Chapter Three - Return to the Mournland

Torhak stood silently, listening to the politics of salvaging goods. A cutthroat business it turns out.

"Do we think any of us should travel alone while Ikar's forces are actively sniffing about?"

"That may be wise," 37 agrees with Torhak.

Laulalith winks at Torhak. "Your concern for my well-being is touching and most chivalrous. I do, however, have some experience in avoiding unwanted attention. Allow me to demonstrate."

"If Kalli will let me to borrow her likeness for a moment, then I would leave the hall like this." Her appearance changes as she speaks, slowly morphing into that of Kalli. As she continue to speak, her voice remains her own. "I doubt Ikar's people will attack one of the Grey Dogs in public. Am I right?" She looks at Kalli and raises and eyebrow as she says it, and then she continues. "Then I would go into a shop and politely ask the owner to use the backdoor in exchange for a few coins. Just before leaving, I would change again." This time, the illusion makes her appear as a middle-aged male scavenger in dusty clothing. "I would repeat that process at least once more, and that would make it quite hard for anyone to follow me without the aid of powerful magic." She returns to her normal appearance before continuing. "For the return trip, I could make Belaluur invisible if needed." She pauses and looks around at the others. "All in all, I think the risk is low."

Then she turns her attention back to the minotaur. "But we can also just go for a stroll together, Torhak." Then she changes once again. This time, her features remain the same while her clothing morphs, so she appears to be wearing a simple white dress with long white gloves. Finally, a pink lace umbrella appears in her hand. Then she winks at Torhak again, and puts on a rather posh accent. "It is so very kind of you to invite me to go on a promenade, good sir."

Torhak shifted a bit, possibly a sign of discomfort, "We would make, quite the sight" he tried to return the gesture of winking, but it was not something he'd ever practiced, and so it came off a bit awkward. "But your plan to divert attention is also, good."

Laulalith struggles to contain a smile as the minotaur's face contorts awkwardly to return her wink. For a moment, her mirth is replaced by a small pang of guilt at putting him on the spot like that. It passes quickly, however, and Laulalith once again focuses on the task at hand.

"But you're right. We do need to watch out for each other now." She thinks for a moment before continuing. "Let's go together. I'll do the disguise routine I just described while you simply walk slowly down the street. Just take a nice stroll in the neighbourhood while I meet up with Belaluur. If anyone is watching this hall, their eyes will surely be on you. If someone starts following you, it should be easy for me to spot them. If anything goes wrong, we call out and get assistance from the other. And I know a spell that will allow us to communicate discretely if that becomes necessary."

Then she once again assumes the likeness of Kalli and walks towards the great doors of the hall. "Come on, let's go.". At the door, she turns and winks at the minotaur again. "Unless you're scared of being used as bait, of course."

Tryne smiled at Laulalith's display of transformation, "Impressive trick. Definitely no following you through a crowded area."

The artificer moved up to look at the armor again, "Definitely impressive. We had a few surprises, but the warehouse was right where it was supposed to be. If this is what they wanted, then your patron was definitely well informed. All the research included, so someone should be able to finish it eventually."

After speaking with the Professor, he doubted that would be any time soon. He wondered at the professors other lab and what might be located there.

Meepo nods along to the conversation after they meet up with the rest of the group and shrugs his shoulders when they ask for suggestions on which person we should go through.

"I imagine you wont need to hide the broker once you get one as it seems the brokers know people in high places and would be foolish to attack one. But good luck in your journeys." Meepo observes the conversations off from the side.

37 looks around the former church. "I was not expecting company."

Torhak nodded and followed behind Lali, he continued to attempt to mimic the wink that she had once again instigated, but he just could not get it right, instead blinking both eyes multiple times. He must be the only bovine on the planet that couldn't close one eye at a time. Still, this was how progress was made, he would perfect this gesture.

Vice shouts; "Famul! We have a guest coming! Quick . . . uhm, . . what to people do when they have guest over?

"Good idea!" Vice says, and heads outside to tidy up. He starts by making sure the titan shield is clean.

Meepo watching Vice and Famul scurry about trying to make sure to be a good host for their visitors he shouts out to Vice. "Meepo will get some snacks!" And with that Meepo takes off his mask and heads out the door to purchase some fresh pastries and other delightful treats.

Laulalith pays close attention to the scavenger watching the hall. It could prove useful to assume his appearance at some point.

She relaxes a little as they make their way to the broker. It does not look like Ikar's people are preparing to move against the Guardians just yet. The hall is only being watched by a low-ranking grunt, and no one seems to be following them. Paranoia is part of her job, and it has served her well in the past, but it is always a pleasant surprise to find that her precautions are unneeded. She decides to spare some of the cloak-and-dagger routine and makes her way directly to Belaluur's office wearing Kalli's appearance.

Once inside, she waves the goblin proprietor over to a secluded corner to avoid attention from the other people in the room. She lets the disguise drop and greets Belaluur with a bow. "Laulalith the Bard, at your service. My fellow Guardians and I have just returned from a most successful trip to the Mournland organized by Kalli. Vice and 37 send their regards." She waits a moment to give the goblin time to adjust to her new appearance before she proceeds. "Kalli allowed me to assume her appearance on the way over here because we are receiving some unwanted attention from Ikar's people." She leans closer and checks that no one else can hear her. "We're in need of a broker, and I'm hoping I can convince you to follow us back to the hall. The item we have collected is large, and we would prefer to keep it away from prying eyes."

"My most handsome friend is a fellow Guardian, and I will let him introduce himself."

Torhak once again attempted the wink again, this time at Belaluur, it's better, but still mostly a blink. "I am Torhak, I am new to the guardians as well. Pleasure to meet you" he then swept his eyes back towards the door, making sure no one followed them in.

Tryne glanced around the church as the others considered cleaning up. "I... have no idea. Come to think of it, I've never had a place for anyone to come visit. Although the orphanage always made us make our cot up every day and clean the common areas. No one ever really cares if you clean the alley or abandoned building you are squatting in that week. Slept in the back of Ozlo's shop for a couple of years."

He glanced around, realizing he probably did not need to say all that out loud and no one would know who Ozlo was. "A dwarven shop owner I know. Closest thing to family I ever had. Let me crash in the back room of his shop, taught me a lot about making things... helped me with Talon."

Tryne started looking through the notes they had gathered from the Professor. He was not copying everything specifically since he was not an armorer - but he had some specific interest in power systems - thinking he might upgrade some of his future devices or Talen herself. As he finds specific things of interest, he jots them down in his own notes.