OOM: Vivec City, 18 First Seed, 3E 428

[moonandstar]

Garyn hadn't felt the need to involve Ibani in his last little spy mission. Retrieving a skull from a tomb for an alchemist who is a little TOO insistent that she isn't a necromancer had been an easy enough job. But this? This was going back to Vivec...a place where he very much had meant to make himself scarce from. What's more, one of their contacts would be in the Foreign Quarter - the very same place where a number of corrupt Fighters Guild members had been killed by a booby trap he had set.

So a little bit of Sith discretion and underhandedness would be welcome, in addition to backup.

They're approaching from the bridge that leads from the silt strider dock - the Guild Guide would bring them too close to the Fighters Guild for his liking.

The buildings are massive ziggurats crossed by canals - not big enough to be impressive by her standards. But it's far from a typical city in Garyn's.

Comments

[last_kallig]

"I can feel it in my bones, that that mess is going to be personally important to you and I."

"Ah, a boat. Hopefully this won't be the day I REALLY regret not learning how to swim. Things keep coming up." Like Civil Wars.

[moonandstar]

"Considering I'm being asked to find out as much as I can about it by an agent of the Emperor himself, it doesn't take much of a leap," Garyn says.

And that's before one considers the dreams.

If nothing else, the trip to the bottom level to flag down a punter is a short one.

"The Sixth House worries me a good deal more than these rustic folk do. If nothing else, I can understand idolizing General Nerevar. A great mer, he was."

He keeps the conversation within his mind to prevent too much from being revealed.

[last_kallig]

"They do seem the more immediate and dangerous problem." she replies, inside his mind.

"Was he? I admit I'm reluctant to trust to history as I know how readily it can altered to suit the whims of those in power."

[moonandstar]

"He was a great Dunmer general, king, and counselor. I know more about his military exploits than anything else - the Old Mer made sure I did."

[last_kallig]

"He was that good at strategy and tactics, or was there something else he wanted you to pick up from them?"

[moonandstar]

"Every great warrior had moral lessons to provide as well as tactical ones, or so he liked to say. Nerevar was stoic, even-handed, and reciprocated the loyalty he commanded from his men. At least, that's how he was in the histories. He lived 4000 years ago. Who knows how much is true?"

The gondola moves more quickly than one might expect. They've an experienced punter at the helm.

[last_kallig]

Ibani has OPINIONS about Garyn's father having any business teaching moral lessons, but she manages with effort to keep them to herself.

"Some of it, probably. The best lies always have a kernel of truth. Probably impossible to know for sure."

Ibani is glad of the speed. She doesn't dislike gondolas the way Garyn dislikes aircars, but she would prefer to be done with this trip sooner rather than later.

[moonandstar]

"Perhaps I could ask one of those cultists, since they seem so sure they can find him."

He's being more droll than he can possibly know.

In the meantime, the gondola arrives at St. Olms. He thanks the gondolier and hands him a couple extra drakes for the swiftness of the journey.

"Now, I've heard this Adhiranirr will be hard to find. So we'll be looking for a Khajiit this time. Furry, looks like a bipedal cat."

[last_kallig]

"Even knowing what lies someone believes can be useful," Ibani agrees.

"Ah, that sounds familiar. There are a few peoples back home that could answer to that description."

She's looking for cat folk as she walks, and trouble.

[moonandstar]

They make their way up to the Waistworks. He asks a couple of passersby, who seem more annoyed than helpful.

Then, someone approaches them. This is a very well-dressed Imperial - a member of the bureaucracy as sure as he's born.

"Pardon me, I'm looking for a friend of mine, a female Khajiit named Addhiranirr. Do you know where I can find her?"

[last_kallig]

This one isn't a good liar, and Ibani is an EMPATH on top of that. "Oh no, really?" she says, all concern. "You just missed her, she just took a gondola to the mainland."

One of the things being 'undercover' all of the time for years has given Ibani is the ability to lie like a champion.

[moonandstar]

The Imperial's face falls.

"What a disappointment. But thank you for your time. I was just heading back to the mainland myself, anyway, and maybe I'll run into her there."

"I wish you better luck, sera," Garyn adds, feigning his own sincerity.

Garyn smirks as they walk away from him, not speaking up until they're out of earshot.

"I should think Adhiranirr is as far away from that 'friend's of hers as possible. The Underworks, perhaps."

[last_kallig]

"That would be my guess, if this place is anything like Nar Shaddaa."

"You're not a bad actor, my dear. A fall back career perhaps."

[moonandstar]

"A supporting role, perhaps," Garyn says. "You could be a leading lady, dear."

He leads her down the stairs.

"The Canalworks should be down this way."

[last_kallig]

"I've had enough practice for it, perhaps," she jests.

"I think you're right, the water smell is stronger this way." Well, water and OTHER things.

[moonandstar]

They descend through the canalworks. There's a beggar resting against the wall near one of the walls. After enough monetary persuasion to buy a vial of cheap skooma for himself, he confirms that Adhiranirr has taken refuge in the Underworks beneath them. Garyn searches for a hatch in the floor, and pries it open.

"I've been in the Underworks before, love. It's not so bad if you remember not to breathe too deeply."

[last_kallig]

"Some things never change wherever you go, I suppose." Ugh, sewer levels.

"Is this where you ran into that cultist?"

[moonandstar]

"That was in the Foreign Quarter, but the architecture is similar enough in every canton."

Garyn clambers down the ladder. He stays close to the wall and keeps to the dry deck.

Sure enough, near the very end of the Underworks, where the path is widest, there's a female Khajiit.

"Adhiranirr? Our friend Caius wanted me to speak with you."

"Great. So Caius says to you, 'Speak with Addhiranirr.' And you have done this thing. You are speaking with Addhiranirr. But Addhiranirr will not talk to you about the Nerevarine or the Sixth House cult, and because why? Because Addhiranirr is, at this moment, very distracted by a nice Census and Excise agent, who also wants to speak with her."

[last_kallig]

"Ah yes, we ran into him earlier," Ibani explains, grinning wickedly. "Not a talented actor, that one, so I told him he'd just missed you taking a boat to the mainland. So very keen to follow after you, he was."

[moonandstar]

Adhiranirr lets out a kind of pleased growl, somewhere between a purr and a chuckle.

"Well. In that case, Addhiranirr is very glad to see you, and very happy to tell a friend of my good friend Caius all about the Sixth House cult. And Addhiranirr knows nothing about the Nerevarine, but Addhiranirr is happy to tell you that, too, if it makes Caius happy."

Garyn nods, responding with a Ta'agra colloquialism that is not left wholly translated. Something about a kitten and honeyed milk. Adhiranirr seems to find it amusing.

"Well...anyway, the Sixth House is something Addhiranirr knows about, because it is about smuggling. Some smart smugglers are suddenly too busy for their old clients, because they have a new employer, the Sixth House, who pays VERY well. But what do they smuggle now? Addhiranirr doesn't know, because they are very secret. And this is odd, because these smugglers are always loud and bragging, and now they hush up like fat-bellied kitties full of sweet-meats."

[last_kallig]

"Afraid to talk, perhaps," Ibani muses aloud. "Very afraid, if they were so boastful before."

She glances at Garyn. That weird presence she felt from the madman before certainly seems to imply a kind of spying power.

[moonandstar]

"Something different about this client, Adhiranirr thinks. Not even skooma loosens their lips."

"And whatever they're planning, it's important enough that they don't want anyone knowing about it," Garyn muses, as much to himself as to anyone else."

Garyn turns to the Khajiit and nods. "It's been a pleasure, Adhiranirr. May we meet again under better-smelling circumstances."

[last_kallig]

"Was expecting to find out they're more trouble, would have been nice to be wrong," she whispers in his mind.

Ibani nods her farewell to the Khajiit.

[moonandstar]

"Indeed it would."

They ascend to the Canalworks, whose musty air feels positively daisy fresh at this point.

"We'll be going to the Temple Canton next. That's the next canton over."

[last_kallig]

"It does make one appreciate the fresher air," she drawls. "Temples as in gods? Like the entity I felt when we arrived?"