The Silent Runes of Suzail

"Oh," Shenua suddenly remembers after Vorenus says he can disguise himself. "I can do that as well!" So many days without using her abilities had almost made her forget about them. "And perhaps you can use your disguise kit on Iromae, as you did a while ago?"

"Out of the question," the tiefling seconds Iromae as Merienne suggests they murder someone as payment for the mirrorcraft. "We are not murderers, Merienne. The second task sounds difficult, but I prefer difficulty over sheer murder. Tell us more, though. How will we recognize the courier? Do you know their exact route? Are they usually alone, or do they have some kind of escort protecting them? Any detail you can give will help us."

She nods toward Iromae when she suggests they need a moment to discuss, though she would rather do that after Merienne fills in the details.

Vorenus nods and pulls Iromae and Shenua aside for a quick, quiet conference for a moment.  “So, task one is out.  Fine with me, I agree.  I can defend myself, and with lethal force if necessary, but this seems more like the work of an assassin.  I am not up for that.  Taking a document and misdirecting some courier… that is more my speed as well.  Perhaps there will be a weak spot in the route, a time to encounter this person, deceive them and receive the document, then get away.”  He nods to Merienne, wanting to hear the details as well.  “We have decided on the second task.  Tell us anything that would help us succeed in retrieving this document.”

Merienne watches the three of you confer quietly among yourselves, saying nothing while you reach your decision.

When Vorenus turns back and speaks, she inclines her head slightly. “I suspected you might choose that path.” There is no disappointment in her voice — merely acknowledgement. “Not everyone who opposes the Crown wishes to become what it fears.”

She folds her hands loosely atop the table.

“The courier will depart the Old Registry Hall shortly after sunset. The building sits two streets north of the Temple District — a dull place full of clerks and sealed cabinets. No one visits unless they are required to.”

Her eyes settle briefly on Shenua. “The document you are retrieving will be carried in a black leather dispatch folio marked with the Crown’s wax seal. The courier himself is a junior archivist named Halver Tonn. Young. Careful. The sort of man who believes procedures protect him.”

A faint hint of dry amusement touches her expression. “He will likely be alone. Escorts are reserved for matters the Crown admits are important. This transfer is meant to appear routine.”

Merienne rises and crosses the small room, pulling open a drawer in one of her worktables. After a moment she returns with a folded scrap of parchment. She sets it on the table and turns it so you can see. A rough sketch of several streets appears, the ink lines confident and quick.

“This is the route he usually takes,” she explains, tracing the line with one finger. “Registry Hall ... through the Market Quarter ... then east toward the Inner Ministry offices near the palace district.” Her finger pauses near the midpoint. “This stretch here is the narrowest part of the route. A service alley used by vendors bringing goods to the market.”

She looks up. “If you wished to intercept him without attracting attention, that would be the place.”

Then she adds calmly, “Convince him to hand over the folio. Trick him. Distract him. Replace the document with something else if you wish.” A small shrug follows. “I do not particularly care how you manage it.”

Her gaze sharpens slightly. “But you must bring me the original document before midnight.”

She gestures briefly toward the garments hanging behind her worktable. “If you succeed, your mirrorcraft will be finished before tomorrow evening’s ball.”

A brief pause settles over the room. Then she adds one more piece of information: “And one final thing.” Her eyes move between the three of you. “It is highly unlikely the courier will know what he carries.”

A faint smile appears. “But the people waiting for it certainly do.”

Shenua listens carefully as Merienne shares the information. When she finishes, the tiefling points to the scrap of parchment with a clawed index finger, "Can we take this with us?"

If Merienne agrees, she pockets the parchment. "Just in case."

She then looks toward Iromae and Vorenus. "I think we have all we need, right, guys? Not that I know exactly how we'll retrieve the document, but we'll think of something. We always do," she adds with a wink toward her friends.

"We still have a bit of time. Shall we rest a little at our usual place and think of a plan?" she asks. 

Before they leave, Shenua turns to Merienne and gives her a cheeky smile. "I can't wait to see the finished mirrorcraft. Please make them look stunning ...we'll have plenty of nobles to impress!"

Iromae closely listens to Merienne's description of what they are looking for and the route of the courier. For a moment she wonders just how she got the information. 'Or really, the Silvershroud evidently. At least, I think that was the name she said.'  In the end she decides perhaps she doesn't want to know. She nods in agreement when Shenua asks for the parchment. "That would be helpful to have the drawing."  

"And yes, I don't think there's anything else at the moment. Time to get to work." She gives Shenua a long look, amazed at her jokes and her eagerness to enjoy the upcoming ball. The weight of all they needed to do, the seriousness of what Merienne was asking, and the risk of being here was pressing on her. She was not feeling like joking herself. 

"Halver Tonn... "  Vorenus repeats, committing the name to memory.  He watches the construction of the map, then locks the details of that away as well.  "Hmm... Some good ole misdirection.  That's the ticket.  Make him believe that we are on the same team.  Buddyros.  A fellow courier just trying to courry."  Vorenus closes his eyes for a minute, holding his hand to his head, thinking over a plan of attack. He thinks of all of the couriers they have seen, conjures an image in his mind, commonalities, anything that he has seen for official crown business.  

"So.  Can I borrow that quill and have another piece of parchment?  Umm.. two actually.  Thanks..."  On the top page, he writes in fancy-looking, flowing script, "Official Business, Eyes Only."  He looks over at Merienne, saying "Do you know of a logo they might use, something that would be common among their documents?"  If so, he adds it.  On the second page, he writes out a grocery list.  Something that would be appropriate for a high-end restaurant.  "Mutton, 3 lb.  Parsley.  Mint.  Thyme.  Fish, catch of the day."  And so forth.  

He turns to Shenua and Iromae, but obviously includes Merienne as well, seeking critique of their plan.  "I can do this while concentrating on the other spell, no problem.  So, I can disguise myself as one of the official couriers, just a fellow Joe who's on a regular day's work, getting his stuff done.  Carrying what look to be important papers.  But really, it is a grocery list.  We just happen to bump into each other at the chokepoint and that is where you guys come in.  I can help to disguise you, if you need it, or cover anything that needs to be hid.  At this point, you guys sew confusion, talking about a grocery list for the restaurant, how it got mixed up in a bunch of papers.  When we bump into ole Halver it would be great if we somehow knocked his papers down on the ground.  That's when I'll charm ole Halver to believe that we mixed up our papers, a simple mistake, and we'll do the ole switcheroo.  Easy peasy.  If it doesn't go down well, we may need to get a little rough with Halver, but that's only a last resort.  What do you think?  Ah, Diego my man, where are you when I need you?  At the Academy, this shit would be right down our alley…"  He looks at Shenua and Iromae to see what they think of his plan.  

Shenua looks impressed. "Actually," she nods approvingly, "that's a really good idea. I volunteer to bump into him. I'm pretty good at causing that kind of havoc — like in the fountain square before."

She pauses for a moment. "And yes, please, let's leave the rough part as a last resort."

Iromae gives a half-hearted smile upon hearing the plan. "It really is a good idea," she agrees after Shenua's approval of the plan. "I guess I'm just going to need a good disguise. And, my role is just to... talk about a shopping list?" 

She glances towards Merienne to see what she might say. 

Merienne watches the planning unfold with quiet interest, her expression thoughtful as Vorenus lays out his proposal. When he finishes, she leans forward slightly, studying the two pages he has written. A faint smile touches the corner of her mouth.

“Not inelegant,” she says. Her finger taps lightly beside the words "Official Business, Eyes Only." “Couriers within the Crown’s bureaucracy do occasionally exchange dispatches when routes overlap. The practice is inefficient but common.”

Her gaze lifts to Vorenus. “So yes — your premise is plausible.”

She glances toward Shenua. “And an accidental collision in a crowded street should not raise suspicion.”

Then her tone grows a touch more serious. “Two cautions.” She raises a finger. “First: Halver Tonn will likely carry his folio strapped shut with a cord and seal. You will not be able to simply glance inside it in the middle of the street.” A second finger joins the first. “Second: junior archivists are trained to be cautious with documents they do not recognize. If he believes your papers are meant for another office, he may insist on delivering them personally rather than accepting the exchange.”

She lets that sink in before adding calmly, “So the key will be convincing him that the mistake occurred within his own chain of delivery.”

Her eyes shift briefly to Iromae. “In other words — confusion that appears bureaucratic rather than criminal.”

At Shenua’s earlier request, Merienne slides the parchment map across the table. “You may keep it.” Then she turns back to Vorenus’s question about the emblem.

“The Office of Arcane Compliance uses a simple mark.” She takes the quill and draws quickly in the corner of the parchment: a small circular sigil divided by three vertical lines, almost like a stylized gate. “You will find it stamped on most of their dispatch seals.”

She hands the quill back. “If you reproduce something resembling that, most people will not question it.”

Merienne then studies the three of you again. 

“I assume the tiefling causes the collision.” Her eyes flick briefly to Shenua’s horns and striking coloring. “You are ... difficult to overlook. That may actually help sell the accident.”

Then she gestures lightly toward Iromae. “And you would be the one arguing about the grocery list.”

A faint trace of dry humor enters her voice. “A frustrated customer complaining that the kitchens will collapse without their herbs.”

She sits back slightly. “That sort of noise attracts attention — which means fewer people looking closely at the documents.”

Finally she adds one last practical note. “The courier will likely depart just after sunset, when the evening market begins to thin.” Her gaze sharpens slightly. “If you intercept him before he reaches the Ministry district, he will still believe he is among ordinary city traffic.”

A brief pause follows. Then she says calmly, “You have the outline of a workable plan.” Her eyes move between the three of you. “Now you must decide how convincing you intend to be.”

"So, how much time do we have?" Senua ask, not really sure of what time is it. "And ... we need a way to forge that cord and wax seal, right? Or do we have the means to do that magically?"

Vorenus looks to Merienne and smiles as the outline of the plan shapes up.  “Do you happen to have any document holder that is similar, or anything like that?  We could fuss about the documents and shuffle them around, the charming spell will be necessary I think to make this work.  Shenua and Iromae, your fussing and arguments about the grocery list will add to the confusion and that is the moment when the switch will occur.  Now a seal - - that is more difficult.  If we could fashion something similar… “. He starts looking around, then meets the eyes of Merienne, the smile on his face widens as it is clear that he’s looking for props to make the misdirection more successful.  He winks at Iromae and Shenua.  

Iromae listens to Merienne go back through the plan, her eyes widening a bit. "It seems complicated," she says, a bit uneasily. "Though I think I follow. As far as Shenua's question, why bother with repairing things in the moment?  Could we just have a bag with cord and seal that looks accurate enough that we just swap bags?"  She glances around at the others, including Merienne, to see if anyone thinks they could do that.  

She then pauses a moment, "So that would mean I am going to argue with Vorenus because I think his bag has my shopping list. But he is going to have the bag that looks like the real one. Shenua comes along and knocks the real bag out of the messenger's hand.  We then swap bags in the confusion."  She stops. "Not sure where the shopping list comes in with that though. Or how we make the courier think this was a bureaucratic error. Or do we not need to do that with this plan?"  She wrinkles up her nose, "Or am I just not getting the original plan?" 

When Shenua asks about time, Merienne answers first. “You have several hours. The courier will not leave the Registry Hall until just after sunset. I would advise you to be in position before then.”

Her attention shifts to Vorenus as he begins asking about props, and the faintest hint of amusement returns to her expression. “You are thinking correctly,” she says. “Convincing deceptions are rarely accomplished with words alone.”

She turns and crosses to one of her worktables again, this time retrieving a dark leather folio, worn but intact. A length of cord is wrapped around it, though no seal is present. She sets it on the table. “This is not official,” she says plainly, “but it is close enough in appearance to pass at a glance.”

Her fingers rest lightly on it for a moment before she opens a small drawer and produces a stick of wax and a simple stamp bearing the same three-bar sigil she drew earlier. “This will not withstand scrutiny,” she warns. “But in motion, in poor light, during confusion ... it will suffice.” She slides both items toward Vorenus.

Then her gaze shifts to Iromae as she works through the plan aloud. “You are close,” Merienne says, gesturing slightly as she organizes the idea. “The purpose of the grocery list is not the exchange itself. It is the excuse for the confusion. Bureaucratic errors happen when documents are misrouted. Personal errors happen when people are distracted. You are creating both.”

She taps the table once, then continues. “Vorenus appears as a courier carrying ‘official’ materials. That establishes legitimacy. You confront him — loudly — and insist he has taken something that belongs to you. Your list, your order, whatever you wish it to be. Then,” she adds, looking to Shenua, “you create the disruption. The collision. The moment where attention fractures.”

Her gaze sharpens slightly. “In that moment, the appearance of a mistake must already exist.” She nods toward the folio. “That is where your duplicate comes in.”

She pauses briefly before continuing, her tone more precise. “You do not need Halver to believe the entire story. You only need him to believe that something minor and bureaucratic has gone wrong, and that resolving it quickly is preferable to standing in the street drawing attention. If he leaves the encounter mildly irritated and slightly confused, you have succeeded. If he leaves certain something was stolen, you have not.”

Her eyes rest on each of you in turn. “You are not replacing his certainty with a perfect lie,” she says, a faint, knowing look crossing her face. “You are replacing it with doubt.”

Shenua follows Merienne:s instructions, nodding along as she speaks, especially at the part involving the confusion, where she and Iromae will take the lead.

"Alright. That's clear to me. And I think we have everything we need, right?" she says, giving Vorenus a questioning look.

"I think we've got this. We'll be able to make the switch. And then we'll only have to worry about mingling at tomorrow's ball."

Unless anyone has anything else to say, she proposes they leave so they can rest a bit. "Rest — and eat as well. We need to be at our best, focused and ready for tonight's work. Shall we go?"

Iromae had again looked a little nervous when Merienne mentions 'loudly' in relation to her part. She was not a loud person, but she nods as she listens. At the end, she says, "I think I got it now." And she agrees with Shenua that she has what she needs and they should go. 

"A small bite would be nice," she says as the group as ready to depart.  

Vorenus pauses as he considers any other complications of their plan, or ways to improve their odds of success.  He takes the leather folio and places the two pieces of parchment inside then loosely wraps the cord around it.  “Thank you for this, it should help.  Props always help in such matters, you are right.”  He applies the wax and starts to create a seal where it would be expected, but not too much, he does it sloppily so that it will be easy to break/makes it already half broken.  He taps his chin as he considers the plan.  Then he closes his eyes and brings an image previously seen to the forefront of his mind, the picture of an average Joe Courier.  Then he casts disguise self on himself to appear like this courier if they are within an hour of the time to do the deed.  If not, he will wait until they are in position to cast the spell.  

He looks over at Shenua and Iromae, saying “I know this is a stretch for you guys, follow my lead and throw in extraneous details whenever you can.  Another clue, sometimes divulging embarrassing details helps with belief of the ploy.  But we also need to just be in the moment, trust in yourselves and let it flow…. I know you aren’t used to lying, misdirection seems to be my specialty.  I will charm him so he will be primed to believe whatever line of bullshit we can throw at him.  We can do this!  Ready?  Let’s go…”.  He looks at Merienne and with a wink says “Wish us luck.  We will make it work.  Thank you for your help - oh, and one last thing.. what is the name of a posh restaurant in the area that would be so fastidious about their ingredients?  Someplace that a lowly courier would know of, but likely never have visited?”  He looks at her with a twinkle in his eye as he awaits her response.  And he heads out the door.  

Merienne watches as Vorenus prepares the folio, her eyes noting the deliberate imperfection of the seal with quiet approval. At his question, she answers without hesitation.

“The Gilded Lyre,” she says. “Expensive, visible, and notoriously particular. Their chefs are known to reject entire deliveries over minor inconsistencies. A courier would know the name. Whether they’ve ever stepped inside is another matter.”

There is the faintest flicker of dry amusement at that.

As the three of you begin to gather yourselves to leave, her expression shifts — not warmer, but more intent. “One more thing,” she says. Her gaze moves between you, measuring. “The ball.” A brief pause. “How are you getting in?” This time, the question is sharper. More direct. “Not how you will behave once inside. How you intend to cross the threshold at all.”

She folds her hands lightly in front of her.

“The guest list will be controlled. Invitations checked. Faces noted. The Crown does not open its doors without knowing exactly who walks through them.”

Her eyes rest briefly on each of you in turn.

“If you do not already have a means of entry, then what you are planning inside the ball is irrelevant. As is my work.” A beat. “Have you procured invitations?”

"Ah, yes. Getting into the ball," Shenua says. "With all the other tasks, I almost forgot about this."

She pauses, thinking. "Lirae did help us a bit there. She gave us the key to the south crawl entrance of the Feathered Silence. She said only workers use that way, and that we would find a dressing room beyond it where we could get changed. That should let us bypass the first scanning ward, but it's true we don't have any way to proceed from there. Lirae said she could give us old routing sigils to help with the rest, but… we lost her."

The tiefling looks directly at Merienne."Is there any way you can help us?"

Iromae nods slightly as Merienne asks about getting into the ball and Shenua replies. That was of course an important aspect and she'd kind of put it out of her mind after they had lost Lirae, who had been going to help them. "Yea, we're not sure of everything Lirae had in mind."  She shakes her head. "At some point we really should try and figure out what happened to her too."  With a sigh, she simply adds, "I guess we just have to hope you can help us. Or perhaps you know of someone we could try and ask for help?" 

Vorenus looks serious for a moment at the mention of Lirae, a reminder of the seriousness of the game that they play.  He nods when Shenua speaks, adding “She was to guide about next steps on how to get in… and then we lost her..”. He turns to look at Iromae, nodding along as well.  “Maybe when we return, should we meet you here again?  You could tell us your ideas about how to get in.  Or who would know.”  He looks to Merienne, hoping that she has words of encouragement for them.