9. City Streets

Stella's eye-stars flicker and glances to the side, briefly insecure, then meets Duke Jannath's eyes. "Yes, but I bear them all proudly, your grace."
"You have, indeed, shown us much trust," Stella says with a slight bow. "We would like to reciprocate that, but shapechangers do not hide behind illusions either. And with the land on the brink of war, we would like to be most certain we're not divulging knowledge of our capabilities and tactics to spies, however unlikely."

"A wizard is never unarmed" Dieter comments.

"We would be armed and armoured only for the walk between the Silvershield estate and here. Besides, I don't think the number of our bodies or weapons on our belts puts a Wizard like yourself in such great danger. We show our trust by walking into your lair." Aiwë brings her dagger to her hand and cuts it, showing the red blood against her pale palms.

"Please prove that Duke Silvershield can trust you, now, and we will do what is needed to garner more of yours."

Duke Jannath's face remains impassive, but there's a slight twinkle in her eye. "I imagine you've only accomplished as much as you have by being cautious. Very well."

She pulls a pin from her hair. And then suddenly it's not a pin, but an ornate dagger. She makes a small cut on the tip of her finger. "You see? I am who I say." Indeed, a small driblet of blood pools on her finger, but her skin around the wound remains unchanged.

Skie pales slightly at the sight of the blood, but then leans forward in curiosity. "Aldous did say things could get messy..." She shrugs. "Not too bad so far!"

Jannath purses her lips at the Silvershield girl. "I should hope you don't see anything more exciting than this today, Skie."

The Grand Duke conjures a small bandage for her finger, then smiles at the group. "There! Now, this is hardly an important matter, but if you'll indulge me... What of Ramazith and his quest? What of Ragefast, and his tower, and his item of value? It's less a riddle, and more a... test of character." Once more the illusory tower appears. "How you go about answering is important to me."

"Is there a reimbursement plan for business expenses? What’s our budget? Dieter asks

"is this rival an outlaw? What kind of person is my employer? I don’t expect answers to these theoretical questions but these would heavily influence the procurement of this object" Dieter goes on "I do terrible things but I am not a terrible person"

Stella nods in agreement at Dieter's questions and peers at the tower.

She folds her arms, then and puts one finger to her lip, then holds up the finger. "You said assuming we accept this quest. For that to be true, we would have either gathered enough evidence that Ramazith can be trusted, and that this 'item of worth' was wrongfully taken by Ragefast and should be returned, or that the conflict is important enough to help resolve some other way." Stella looks to the others as she continues, looking to see if they have any objection as she continues speaking.

"In either case, I would prefer we first try to get into contact with Ragefast to discuss the conflict, and hear his side of the story," she explains. "If we can verify the item rightfully belongs to Ramazith and Rageast refuses to give it up, then we look to local laws and enforcements to address the issues. If there aren't any, or if we get permission to aid in such enforcements...well, then we can ask Ramazith what he knows of Ragefast and the tower and study it ourselves to find the best point of infiltration."

Stella looks like she has more to say but looks to the Duke to see her reaction so far and to the others to see if they have anything to contradict or add.

Aiwë holds out both hands, one bloody, one clean. "Feel my blood and let me feel yours. We're both capable of greater illusions than these wounds, and I like to be thorough. I'm satisfied enough for your question, though."

She listens to her friends responses. "I'm not a mercenary. The item must be worth retrieving beyond reward of riches, or a righting of the wrong of mere theft to assume Id agree. Assuming I do, I can only reiterate what Dieter and Stella have already said. We would approach his tower with information, planning, and as a last resort."

"Meticulous, aren't we?" Jannath's smile remains, but her tone says she's growing tired of Aiwe's persistence. "Here. I'm half surprised you don't want to taste my blood now. I've heard such tales of those from Icewind Dale." She takes the bandage of her finger and allows Aiwe her prodding.

When Aiwe's satisfied, the duke turns to the entire group. "You all display a desire for reason, rather than mere gold." She nods to herself, then continues. "In your thorough investigations, you learn that this 'item of value' is a dryad, captured and enslaved by Ragefast to do his bidding. Does this knowledge change things?"

"Yes, Slavery is an abomination. Unfortunately I don’t know much about Dryads beyond a brief encounter" Dieter answers quickly but leaving his new theoretical actions unanswered

Aiwë cleans the blood away with a song. She resists the urge to lick it clean out of spite. Instead she says with neutral tone, "Your tales are outdated."

"That detail does a lot to secure our aid, though I would follow up with why Razamith wants her freed. Would we be merely returning her to a prior slaver? Or the arms of a friend? Again, assuming we take the task, it would not change my approach."

Stella narrows her eyes, a few of the stars there flaring orange briefly at the mention of an enslaved dryad.

"As for getting in," Stella muses, eye-stars snapping to a sharp, calculating green as she looks over the illusory tower. "a mage's tower likely as defenses. I might send a familiar to scout—maybe a spider riding an Animal Messenger decoy—and cast Detect Magic to let it spot possible defenses...unless they've been masked by an Arcanist's Aura, of course," she says glowering slightly, speaking quickly as she thinks through the puzzle, starting to enjoy the exercise. She waves a hand.

"Either way, a Find Traps spell could inform us of the nature of such defenses. Dispel Magic to disable one or more of them. If Razamith knows Locate Creature, Scrying, or similar spells, he might be able help us find the Dryad's exact whereabouts. Either way, I could conjure Giant Eagles to carry us to the upper floors, if those seem less defended, then we can begin our search for the Dryad and work our way down." She waves a hand, summoning a pair of illusory giant eagles frozen mid-flight towards the top of the tower. "Or perhaps higher up out of fireball range...then a few of us can drop and Feather Fall down and get the others up via rope."

"A distraction could also prove useful, depending on how secluded in his tower Ragefast tends to be," she looks to Dieter, who was better at mundane tactics. She shrugs. "And if things devolve into a fight, we've faced several formidable mages before and know how to work together to disable them somewhat effectively...once their inevitable Dimension Door Contingency is gone, that is..." she mumbles.

She pauses and blinks, realizing just how much she took over and rambled on. "Um. What do each of you think?" she finally asks the other party members.

Aiwë blinks as well as Stella gets into the weeds. "I think I'm missing the point of this exercise...?" she says with confusion.

Skie's eyebrows climb higher and higher as Stella gives her series of explanations and counter-countermeasures. "I don't know what any of that meant, but it sounded amazing. Aldous sure did pick a smart one!"

Duke Jannath smiles at each of the companions' additions. "So characteristic of each of you! It all lines up with what my sources have said."

She raises a finger. "But one more question, and then I promise all will be made clear."

"You truly have been meticulous in your investigations and preparations to retrieve the dryad. Your line of questions has led you back to Ramazith himself, and you discover that he intends to..." She tilts her head and makes a show of searching for the right words, "...break her down into her most basic parts, in search of rare spell components and alchemical ingredients."

The duke exhales slowly through her nose as she watches the companions. "How might this knowledge influence your course of action?"

"I do what Stella tells me to do, and I do it well." Dieter replies.

"I would continue to use his resources and assistance in our planning, and then help her go where she wants to go, after she is freed from Ragefast."

Pick? Stella raises an eyebrow. That made it sound like he was searching for a ripe apple and plucked her off a tree. But, well, it was probably a compliment.
Stella blushes. She didn't lead the group, that was Aiwë...wasn't it? Was she that bossy? No, he was determined to dedicate his service to the group, follow orders, and follow them, though. Most of the time.
Stella suddenly glowers again, several eye-stars flaring orange. She nods in agreement with Aiwe. "If we don't have more dire business to attend to, we rescue the dryad and set them free," she declares. "Ramazith can find his ingredients elsewhere."

Duke Jannath grins widely and shakes her head. "Wonderful! I am confident you're you. No disguises, illusions, shapeshifters, charms, or similar subterfuge. I suppose you could be clones, but at some point that becomes a moot issue. Our paranoia is satisfied."

She turns to regard the door behind her. "Isn't it, Xan?"