Chapter 10 - Nothing but Suspicions (Patreon)

I left the stage to a chorus of boos intermingled with a blending of cries - "Get better Arcangelo.", "Y'just can't hold yer liquer." and everything in between. I made a show of looking tired, but inside my head, everything was one big mess. I just couldn't figure out why he'd change his demeanor that quickly. When I got to my room, I tried to think it through, but failed to come to any reasonable conclusion. I hadn't entirely lied downstairs - it had been a long day, and it'd taken its toll on me. Sleep wasn't a possibility for me, before I got some answers though, and I decided to put my hands and mind to use, counting out the tips I'd received. That, at least, was a bit of good news - the old guitar case was littered with copper pieces and the occasional silver piece - and I even found a solitary gold coin. All told, there were almost 2.5 gold pieces. I’d also gained a level to Musician and two to Performing - but right now I couldn’t bring myself to care.

The wait was incredibly frustrating, and I took to pacing back and forth inside the room, when I could feel Atlas returning. The satisfied sensations emanating from him helped a little, and left me in a slightly better mood for a bit. That soon changed, as the door opened, and Gillem stepped in, as grim-faced as I'd ever seen him. 

The silence stretched while he glared at me. I could see his jaw clenching, and he growled: "You've got some explaining to do, and it'd better be good. Half an hour ago, I received a wanted poster. This happens occasionally. We're in the middle of nowhere, but some guards earn a little by agreeing to pass these out to all the cities they pass through. I always agree to put them up behind the bar, and then I let them hang there for a year or so before I pull them down again - it's no skin off my back. Now, picture my surprise when it's your ugly mug staring at me on the poster, saying you're wanted for murder and worse - with a 1000 gold reward."

I barely had the time to think the thought: "They've found me!", before my mind exploded in a ton of different directions. Flee? But Gillem's right there. Fight? It's Gillem, damnit. Lie? Seconds later, my mind opted for the only sensible decision and I collapsed in a dead faint. I had no clue how long time had passed, but coming to with Gillem standing over me and slapping my face hard was not going to be a favorite memory. Still confused, I blurted out the most important thing on my mind: "Please don't tell them!"

He stepped back with a grimace, and I noticed that he'd actually brought The Law with him - his dangerous-looking mace was right next to his hand. "Give me one good reason."

I pinched my nose, in an attempt to focus and spread my hands in supplication. "It's a lie. Well, the wanted part isn't, but the murder part definitely is."

"Go on."

In the end, the only reasonable story I could come up with was the truth - or, as close to it as I could actually tell him. "Erm. Short version: I stole a lot of money from some dangerous criminals. I screwed up horribly though, and...well, one thing left to another, and suddenly I was standing here in Grant's Crossing shouting at Autoria because I was unable to access the cash. And - now it appears they're looking for me. Please don't tell them. You have no idea what these people are capable of!" I activated my High Tide skill at that last part. If ever I needed a boost to my charisma, it was now. Gods - to think that my life was in the hand of someone who wasn't even real.

He mulled it over for far longer than was reasonable. In the end, though, his voice grew less gruff, as he mused, "well, that explains a few things." 

"Like what?"

"Usually these posters are issued by some noble or other or, in the rarest of cases, by the high and mighty Cabal itself. This one, however, gives a return address in some inn in the Cradle."

"The Cradle?"

"...You Reborn types never seem to amaze me. How you can be so knowledgeable in certain areas and completely ignorant in others is infuriating. The Cradle of Hope. Our Capitol. Used to be called...Terival's Honor or something pre-Separation, but the Cabal decided they needed something to unite the people when we had to rebuild and start over."

"Oh. Thanks." I thought about it for a while. "You said there was a picture, right? How did I look?"

"Hmm - like you'd been ill. Thin and unhealthy, and with a lot less hair. Also, they'd done your ears all wrong. If you're asking if everybody would recognize you, then no - but I wouldn't want to chance it if I were you - it's more money than anybody here are going to see in our lifetime. " 

That explained a bit. They must've used an old foto . This was somewhat good news - they obviously didn't know where I was, or what race I'd chosen - but it did show that they were looking for me inside the game. "It's an old painting they're using then. But - pits, I don't know how to phrase this properly - aren't you going to turn me in?"

He grinned, and something inside me thawed up. "I really should - especially with that trick you pulled on me earlier. Except - screw 'em! This way I'll get to hold it over your head forever."

Gillem might be handsome, but he sure as hell wasn't my type. Right at that moment I didn't care, and I enfolded him in a huge hug. When I backed off again, I had to wipe a few tears off my face, and I cleared my throat: "Gillem. I - pits, you're a giant of a person- don't let anybody ever tell you otherwise."

He laughed, and said:"Oh, I know. The ladies all say so," but I could see a faint blush on his cheeks.

"The poster though - is it hanging down there right now?"

He nodded, suddenly serious. "Yes. If I didn't put it up, it'd have raised suspicion - and for the same reason, I won't be able to just tear it apart. When I get down there, however, I'll accidentally put a bottle in front of it or something, so people can't see your face. Then I can remove it when the caravan's left, with nobody the wiser for it."

I was hit by a wave of relief that was almost palpable. "That sounds like a wonderful plan. I suspect I'd better hide up here until they're all gone, right?"

He nodded. "Yeah - I'll go get you when they're off. Let's just hope that they don't decide to spend a second day here as well."

I nodded, and I searched my mind for anything else to do or think of. As nothing else appeared, I finished lamely with, "Gillem - thank you again - and that meal was totally worth whatever flak I'm going to catch for my bad joke."

He laughed softly and waved it off. "G'night Archie. Try not to get caught during the night - I'll try to think up some punishment."

My sleep was undisturbed. Surprisingly so. When I woke, however, all my anxieties and fears returned with a vengeance. What if they were bringing word back to the mafia boss - what was his name again? - right this very moment? Maybe I'd be better off just taking off into the unknown. Gods. In my confusion yesterday, I'd even played a regular song from home - if there were any players among the guards, they'd know for sure who I was. I went back and forth with myself like this for a while. This had always been the way for me - in times of anxiety, my inner demons would run their own show, battling over the privilige to be able to cause the most inner turmoil. Atlas was no help right now - I could feel him a bit off in the distance, too far away to relax in the simple feeling of his general positivity.

What usually helps me through it, is to try and apply some logic to whatever's tormenting me - divide my problems into bite-sized chunks that're more manageable. Right this moment, my body was lying suspended in a vat of jelly back in Copenhagen - and the mere fact that the criminals were trying to locate me in-game meant that they hadn't succeeded in finding my physical position. Sure, right this moment they could be monitoring the Exogenics premises, trying to find an employee to browbeat into giving away where I was or even attempting to hack the system - or all the above. However, the poster showed that they obviously hadn't managed it yet - and that helped me fend off the worst of the anxiety. Exogenics were also known for excellent security - cyber and otherwise - and this might, hopefully, keep them from attempting something drastic back in Copenhagen until they'd tried their luck in-game. 

All right - chunks - I needed chunks. While the poster gave away the fact that they were trying to find me ingame, it also made sense from their point of view - Aeion was a huge continent, and a bunch of players could waste years traveling around, trying to locate somebody. They'd clearly also been informed that our looks were modelled over our real looks, meaning they weren't acting like complete noobs here, more’s the pity. What if they did find me though? The pain threshold was still around ten per cent, but I'm guessing they could still work with that. I shuddered with the thought. Good thing Exogenics had an emergency function for if people got stuck in unfortunate situations - "respawn" with all the usual costs involved - that'd likely be the best way out if they caught me. Or maybe...maybe they weren't even trying to catch me, but simply to make me panic and log out where they could catch me. Yeah, that wasn't going to happen. If I logged out, I wouldn't be able to enter the game again for a week or so, leaving me on the run again. All in all, the most appealing resolution for me still appeared to remain ingame and keep myself as inconspicuous as possible. Now, if only the damn caravan would leave, allowing me to go down and get a decent breakfast already.

Fortunately, I didn't have to wait long. Gillem unlocked the door, entered with a tray - and promptly locked the door behind him again. "Trouble." He started, and my heart skipped a beat. "The caravan is leaving in a bit - they were running late already, and they're handling all their purchases right now. Except, the elf is staying."

"What, the gorgeous one? Why the pits would she do that?"

Arms folded, he frowned. "She is ‘Sareena Gloridien’ - people won't stop yapping about her or her many wonderful qualities. Apparently, she has some noble connections on either side of the Dawnlight Forest and wants to spend some time investigating whether it'd make sense to spend additional funding to heighten the security for the passage through Grant's Crossing. It does make sense. Autoria did inform the authorities that we scared off the Demonologist, only, the caravan started on their journey more than a week ago - they wouldn't be aware of this. Additionally, this might even strengthen the case for additional funding, now they know what the problem is. It's just..."

I finished his sentence for him: "The timing. There's no way that this is a coincidence. Right?"

He nodded. "It does smell fishy. And even if she's legit, she might notice if I remove the damn poster."

I got up and walked to the window. I needed some air. "So...what do we do? I can't just hole myself up in here for two or three weeks until the next caravan arrives."

Behind me, Gillem was cracking his knuckles - something I'd never known him to do before. "Archie, I'll help you as much as I can, only - I can't let you into her room to go through her stuff. It just - I can't." 

I looked behind me - GIllem really looked out of sorts. I smiled at him. "Relax my friend - I wouldn't ask you to start a life of crime at your age. Besides, you're too pretty to go to jail." I walked over to take a closer look at the tray he'd carried - all of a sudden, my appetite was back. Juggling a still hot bun, I continued: "Besides, I just needed a bit of a kick - I know exactly how to get started now. I might have to stay in my room all of today, but if that's what it takes, I'll call myself lucky. Apart from that, I'd like to ask for two things from you: First, I'd like to know which room she's staying in and second, could you have Jeb run up to alert me when she enters the tavern? In exchange, I promise you, I won't break in."

Gillem didn't look entirely convinced, but he did acquiesce and allowed me to shoo him out the door.

All right: Scheming time. The plan was fairly simplistic, but I really couldn't see a downside to it. Sure, I might end up wasting a lot of time and gain nothing, but the risks involved were limited.

Step 1: Get a hold of Atlas.

Step 2: Convince him to hang outside the fair maiden's window and check out what she had brought along with her. With his eyesight, I should be able to spot any damn details, notes and equipment in there and extrapolate from that.

Step 3: If Step 2 didn't pan out, wait around for her and see what she'd come up with.

Step 4: Well - make a decision, I guess. Should I stay in Grant's Crossing, or was the wiser bet to get the hell out of Dodge? Maybe pay Sourpuss to help me with a running start, try to make it to another village and start over?

Step 1 cost me no effort at all. I could tell that Atlas was already fairly bored and looking for something to do. Also, he seemed to have enjoyed our outing yesterday, because I was undeniably feeling a bit of a "Sure, let's go play." vibe from him. Add to that the fact that we were on the good side of the building, where the insects gathered in the windows, he needed little prodding to move to her window. 

The walk was slightly nauseating - especially looking through one eye of his while he went effortlessly from horizontal movement to vertical - but I'd spent enough time with that old game where you played an alien that could cling to any surface, that I could cope. Once he'd made it there, Step 2 was also easily initiated. A command from me to "look" coupled with an image of him moving closer to the window to look in did the trick. The first discovery was a promising one - she'd left the window wide open, allowing Atlas to enter, if our initial scouting session brought nothing. We started from the window sill though - I'd prefer it if he could stay where he could leave at a moment's notice. Easy as pie, I was enriched with an amplified view of everything inside the room, elf-free and inviting for the moment. Convincing Atlas to stay long enough with one single object was a bit of a harder task however, and we spent some time in mutual bewilderment until we'd managed to agree on the meaning of "left", "right", "up" and "down." Once again, I had to praise my fortunes that I'd been bonded with a personality as quick on the uptake as Atlas - I could only imagine how many months it'd take me to educate one of the Razor Vipers. With that part covered, I managed to grab an overview of what little she'd left in the room, even going so far as to jot down the details for myself so I wouldn't miss anything crucial. 

Items: One chair, still underneath the table, likely untouched. One huge backpack, half opened, contents practically spilling out. One, whatchamacallit, wandering staff, Gandalf-style. One table, pristine apart from a stack of papers. One bed, rumpled. One pile of discarded clothes on the floor. One chest, locked. So far, nothing out of the ordinary. Another bit of experimentation, and Atlas was updated on the whole "zoom in" and "zoom out"-thing. Without a doubt, he was enjoying himself, making a game out of reacting to my commands. Sometimes he even screwed with my perception or did the opposite of what I asked for, and I could clearly feel the waves of mirth as he in turn felt my confusion or disorientation.

I ran with the obvious choice for starters - the stack of papers. In most fantasy games, she'd have a letter containing her orders and reasoning right on top for ease of discovery - alas, this was not the case. Instead I was looking at my own face, clearly a painting that was replicated from one of my old photos made in the bank. Welp, that explained where they got it - and also indicated that they were still collaborating with my old boss. Additionally, that very much removed the  possibility of taking down the poster in the tavern - if she was the one distributing them, she'd surely notice, regardless of whether she actually worked directly for the mobsters or not. The wanted poster itself was, I found, pretty unimaginative - supposedly I was wanted for "a wide range of nefarious deeds, including murder, rape and arson." Laying it on a little thick, are we? The remainder was more interesting - apparently they didn't want anybody to apprehend me (I was ostensibly way too dangerous to approach) but only report back with information. Hmm - I understood the reasoning - they wouldn't want to rely too much on the in-game intelligence or give anything away - but in practice, it was a good thing, as it gave me a bit of leeway if somebody caught onto me. Oh, and they didn't mention me being a Reborn either. Good call on their part - a lot of NPCs figured Reborn were too much trouble to get involved. I couldn't see the contents of the rest of the papers, so I just marked down the address and moved on.

The pile of clothes had nothing of interest to them, and I suddenly appreciated how Atlas couldn't really talk yet, or he'd probably call me a pervert for spying on dirty women's underwear. Other than that, the chest still remained locked and the staff just looked like a staff, for all the magical properties it might carry. As for the bed - yeah, nothing. That left me with the backpack - and that one sported a few items of interest. I mean, they were innocuous enough each to themselves, but together? I could spot a coil of rope, a heavy-duty jacket and what was probably the material for a small tent. All in all, that looked more like the contents of an advanced adventurer's kit - not the items of some noble's crony unused to physical hardship. Sure, it didn't prove anything, but my hackles were surely raised. And...that was it. Damnit. We'd need to move on to Step 3 - even if that involved waiting.

I loathe waiting. With a fiery passion and the wrath of all four Daemon Lords combined. Seriously, if I'm ever in a spot where I might spend two minutes waiting, I'll be playing on my phone - and if I'm at home, the distractions are stacked in every square meter of the house to avoid being in a situation where I'd have to just sit and twiddle my thumbs. Therefore, I did not relish the idea of just waiting for the dark-haired temptress to return - but the idea of leaving the room and giving her or anybody else the chance to draw parallels between my beautiful face and that on the poster were even less tempting. I didn't want to start playing either - that'd just invite questions as to why I stayed cooped up in my room. I told Atlas to go have fun nearby - or something to that effect, but I believe he caught the general impression. I then settled in for a long wait the best way I knew how - trying for a nap. My mind wouldn't really stop working though, and I resorted to a cheat code, fishing out the history tome I'd borrowed from Gillem some days ago. 

With everything that had been going on and the fact that I was already pretty well rested from a good night's sleep, I actually managed to read quite a lot this time around, and it beat looking at the wall, if only just. It was this weird mixture of constant blabbering about genealogies interspersed with a bunch of histories that were actually semi-interesting. I found that if I skipped the genealogies, it wasn't entirely horrible. One of the things I gathered from the book was that the original composition of races in Neyrus was not only more diverse than it'd been, but the power balance had also been more fluid, with races and coalitions constantly in a flux. For instance, a couple of centuries B.S. (Before Separation) dwarves and a warmongering faction among the humans spent decades cementing an alliance and subduing all other races in large parts of the main continent. Then disagreement led to to infighting among the dwarves and the entire faction was pushed back, with seas of blood and atrocities to follow. Meanwhile, the outlying islands surrounding the main continent of Aeion would do their own thing and others would rarely bother them - leading to entire cultures and even races to go missing in the Separation. One passage was actually pretty interesting, as it told the story of a supposed plot for the kobolds to make a play for power. The author told the story of a vast number of sightings of military buildup and organisation - yet, following the Separation, this had all faded into silence. I was just about ready to put aside the book and fall asleep, when a pop-up startled me

[Quest updated: “Once Were Legion” (Chronicler Quest)

You have received confirmation that kobolds were, in fact, building a military presence prior to The Separation. You still need to confirm the meaning behind the mural and gain further details.

Reward: unknown]

Hah - intriguing - if I could gain quest updates in real life from reading, I might've been more of a book worm. I'd even gained a point to Lore: History. I went back to the tome, and the stories scattered among the seas of information of supposed historic importance - the only thing of importance I found this time around, however, was sleep. 

I woke up groggy to the sound of a key turning in my lock and remained lying, uncomprehending as a loud clatter preceded Jeb's voice hissing: "She's here. Now." My chin had become stuck to the latest page of the tome, and I peeled myself away in disgust, while giving a mental shout to Atlas to "come", imbuing the thought with as much urgency as I could. Fortunately, he hadn't moved far, and I followed his progress, as he slowly moved over to the window again.

The crystal clear image of the lovely sable-haired Sareena sprang into view and I could feel myself blushing, as she kicked off her shoes and started fanning herself. "Focus, Daniel." I thought, trying to maintain Atlas' attention on her - not the easiest of tasks, as he was apparently thirsty. The fact that she did absolutely nothing interesting didn't help - just massaged her own neck before lying down on the bed with a massive sigh. After a few minutes of inactivity, I was starting to consider how to best keep Atlas engaged, when her eyes flew open, and she rolled off the bed, kneeling before the chest. She fumbled around with her purse, removing a key and opened the chest. Unfortunately, she didn't go ahead to show off what had her all aflutter, but she did heave a sigh before locking the chest again. She then returned the key to her purse which she secreted somewhere inside the folds of her dress. 

She sat down at the table and proceeded to leaf through the stack of papers before her. She removed a single piece of paper - much creased and folded - holding it up before her to study. I barely had the time to spot what it was - a sketch of Grant's Crossing with several spots marked on it - , before she placed it alongside her purse and stood. She patted down her dress and did up her hair in a tidy braid before leaving the chamber once again.

Huh - that was enlightening. A map of the village seemed a bit ominous, but if she had my place jotted down already ...well, she would've found me by now. The thing about the chest though - she obviously had something dear to her which she kept down there - if only I could grab a hold of the key. Meh, wishful thinking didn't help at all. Now, if I had my old rogue, I'd just disguise myself and lift the damn purse off of her -  I wasn't going to try that now though. No, I opted for the boring, but safer route. If I made sure to have Atlas placed optimally next time, he'd almost certainly be able to catch a glimpse of whatever was so precious to her, and I surely had the least risk if I stayed with the waiting game. Atlas and I were working on a "Go play" command, and I believed we just about had it down pat - at the very least, he disappeared up to the roof, leaving me with a lingering sensation of satisfaction.

Speaking of satisfaction, I eyed the tray that Jeb had plunked down onto my table before disappearing again that contained a huge covered plate and a tankard next to it. The smell that escaped the lid chased away all bad thoughts for a time, and I eagerly opened it, smiling upon seeing the large serving of boar bacon placed alongside a row of large slices of dark bread and a generous chunk of butter. A small bowl was placed alongside, containing a handful of small boiled eggs - bird eggs, judging from the size. My large smile grew even wider as I popped up the lid on the frosty tankard, taking in the honeyed fragrance of the chilled mead. "Somebody just earned themselves a nice christmas gift," I thought, as I settled down to treat myself.

I was in no hurry at all, given that I was merely waiting for Sareena to return later on, taking my time to really enjoy the meal. Try as I might though, close to an hour later, I chased down the last piece of bread with a swig of the mead, and with a huge, satisfied sigh, it was back to inactivity for me. I couldn't handle the idea of yet another round against the history tome. Sure, there were a few interesting passages, but still, it was...it was like that time when a so-called friend had tried to convince me that a book called the Silmarella-something was the ultimate fantasy epic. The only difference between then and now was that this one was even duller. What else could I come up with? I really wanted to tinker around with some of the stuff I'd found, but...I also wanted a round of advice from Mrs. Bertinga first - I needed more info to start making sense of how things worked. That way I might actually start creating something halfway decent. 

That left me with just one thing to do that I'd been postponing for a while now. Really, if procrastination were a science, I'd be studying for my doctorate, I was that good at ignoring boring tasks. It was way past time, though - I had been collecting items from damn near everywhere, but had no real overview over what I was carrying around these days. Also, the way I'd been ignoring procuring proper items for way too long was downright criminal. I sighed and opened my inventory.

Focusing on my equipped items first, I found things to be looking - all right, I supposed. My head and arm slots were still empty, as were a full five finger slots. Assuredly, Mrs. Bertinga could help with this - but at least what I had equipped was quite decent for my level. Especially my necklace and Greck's old violin were top notch. On top of that, I was still due rewards from both Sourpuss and the Council - some of those were bound to be equippable items - or so I hoped.

The rest of it though - one big, unmanaged mess. My inventory was a mix of the items I thought I could use on my outings, as well as whatever I'd picked up during the latest fights. In addition, I had an equal portion of random items stuffed away in my chest. This was actually one of my worse gaming sins - accumulate tons of items, and then never use them. Besides, it looked like I actually had some really interesting items lying around I just hadn't gotten to looking at - I'd just dumped the new items down on top - I really ought to be ashamed. I got to work. 

As soon as I got to it, I realized how much I'd actually been hoarding - especially crafting materials. I still had a decent bunch of materials left back from the fights with the rats and the lynxes - and that was just the beginning. Add to that what I'd found from Othell's possessed bear, the Razortailed Vipers and the Dawnlight Soarers, and I was approaching a full hundred items - 93, to be specific and three of them rare. This just made it all the more critical that I actually learned more about Tinkering as soon as possible.

I also had a couple of more mundane items - the stuff I dragged around with me wherever I went. Chalk, quill, ink and parchment, emergency rations, a crowbar and stuff like that. I was probably also going to get a rope - I'd need Lyle to carry all the heavier stuff anyway, in order not to exceed my max.

The kicker, however, was how many unidentified items I had lying around. Sure, the newfound earring made sense, but I still had Berthold's axes lying around - and I still had no clue as to what that old book in a strange language was. Also, that box with 6 unidentified marble-like glass orbs - where'd I even gotten those? Oh yeah - the Warlock's tower. How the hell had I avoided looking at those for so long? Ah, well, I'd have to get it done. Soon, at least. The one good aspect to my hoarding gene was that I still held on to two bottles, allowing for one additional teaching lesson with Greck. Apart from looking at that damn book, I had a couple of ideas I wanted to look into.

Carefully placing the final items back into the chest, I sighed in relief. From here on out I'd try to keep things relatively organized, and do away with the unnecessary items  at regular intervals. Or so I hoped - at the very least, I'd gotten a decent overview of what I needed to purchase and what I had available for crafting. I was keeping myself busy speculating on the Tinkering effects of the different items I had, extrapolating from the little I'd seen so far, when Jeb's large nose preceded the remainder of his face, and he hissed "She's here again - y'need me to do this all day?" before popping back out again.

I hurriedly stood up, sending a feeler out for Atlas. He was fast asleep on top of the roof, but I found that I could actually, somehow, press on through his sleep and reach him - even though his mood was far from his usual sunny self, and all he kept telling me was how he was going to go back to sleep instantly. In the end, I once again had to resort to bribes in order to secure his assistance once again - I sure hoped I'd be able to leave the tavern soon, or I'd have to sneak out into the woods like a bachelor to his paramour, just to serenade a cranky lizard. Yeah, if Gillem caught wind of that, he would never let me live that down. It worked, however, and soon he was installed in the very spot I'd decided upon earlier, and we settled down patiently to wait. 

The elf didn't keep us waiting long, sweeping in shortly thereafter with her hands full of items. She locked the door behind her, dropped most of the items on the bed and plopped down on the single chair, swinging both feet up on the table in a very unladylike fashion. She'd kept one thing in her hands - a tankard not unlike the one I'd emptied earlier - and she raised it to her forehead, cooling herself down with a slight groan. Taking a swig, that groan changed to a low growl of pleasure, and she stayed there for a moment, nurturing the tankard. After she'd drained half of it, she put it to the side with a grimace. She then moved over to the chest, opened it and - jackpot - removed a small round item that was pretty reminiscent of - hell, it was a crystal ball, just like the one the Mayor was sporting.

She placed it softly - almost reverently - on the table and seated herself before it - properly this time. She then took several deep breaths, as if preparing herself for the task, and then placed both hands on the crystal ball, muttering in an arcane language. Within seconds, colors started swirling inside the crystal ball, even though the contents remained completely obscure to Atlas and me. Sareena must've been able to perceive something from it, however, because she began to speak to the crystal ball, softly and submissively - a complete change from her earlier behavior. 

"Yes, I apologize for my tardiness, Sir. The caravan was harried by kobolds for a while and we were forced to hole up in defense for a couple of days."

The sound was tinny, but easy enough to hear - Atlas himself was completely enthralled by the swirling colors inside the crystal ball, and the largest problem would likely be if I tried to pry his attention away from the discussion. When she spoke next, though, I realized that we weren't hearing the response though - crap, that meant I'd have to make out the meaning from her responses only.

"I am aware, Sir.  It will not happen again. I am pleased to say that I have made decent progress after arriving."

"Yes. I have located most of them by now. I do not have all the information you requested yet. I have no doubt, however, that I will have everything collected by the time I leave with the next caravan."

A long pause this time.

"There will be no repetition of that unfortunate incident."

"Understood. Any change or challenge, and I will contact you at the same time on that day. Otherwise, I will meet up with the advance group two days after departure."

"I am aware that this is important, Sir." 

The last comment was the first time she introduced some heat to her voice. Following that, however, she merely nodded and went "Mmhm" a couple of times.

Following a final "I will," the mists of the crystal ball died down, and Sareena pushed the chair back, exhaling forcefully. She carefully locked the crystal ball back up, and then stood up, slowly undoing her braid and shaking out her full mane. A small, devilish grin appeared on her face and she huffed, "That takes care of the boring part - now for some me time." She then loosened the two uppermost buttons of her dress, downed the rest of the tankard and left the room.