Since his conversation with Secret, and knowing what he did now, Nuva was at least happy that his own interests weren't at risk of being spoiled to anybody. As it happened, only Kayden and Secret herself knew of what he was; as the guild leader, the Captain ought to be considered trustworthy, whilst Secret at least seemed unlikely to talk under Kayden's pay, and considering the protracted extent to which she had gone to find out who, what, and where he was, it was in turn unlikely that anybody else would be interested enough to figure out his identity.

As for how he was valued... he'd been a bit put off by Secret's last words to him in their conversation, but understood her concerns about the subject after some thought, and it seemed like the Captain didn't just consider people to be pawns in a game either. Even so, his own ongoing angsts lingered, as they had done for quite some time, though he did his best to put them off during Kayden's explanation of what he'd learned from the Lord Pembrook, to both himself and much of the rest of the guild, up to and including a new member going by the name of Lis: armed in leather and stout in a way that humans typically weren't, though not short enough to merit being named as a dwarf. She also smelled quite strongly of flowers, even from a ways away. Odd, for a mercenary.

But he was digressing. A contract to simply guard a valuable, potentially-magical book sounded quite reasonable, especially over an untouched glass of wine. To guard it from a man who from the sounds of it had attempted to persuade Pembrook via supernatural, if not blatantly magical means, seemed a bit more dramatic in nature. Hobnob and his band of gnomes offered their services of enchantment, as though they weren't already obliged to do so, whilst Lis speculated on the various possibilities of what this Strater was, citing the worst case as an intelligent and rather powerful vampire. He'd encountered them a few times in the Low-ways, often as either feral opponents or strategic allies to Dorcha of far greater status than he, but they were nonetheless quite rare even in those locations. To have one knocking on the door of a nobleman seemed... not impossible, but somewhat unlikely compared to the alternatives.

'If I may contribute,' he asked politely with hands clasped together once Lis had finished her spiel, 'I wonder if it's not more likely that Strater is simply a mage of some power. It seems more probable, given that vampires aren't usually seen this far north, and may in some ways be the more dangerous option. We can fend off more direct attacks with our own physical ability; on the other hand, a powerful illusion spell may mean we completely fail to notice the caster sneaking in and out with the book. We'll still need to prepare any which way, obviously, but focusing on just one possibility is probably not going to work out so well for us.'

[@POOHEAD189][@MiddleEarthRoze][@rush99999][@Jollan]