Granophyre is happy to oblige Auger’s suggestion. He removes his paperweight-sized gold-and-brass alloy bird from a pouch, and holding it in his palm, softly whistles a brief angular melody. Its wings extend like mercury and, flapping, lift the construct upwards a few inches, then it turns and darts up toward the rooftops, a soft metallic shadow reflecting the multi-faceted lantern lights from the street below.

The old sage pulls up his hood, and you enter the thoroughfare where, though not crowded, the pace is quick, and the various people in pairs and small groups, and beasts — dwarves, Shians, Cats, camels, elves, Jenghens, horses, and a tall, pregnant orc woman leading a good-looking, blinded human man by a leash — ably conceal any question as to the homogeneity or lack thereof of your group. 

The golden bird, alighting upon a tall cornice a ways up the hill, whistles for you to approach — a soft tune nearly concealed by the music coming not only from the castle but from a tavern nearby — but Granophyre makes out the signal, and in a minute you have crossed to an alley on the opposite side of the street and are out of view again. A few minutes later, you are just off the road which crosses an open stone face slanting up to the southeastern castle gate, at which several guards stand at attention.

One last building separates you from that final road, but though close to your goal, you stop short, for at the end of the alley you see someone hiding just at the corner, between you and that final slope to the gate. 

A person in a scale mail shirt and armored cap with nose and cheek guards, a scarf covering their face, crouches at the corner among several barrels of firewood and water, their hand on a short sword scabbard which just kisses the ground at their knee.

You duck into an alcove just as they turn to look your way, evading detection for now. 

As they approach the castle Auger notices the guards at attention and starts thinking of things to do to get past them. Perhaps they can create a distraction of some sort? As they enter the final alley Auger happens to be momentarily in the lead and as he sees the person and steps back, he almost stumbles and lets out a quiet gasp for air once they are situated out of view. Out of view for now.

"Hold a moment," Auger whispers to the others. "Let me send Py ahead to monitor this person. Hopefully they will move along shortly."

Py, get ahead and above this person and look to see what they are watching. And describe anything about them that you can. Let me know if they start heading this way.

As Py invisibly flies up and over the alley Auger nods to the others whispering, "Just a moment." Auger then relays anything Py tells him.

Snow slips back into the shadows at Auger's prompt, staying quiet and still. Their strategy had worked flawlessly so far, blending in with the crowd, but they couldn't afford to draw attention to themselves. And whatever this person was doing, seemed a little underhand, and they may not take kindly to being spotted.

He waits for Py to report back, but keeps his hand on his violin just in case he needs to draw on it's power.

"I can always talk to this person from a distance, without exposing ourselves", he whispers to the others.

Py buzzes upwards, then glides silently down the alley to spy on the armored skulker. 

‘They — a woman, I think — she is watching the castle gate. But, now she glances up at the rooftop — LOOK OUT!’

At that moment, a figure in imperial livery under a dryly fluttering dark cloak, falls from the second story roof of the building in whose alcove you have hidden, past windows and a laundry line to crash onto the ground between you and the hiding woman. Or so you expected, yet at the last instant, the lithe figure twists, absorbs the impact of their fall in a combat roll, then uses their momentum to fly toward you, simultaneously drawing a rapier and dagger pair, a blur of incisive motions which only stops when her blades are within a hair's breadth of Auger and Snow’s throats. 

Then, in utter surprise, she gasps in a harsh whisper, “Auger?! What the flock?!”

Her hood falls back to reveal a raven-black ponytail falling over her shoulder, and the comely, blush- and lipstick-enhanced features of Benita La Cass. 

"Benita!" Auger states in his own whisper. "I thought you were still in Kalahata. It is good to see you. Though surprising I might add." Auger reaches towards the dagger at his throat, pushing it away ever so slightly, but smiling as he does so. Then seeing the rapier at Snow's throat, he adds, "Captain Snow Das here is a friend. He saw us safely out of Kalahata and has stayed with us in our trip through the Vale." Auger makes no motion towards the rapier directly and realizes that his subtle motion against the dagger had been enough to prick his left index finger. He stops trying to exert any pressure at all, waiting for Benita to decide upon her own how to proceed.

Snow stands stock still as the rapier is held close to his throat. His eyes narrow and he starts to focus his will on the person in front him, ready to send a blast of telekinetic force at them to push them away. But then she whispers Auger's name, which gives him pause.

He watches the interaction between the pair, hearing Auger name the stranger as Benita, and his mind flicks back to Kalahata and the bag of coin that was dropped from the bridge. Varielky and Auger named the person who dropped it as Benita, so he knew this was a one time ally of theirs.

"It is good to put a face to the name", he says cautiously. "It would be better if the face were not holding a blade to my throat, of course. I would hate to lose my ability to speak", he adds as he slowly takes a step backwards.

"Benita!" Varielky calls, barely remembering to keep her voice down. She walks forewards, somewhat pulling Snow and Auger backwards to make way, and conpletely ignoring the drawn blades, pulls the woman into a nearly-dangerous-looking hug. 

"I missed you, even more than I thought I would." The excitement is dominating her voice. She then releases the woman, and takes a step back. "What are you doing here?" Varielky asks. "I thought you were done with life full of danger for the time being. Or are you more like me than you thought?" As she speaks, Varielky glances at the woman's belly, wondering if there'll be a visible change already.

Following a moment of utter surprise, the woman lowers both blades, though eying Snow doubtfully, yet a smile springs quickly to her face as Varielky embraces her. She pulls back, unable, seemingly, to believe her eyes, looks deeply into Varielky’s eyes, then assured it is really her, wraps her arms around the shield-maiden roughly, blade tips carefully tilted away from everyone.

“Bruiser!!,” she whispers, her voice overcome with emotion.

“And,” comes Granophyre’s hushed voice as he smiles to see La Cass but also looks down the alley at the hidden figure, “Who…?”

She stands, the woman at the end of the alley, and rushes over, quietly, her expression torn between overwrought concern, surprise, and joy. “How, how, can it be?,” she trails off. Lowering her scarf and pulling off her helm, another familiar face is revealed: Tamazaert. Auger notes that she seems to have aged a decade since you last saw her only two weeks ago, her eyes hard and almost wild, her face etched with pain.

Varielky notices no difference in Benita’s figure as the Indallian holds her at arm’s length, her face now reflecting a note of urgency.

“Vee! Auger!, Master Strewn! It’s Sura. They’ve taken him!”

At this young Tamazaert’s lip begins to tremble, her eyes to water. “Can you help me? Please!?,” comes her soft plea.

That makes sense, it's only been two weeks. And yet Varielky was being impatient. She wasn't even sure why. There's still so much time before...

Varielky's short string of thought is quickly cut off by Tamazaert's announcement. "Of course we will." Varielky answers rather impulsively. It was she who encouraged Tamazaert to escape with them, risking her life in the process. Varielky feels, in a way, responsible for the mother still. Saving a life carries responsibility, too. 

On second thought, however, she realises they're here for a reason of their own, and that they can't afford to risk it by getting captured while saving Sura. "Or, well..." Varielky falters. "Perhaps we should split after all. Two of us could go with Benita, while the other two complete our mission here." She turns to Strewn. "I can't ask you to - and neither do I want you to - abandon your quest for this. You are already so close. But I cannot walk away knowing I let Sura remain in any other hands than Tamazaert's." Varielky usually just avoided saying the difficult name, which was especially hard to remember, but at this moment all of a sudden it felt as if it was a name she knew for a long time. Perhaps it was seeing Tamazaert once again making an effort for Sura's sake, earning Varielky's earnest respect. Running away is one thing, but fighting for someone else's sake was the most honorous thing Varielky could think of... even if she wasn't sure Tamazaert, with Benita, was planning to fight the way Varielky would wish she did. "Please let me go with them, but at the same time, feel no guilt for not coming yourself. If anything goes wrong, maybe we'll even provide an unplanned distraction for you."

It just then occurs to Varielky that they might even be headed to the same place, even though she doubted the school's archives is where they keep a kidnapped baby. 

Seeing Tama again makes Auger happy he realizes. A young mother. But clearly in pain. "Who has taken Sura?", Auger puts in. "The... father? Or that Orc war chief?" Auger was not sure if the father was one of the orcs they had dispatched a few weeks back. "Someone with... imperial connections to bring the baby here. From Kalahata." Auger eyes the imperial livery that Benita is wearing. Disguise? Or is she in service? As a deception, perhaps? 

To Varielky Auger says, "We should probably learn a little more before we decide on a course of action. Splitting up may not be needed."

To Benita and Tamazaert, Auger asks, "Can you tell us your intentions this evening? We might all be served by a trip into the castle. I'll have Py keep watch where Tama was standing a moment ago while we confer."

“Sorry about that,” says Benita, sheathing her blade, her eyes darting to Snow’s neck as she hides a sly grin, “Snow,” she finishes, appreciatively taking in his white mane. 

As La Cass speaks, her eyes seem less guarded, although while the bard is used to women and men alike being drawn to him like a melody to its cadence, she—Benita—seems to Snow ambivalent, unswayed by his voice or good looks, and no doubt quite used to fighting off suitors herself. A single glaring blast of her dark eyes, one might assess, would be enough to discourage the most fervent pursuit — or, strike a mortal blow straight to the heart of the unlucky recipient of her rebuke.

“Varielky, you know what they say:,” the comely Indallian continues, “you can take the fight from the fighter but you can’t thwart the cold with a sword. I thought I was done, but when I found out what happened I had no choice.”

“Haha!,” she answers to the shield-maiden’s plan, “I’ve missed you bruiser. Rush into the fray first, ask questions later.”

Strewn replies to Varielky too, “Of course, of course, but…,” and before he can ask for more information, Auger beats him to it.

In answer to the southerner’s queries,  Tamazaert wipes her tears, though they continue to stream out at intervals despite her efforts, and yet her eyes are hard again behind the tears. She sets her jaw and the young woman — not yet twenty summers old — tells her tale. 

“I was working at the Abziri Archives, they liked me there except for the Viscount’s valet. But then, the kind Viscount was taken away to jail. That valet kept looking at me, I thought he would try something, but it wasn’t me, it was Sura — my boy, whose father is an orc from the Steppes,” she explains to Snow,  “— only five months old, the valet had fastened his eyes upon. 

“One day he asks me to speak with him up in the tower. How can I say no, though I wanted to. Once there his men appear, pin my arms, and take Sura, and hand him to a Roc Rider, and I can only watch and cry as I see home lifted away with another dozen babies in sacks lining the saddle, up into the sky, away into the Vale. It’s why I left the orcs, because they give up their Jenghen-born children to the reaping twice a year and I didnt want to give Sura to them. 

“But they found him anyway. 

“I nearly dropped off the tower then, I fainted. I woke up in the street outside the mansion where someone had carried me and left me. I found my way home. I’d be dead today if Benita had not come to check on me later.”

“Don’t speak like that Tamazaert! We will get him back!,” interjects Benita. 

“That’s what you said then, and it made all the difference,” the young mother continues. “I’m only human, but nothing will stop me getting him back, though I die trying. Don’t look at me like that! But Benita helped me to find where the Rocs go, up to the top of the mountain over this castle.”

“We discovered,” continues Benita, “from…an admirer,” she says, cracking her knuckles meaningfully and sharing a smirk with Varielky, “that the easiest way into the castle is through the back door of a girls school under the castle. Its entrance is just beyond this gate. That back door leads to a stairway up to the tram line which can take us to the mountaintop. That’s where we are going, and we have no time to waste! The rocs will take all the Jenghen babies they’ve collected, a thousand miles away, to Jen Ghessa, tonight!

“My plan is to arrive just before the change of guards. In this disguise, sweet talk our way past and into the school. 

“Now. What the flock are you doing here?”

As she speaks, she walks, slowly — urging you all to keep up with her — to the alley’s corner, and once there, peeks around its edge at the guarded gate. At this moment, a fresh set of guards, old and obese, can be seen through the gates, coming to relieve those who were there before. 

Against his nature, Snow stays quiet as the friends chat and Benita and Tamazaert tell their story. He simply sizes up the newcomers, knowing that for them to have history with his companions means they were likely more than they seemed.

As the story unfolds, a frown grows on his face, turning into a look of disgust at the practice of separating a child from it's mother. He knows the others, they would agree to help strangers in this situation, let alone friends. And that is what these people are to him, strangers. And yet he too cannot walk away from this.

He picks out a detail from the story that peeks his interest beyond the horror of it all.

"This valet, was his name Sekkura Tadefi?", he asks quickly interjecting before the others had time to tell their story.

Varielky, unconsciously clenching her fists, does not try to hide her anger at all. That said, she doesn't do anything rash. "The aerie?" Varielky exchanges a glance with Auger. "You wanted to go there anyway, did you not? If splitting isn't needed then great, but otherwise, maybe Auger and I shall go with Benita, and you two scholars can search the archive?" 

Turning to Benita, Varielky explains in simplicity: "Still pursuing the same goal. Our last lead has led us here. We believe Safiyah's whereabouts can be found in the archive." To Tamazaert, Varielky puts a hand on her shoulder. "And one day Sura will know exactly how brave his mother is. You will tell him yourself." Perhaps there is something strange in this picture, for Varielky is far shorter than Tamazaert, and only being a few years older - not more than half a dozen, surely.

Quote from VolcanoLair >>

"This valet, was his name Sekkura Tadefi?",

Tamazaert nods, one eye blinking shut, her lips turning up in a snarl. “Yes, that is him.”

"We have come across his handy work before, a vile creature devoid of morality. It seems his evil knows no bounds, nor does his willingness to ally with the unscrupulous", Snow replies.

He turns to Varielky, "If you would prefer to keep this between old friends, I understand, but know I would be more than willing assist in the extraction of the child. In truth, information about Safiyah seems like a secondary concern right now".

"I am hoping we can get both tasks done," Varielky answers. "And rather than pushing you out of it, I simply think it is the best course of action. I could be wrong, of course. We don't really know how long it would take us to find what we need, so I don't want to wait and potentially miss Sura. Moreover, the closer we get to the moment of transportation, the more empirical soldiers would be there, I imagine. At the same time, however, if anything happens while saving Sura, it will be much more difficult to infiltrate this place again... maybe." Varielky realises she makes a lot of assumptions, but since most of these are assuming worst-case scenarios, she deems it fine.

After a short pause, she continues: "So if we want to achieve both goals, it seems to me like we must split. Auger mentioned he wanted to go to the aerie for... some reason?" She looks at Auger inquiringly for a moment - more information would make planning simpler - but pushes no further. "And between you and me, I think you'll be of more use searching for a document." Although, on second thought, he'll probably be of more use for sneaking and retrieving a baby too. Perhaps the right thing to say is that she'll be able to contribute more to defending those who sneak deeper into the castle than she'll be reading through the archives.

"I don't know what it is that draws me to the aerie." Auger says, "It may be nothing. It may take a while to learn what it is. Whatever it is has caught my attention since before we entered the Vale. In... dreams. And yes, the time to save Sura is now. Lets start moving and see whether the archive will be a safe haven for Strewn while we go... up. What do you think Granophyre?"

“I think the moment for action has arrived. Let us enter the school and determine our next steps once inside,” replies Granophyre. 

Benita is already carefully watching the guards change places, and as the prior shift takes their leave and crosses in front of the castle to disappear into a servants’ entrance, the new guards creakily take their places.

“Do any of you want to come with me to clear a path?,” asks Benita as she makes to exit the alley and approach the gate. (OOC: She had mentioned sweet-talking her way in.)

Although persuasive at times, Auger looks to Snow to see what he plans to do. Where Auger could do some small things to help himself, Snow's magic had already demonstrated its superiority in these areas. To Benita, Auger says, "Perhaps hold a moment so we can get out stories straight. Snow here is extremely effective at matters of this sort, though I am willing to join should another voice be helpful."

“I’ll see what I can do, follow my lead”, Snow says to Benita as he breaks cover and strides confidently towards the gate, violin in hand.

As he walks he half turns and berates Benita, “How you have managed to almost make me late for my performance I will never know, such incompetence. You know who is in the audience tonight, who specifically requested me to perform? Of course you do”, he says loud enough for the guards to hear, then turns to look at them as they block his way.

“What is this, why do you block my way?”, he says to the guards. “Do you not know who I am? Do you not remember letting me out the gates not 30 minutes gone?”.

He turns back to Benita, “Do they not know who I am? Oh, the Princess will be hearing of this debacle”.

“I suggest if you have an interest in ensuring your heads remain attached to your necks, you will open this gate and clear a path for myself and my retinue right now. I still have to change before my performance! Although I may as well just get straight back on an airship and head home to Pomeroy at this rate”, he says turning back and looking daggers at the guards. He looks to Benita again then motions at the guards as if to signal, do something!

Deception: 6 + 8 = 14 (If Benita can do something to help: 2 + 8 = 10)