."
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Post by Eivor on Aug 6, 2021 19:47:04 GMT
Eivor grunts. "I assumed it was your wish, since it was your servants that designed it. If it displeases you I will gladly burn it."
"I admire your confidence in the city, the celebration and the defense of Amber. I will try to emulate your levity and charm at the appropriate time."
Judging by her current demeanor, it would require a herculean effort.
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Post by Katerina on Aug 6, 2021 20:53:10 GMT
Kat:"Your existence and potential for future involvement in events are enough to mark you for death. The same can be said of all the royal family and us castle staff. There can be no doubt that those invading your homeland have mystic powers of their own. Powers that can reach across worlds and reach you even here. "Nomad. I will remember that." And that makes me feel so much better. Why do you ever ask such things? Oh yeah right because you're a nosy so and so Katerina who likes to know everything!It was not so much the things that he said you the things that he didn't say but implied. She'd already had a few hints about it but had been studiously been trying to ignore the little threads of perhaps and maybes from things unsaid by others. However now she couldn't ignore them and pass them off. The fact that people here had given her the same title as Lady Eivor, a Goddess in her own right, when she didn't deserve it had been nagging at her for a while. Now Lord Rein had implied that she was part of the Royal Family without actually saying so in so many words. He'd implied that she was special through getting through the Mirror Maze. Lots of hints all pointing at the same thing without any confirmation. Everyone else seemed to know who she was except her and this was quite perturbing. Asking directly in public would of course just bring that confirmation to those who might want to kill her and perhaps give them some more urgency to want to actually put some more effort in and doing it. I truly am a nomad without a true home.She headed back to her rooms, taking the usual precautions as she went. She'd had one more dagger in the back in her lifetime than she wanted and she didn't want a repeat. Now she knew she had enemies here she could be more careful. If her rooms were empty when she got back to them, the first things she did was to check the mirror to see who else had been in the room. Then suspicious of there being a network of spies here she looked carefully around the room looking for spy holes and secret passages from it. Anyone suspicious of guests would of course seek to spy on them, but Kat wanted to know where there might be an additional quick exit from the room should she need it. She takes her time looking for it given her knowledge of such passages back home and if she found it she stuck a thin hair across the gap so as to see if the passage is being used when she is not there.
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Post by Admin on Aug 7, 2021 23:48:09 GMT
Eivor:
"Surely they consulted with you during the design? Or were they trying to decypher your grunts as directions? If anything, the gown isn't revealing enough! We are trying to charm our guests, and why not let the clothes help out a little if making pleasant small talk is such a task.
"You've been in Amber, at these sorts of banquets and function often enough over the years to have at least one of the young nobles catch your eye. Give me a few names, and I'll be sure to have you paired off with them during the night. And, oh, since you're here, how about a few suggestions of who to introduce Kat and Lorelei to. Calvera and Xu too. With any luck, we can announce a few engagements the day after the party.
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Post by Admin on Aug 7, 2021 23:56:05 GMT
Kat:
The mirror in her room shows only the servants in their daily dusting and cleaning of the room.
There is a note on her desk requiring her assistance in preparing for the party. Kat seems to require fine clothing, washing, and styling before she is presentable to the other guests.
Her search does find a secret passage from her room; a sconce on the wall is actually a lever that slides open a door behind a bookshelf. Inside is a twisting stairway leading up and down, barely wide enough for her to fit through without turning sideways and crab-walking.
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Post by Katerina on Aug 8, 2021 9:50:41 GMT
Katerina closes the secret door and fixes the hair over the secret passageway opening. She can explore it some other time. She's nimble enough to be able to manouevre down it and it was good to know that there was another way out.
Then she goes to find the writer of the note. Kat is used to preparing for such social occaisions and she is not worried at having to get herself new clothes and a makeover.
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Post by Eivor on Aug 8, 2021 20:10:43 GMT
"Rinaldo is the only one I want to talk to, and that is purely business," Eivor replies. "As for my cousins I'm not going to make suggestions for suitable partners for people I barely know. Kat is more worried about Coy and her homeland to think about romantic attachments. The only engagements you are likely to see in the near future are of the military kind. There will be blood before nuptials, of that I'm certain."
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Post by Admin on Aug 9, 2021 0:08:11 GMT
#s://i~ibb~co/j5FLskF/Florimel~jpg Eivor:Flora pouts. "You kids are no fun. I don't see why you couldn't find time for a little romance in between the fighting. Be sure to let Kat know that the backing of a noble house will help her get an army. And what's a first marriage anyway? Just a little useful little time to solidify connections in the city."A servant comes in apologizing and whispers something in Flora's ear then runs out of the room. Flora's face darkens with anger and she stands. "We will have to continue this later. It seems your cousin and her witch mother have decided to ruin this celebration of ours."She stops out of the room with veritable storm clouds above her head.
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