Emel looks immediately distrustful, her hand shooting to her flask as though making sure it was still there, visibly relaxing as she feels the familiar weight in her hip. "Mayhaps. No disrespect intended but I don't need a babysitter, I can handle my booze" She says, taking another sip from her bottle of ale. And for the moment that seems true. She doesn't even appear to be tipsy. "And I don't rightly see how it's your business." While her words are blunt, there doesn't seem to be any malice behind them. You all get the sense she's one to speak her mind freely.

Annoura swallows a bite of the sandwich, the mango really bringing out the cheese.  "Yeah, Rummus.  Honestly, if you can't trust us to behave like professionals, why are we even here?  I mean, I'm not much for alcohol but if I was, what of it?"  She takes another but of the sandwich, follows that with a the last 2 grapes, a sip of juice, the last of the sandwich and then the last of the sandwich.  The entire time she just looks at him.

Ebril looks at Rummus with a laugh. "Of course we've been drinking! You're the one that brought in the bottles of ale!"  He takes a large swig of it before setting it down to proceed to kind of randomly pick through the various fruits, meats, and cheeses to eat.  "But what is this about a map? I don't think we've been shown that." 

"I've nothing against a drink," Rummus raises his hands. "Dwarf, remember? I just need to know you're taking this seriously - when you go in there you'll need all your wits about you. There's no room for mistakes." Despite his assurances about his Dwarven nature his face remains as serious as ever, and you may well wonder if he's ever actually loosened up in his life. He was probably born frowning.

"Anyway, that's all I'll say on it, and I need to be off. I've some last preparations to make elsewhere, but I'll be back on Bane's Day to see you off with final instructions. Ilmater be with you."

At this he nods, and exits the hidden door.

Quote from Culuril >>

Ebril looks at Rummus with a laugh. "Of course we've been drinking! You're the one that brought in the bottles of ale!"  He takes a large swig of it before setting it down to proceed to kind of randomly pick through the various fruits, meats, and cheeses to eat.  "But what is this about a map? I don't think we've been shown that." 

((Before he leaves))

"That's not ale I can smell. Like I said, it's not today that matters, but when you're in there you'll need all your senses on top form"

((The map is on a table by the door, I mentioned in it the room description.))

Emel makes herself a cheese sandwich, finishing it and her drink in short order. She wavers slightly for a moment as she stands up, clears her throat, and moves over to the map, looking it over. "Any of you know exactly what the pins are for?"

Having had his fill of food, Ebril comes over and looks at the map beside Emel. He is still sipping at the bottle of ale. "Hmm, red pins and black pins."  He tries to see if he can make out any pattern to where the different colored pins are placed. (Insight: 13; not sure if that's the right roll, let me know and I can adjust). 

Annoura joins them at the map, squinting, considering.  Then she tries to remember what she knows of the Empire's troop and guard locations around the city, other Imperial installations.  How do they match up?

Intelligent/History (same bonus for either): 6

Findall was happy to see Rummus in one piece, or as happy as Findall could be, which admittedly was not a whole lot. He nodded to the apparently older dwarf, sure that if any complication had happened Bulkin wouldn’t be there serving beers. The scene was somewhat funny, the barbarian had to admit. Tensteps had a good sense of humor, if not strange for being able to genuinely laugh at Ebril’s bad jokes. Better yet, if Rummus is here then suspicion on our host is all but cleared. If the halfling was a dog of the empire soldiers would be upon then already.

Fast and silent Ironborn took to the food. A keen observer would notice that he feed methodically, as if he had little time to do. As is he was used to do so in little time. He nodded again in farewell to the not waiter and turned his attention to his allies as Emel ponders over the map.

“Well, our group is called the Red Cord and the symbol of the Empire's patron god has a black fist so I would hazard a guess those are significant locations to each faction. Maybe guard posts of Hands and bases of the Cord. Maybe establishments aligned with each side – supporters of our cause, recurrent informants of the Empire.  It could even be targets of operations, though I find it unlikely.”

Ebrill and Annoura reach much the same conclusion as Findall just as he speaks. Finding red pins over both the Three Axes and your current location at Mazeen's seems to confirm your suspicions, the one over you forming part of a rough circle surrounding the Maw, bringing to mind the illusion you were shown under the tavern.

There are a great deal more black pins than red, and they are in some worrying places. The obvious locations are marked - the Gleaming Palace, the Tower of the Black Hand, the Maw, the Nigredo Academy, the Vantarnen Cathedral, and a multitude of watch- and  gatehouses. Of  more concern, however, are various taverns and shops, and supposedly neutral locations such as the Ascaril Embassy and the Temple to Selune.

On the other hand, several black pins are closely accompanied with a red one. The gatehouses leading both north and south from the city; the Academy; even one inside the Palace itself. 

Annoura's roll helps her recognise all these locations and the significance behind them; Ebrill's roll allows you to accurately guess which of these might be friendly locations, and which might mark individual allies or hidden Red Cord agents, and the same with the black Empire pins.

As the group seems to ferret out the meaning of the pins, Ebril takes a moment to try to commit a couple of the friendly locations to memory. "While I see how useful this could be. It also seems like quite the risk should it be discovered." He finishes off the last of the ale from his bottle and slowly walks over to set it back on the table.  "Is there anything else here? Perhaps we should see if there's any work to be done." 

Annoura finishes studying the map.  "Yes, but the information has to be stored someplace and I'd wager there is some magical trap or other.  When next we speak with Rummus, we should find out how we contact some of these agents, which of them might be useful to the mission.  I'm sure this map was put here for us to use and he did say to study it.  But, yeah, I'm good with getting some work in."

"As am I. Idle hands tend to make ones thoughts far too loud" Emel says, taking another shot from her flask with a grimace. She takes an unsteady step back, visibly affected by the alcohol finally. She looks at the others, a grin starting  to form on her face. "We should get to know each other better! Do any of you wanna swap stories?"

As she asks this,  Mep almost seems to shake his head, saying something in draconic as he does. He then skitters over to the table they had been sitting at, eyes Emel for a second, then curls up , deciding to take a nap on the table.

“It can also be fake information, planted to mislead if this base is ever captured.” That was basic counter-intelligence and could disturb imperial operations for a while. Everything necessary would be to have half a dozen informants or so marked by red and the Hands would likely turn to investigating all of its allies. “That said, I think both of you have reason. This is definitely the most secret part of the property and good to keep the map hidden, but considering the tunnel it is indeed too risky.” The map also explained the Zone of Truth at the bar. The Cord could not take any chance sending there a group with much suspicion of having an insider. “We would do well talking to Bulkin and Tensteps about the thing. If it’s genuine we should memorize as much of it as possible. Specially the red pins closest to the Maw.”

Those, Findal gathered, were the ones they were more likely to need if something went wrong and they needed to run and hide in the city. Then came Emel’s proposition. There was wisdom in it. Knowing each other could improve rather dramatically their teamwork.

“I would be fine with swapping histories while we work.” Fin admitted even if unsure about what history to tell. “Should we start with our maiden battles or would you prefer I take the dwarven style and start telling the tale of my clan? I sure would like to know how you came by the little dragon.”

Her grin gets wider at Fin's response "Any story will do, so long as it's an entertaining one. Tell what you will, then I'd be more than happy to tell you how my overly judgemental csuvjis and I found each other."

(Csuvjis is pronounced Coo-sue-vee-his)

“I don't know about it being interesting but let’s go the traditional dwarven way.” He said while nodding to Emel. It was better that way. They had enough battles in front of them to need histories of fights past. “My clan was founded some two thousand years ago, which is not that long of a time for my kin.” They lived an average of three hundred and fifty years, after all. “The grandfather of my great-grandfather was an adventurer, which is a fancy way to say mercenary. When he got enough coin, he decided to settle down and open an inn. Eventually he formed a family and as its fortunes came from his fighting days, he thought it fair to say the household itself was born of iron hence the name Ironborn.”

Findal allowed himself a chuckle. He always thought the name was better than Weaponborn or Steelborn, although either description was likely more accurate in relation to the composition of his ancestor’s weapon.

“One would think that with a name like this the bloodline would be known for its warriors, but truth is we were known for the quality of innkeeping services and for brewing artisanal ale.” At least until the Empire started expanding. “I was always something of an oddity, deciding to go the martial route.” Not that he would change that. “What about your meeting?”

Ebril steps back to listen to Findal's story. Admittedly, he cringed a bit inside when the dwarf declared he would tell of the founding of his clan two thousand years ago. He did try very hard not to show it though, not wanting to be impolite.  He was pleased it turned out to be just a short, interesting tale of his forebearer establishing the family name. "I daresay, 'Ironborn' has so much more meaning now, knowing of your ancestor's story."  

He turns now toward Emel, not saying anything, but waiting to hear her story. 

"Well... I grew up on my parents farm. One year my parents were..." She hesitates. "A story for another time. Suffice to say eventually I ended up working in Deeprush. There was a cave-in, I ended up trapped. Had to find my own way out, almost starved. And I would've, but I saw a glimmering of light. With no other real choice, I went towards it. When I got there I realized it wasn't a torch, it was his egg." She nods towards Mep. "That's why his name is Mepvisp. It's draconic for lantern. Luckily I was able to feel a breeze where I found him, followed it, and got out."

Annoura listens with interest to the two disparate tale.  When they're done, she smiles at them both.  "Thank you both.   I enjoyed hearing your stories."  Turning to Findal, she said in flawless, unaccented dwarvish, "You honor us with the tale of your forebears and I am humbled to have been so honored."  She nods at him.

She then turns to Ebril. "Do you wish to go next, or would you like me to do so?"  She asks politely.

"Oh! Well I can go next I suppose. We'll save the best for last!" Ebril says, giving Annoura a smile. "Grew up in Arash, part of Myrus. I was raised by my father's grandparents."  He pauses just a moment, giving the others a sheepish look. "They were supposed to be watching me, but I had a lot of time to myself.  I mean, don't get me wrong. They were good people, and made sure I had a warm bed and didn't go hungry." 

His normally jovial manner seems to quiet a bit as he seems to have genuine affection for the memory of his grandparents. "As you can imagine, a young boy out on his own, I managed to get into my share of trouble. But my main vice was gambling."  He shrugs. "I do still enjoy games of chance. Anyhow, as I got older I took to traveling a bit more, leaving Arash now and then. I do enjoy traveling.  And it happens to be helpful to not stick too long in one place when you're hustling for money playing dice and such."  

He takes a deep breath. "This went on for a number of years. Usually had coin in my pocket, but on rare occasions I had to run from my debts.  Usually because they were cheating me though," he mumbles at the end. "One day though I met a gentleman, new to town, that I'd picked as a likely mark. Made sure to set the odds in my favor and played a few rounds of dice with him - I was trying to get enough money to move on to the next town. This guy was shrewd though and saw through what I was doing.  But in the end, I still won a great deal of coins from him.  He said I must have Tymora's blessing.  He talked a lot about Tymora as we played and said he was convinced I had Tymora's luck. I thought he was a bit overblown with all he said. But somehow what he said about listening to the whims of Tymora really stuck with me." 

"I used the money to move on.  But over about the next year this man's words stuck with me.  Now and then I'd get these...  well, hunches.  And the darndest thing was when I followed them, I always seemed to have the best luck!  Believe me, some of these hunches were strange.  One night, after a lot of drinking and a lot of dice playing, I... well, couldn't quite find my back to where I was staying.  So I saw this barn, snuck in, and found an out-of-the-way spot to sleep.  When I woke up I got one of those hunches - leave my bag of coins the hay loft of the barn.  And I did.  Managed to scrape up enough winnings the next night gambling to keep myself fed.  Then a few weeks later I hit a really big payout."  He shakes his head. "Don't know why that gold needed to be left there, but I believe there had to have been some purpose."  

Ebril takes a moment to glance around at the others. "For about a year I was able to win more coins that ever.  No matter how crazy the hunches I'd follow them.  And things always seemed to turn out.  I started to believe that man might have been right about having Tymora's luck.  And that's when I ran into the man once again.  Different tavern in a different town and we played cards and I told him all about what had happened.  That's when he told me he was a cleric of Tymora.  And he offered to take me to where I could learn more.  I felt one of those hunches and agreed to go."  He smiles. "A few years of training and traveling with other clerics of Tymora and I became a servant of the Lady Luck myself.  Best choice I ever made. I may be blessed by Tymora, but the biggest thing I realized is that we can all serve her by making luck for others.  And if we're going to win this fight we've signed up for we're going to need to spread that luck to as many as we can." 

He then chuckles. "Enough proselytizing from me.  Time to hear Annoura here tell us of the wonders of Moonmaiden!"