EliteCommander

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

goodnight.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Colors responded in an understanding tone. "I know you do what you have to. But you don't set out to hurt people who don't deserve it. I mean, it's not like Vile's people are paragons of morality or anything. We didn't start this war, so it's their fault if they end up dying while trying to fight it. I know it's really easy for me to say this, but try not to let it burden your conscious too much. What you do, what your pack does, it helps people. A lot of people."

Colors was halfway through his drink by this point, and not intent on slowing down. There were always more details about the confrontation the next day that they could try to hash out, but he had given his general advice. He had other topics he would prefer to discuss. "I expect you get a lot of compliments from people in the different clans, but I also expect they're not really complimenting you. They're complimenting your legend; the version of you that gets spread around in stories. Honestly, I can't say I know what that's like. I mean...I'm used to people spreading stories about me, but they're not usually, uh, positive in nature. My point is, the high praise has probably wore thin on you, but I want you to know that you're definitely deserving of some reasonable, realistic complements on the work you do. Try not to forget that in all the other noise. Now, aside from all that, how has life been treating you? Outside the war and all that. I mean personally. Did I hear Kaleeth right when she said you learned to turn into a bird or something? That must've been an exciting thing to study."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

"Overstep what? I am afraid I'm not quite sure what you mean." Colors responded. With him, it was actually difficult to determine if he was being legitimately honest in his confusion. Regardless, he continued to answer Sabine's questions without hesitation after another drink.

Colors nodded his head. "Aye, if you want to go the route of trying to get him to trust you, then being up front from the start is probably your best bet. Just approach him, calmly, and ask to speak to him in private, if we're not already in private. Then, open up with a sort of declaration of facts. Tell him that you know he worships Talos. Tell him about what you saw in the window if necessary, then reassure him that you aren't an enemy. Naturally, he won't believe you, so you'll then tell him that you are not going to ask him to say anything that will incriminate him, his friends, or his family. Luckily, that's not a lie in our case. You can keep reassuring him that you do not need to know the identity of anyone he would want to protect. You want to be firm, but calm. Peaceful. You can really play up the notion that w have a mutual enemy. Now, I can't guarantee it will work, but if it doesn't there's nothing stopping you from taking a more aggressive approach to threaten to turn him in. But, well, from what I remember about you, Sabine, I know you probably don't want to do that if you don't have to. It's a really admirable thing about you. You know I'm not one of those lycans that looks up in awe at you, but I'm not ashamed to admit things like that make me look up to you and your pack. It's just more of...respect for me, instead of hero-worship."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Colors gave a noncommittal shrug before taking a swig of his own drink. "To be honest, there's quite a lot of ways to go about this. What Fendros suggested is certainly a way to do it. Ease into it so you don't startle him as much. But it's far from the only way. Now, if you start with those names, he'll know what you're talking about immediately, and it will scare him. Start listing off Talos worshipers without declaring your intentions? That would give someone like him a fright. The real first question to figure out is not what to ask first, but how you want to go about getting the information. Scaring him, making him use the information he has to bargain against a...perceived threat on his life, that could get us the information we need. Or, we could go the route of being honest. Well, as honest as we can be. Try to convince him that we're not a threat and that you just want his help. He still won't really trust us, of course, but as long as we don't ask him questions that would incriminate him or his friends, I'd give good odds of him cooperating. Decide how you want to persuade him, and I can give you all the help you need."

With a chuckle, Colors took another drink of his ale. "It's a shame he's married. If he wasn't, just looking at your beautiful face would probably be enough to get him to trust you." He added.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Think I'll bring us to a conversation with Colors. He might be a bad influence. Or just harmless. I can never decide half the time.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Sensing Sabine's discomfort, Colors gave her a pat on the back as they were walking back in the direction of the inn. "Don't worry Sabine, I can help you out plenty with that. I have a...certain way of talking to people, and it shouldn't be hard to walk you through the details. You'll probably have to improvise some, but I know you'll be fine, with my guidance."

The majority of the group headed straight back to the inn, apart from Kaleeth. Since Fendos intended for her to show "that they meant business," she decided it would be best for her to be armed and armored for the confrontation. As such, she split from the group and left the city to return to camp. She would stay there for the night, collect her belongings, and meet back up with them in the inn the next morning. It left them with six in the inn, so they would at least be able to split the rooms evenly.

True to his word, Colors was eager to help Sabine devise her plan for the next day. He requested that she join him at one of the corner tables in the second floor of the inn. At this time of night, many of the patrons had gone home, so they could speak in reasonable privacy. Although, Sabine ended up having to wait a minute or two for Colors to arrive after she took her seat. When Colors did join her, he had two mugs in hand, one of which he placed in front of Sabine as he took his seat across from here. "Have a drink; I insist. It's a local ale. Breton I figured you might want to have a taste of your people's homeland, as it were. Besides, it's best not to be stressed for these sorts of things. Or ever, really. Stress never helps anyone. So, just to start, what do you think would be your ideal way to approach this man?"

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Colors gave Sabine an encouraging look, at least intending to be supportive. "I wouldn't worry too much, Sabine. We probably don't even have to be outwardly threatening towards them. They'll assume that we're threatening them all on their own, regardless of what we do. It might seem a bit mean, but we know we don't intend to hurt them. It's not like we're going to turn them in or anything. I mean, you can probably be outright nice to them, and they'll still be frightened. You just have to ask them if there is anyone they know of in Evermore who claims to help Talos worshipers, but isn't trustworthy. If they can point us to someone who betrays Talos worhsipers to someone other than the Thalmor, then that's all we need from them."

Fendros' question to Colors came with a mixed response. "Um, well, sort of. I have some names of people who were probably Talos worshipers that have gone missing, but for most of them, I can't know if they were taken by Vile's people, or the Thalmor. Though, there is one that I can say that probably wasn't taken by the Thalmor, since it happened at the same time that a lot of the local Thalmor operatives were tied up in that skirmish with one of Vile's outposts. It's technically possible that the Thalmor could have gotten her, but it seems more likely that Vile's people did. Vile's hunters are actually more active in this area than the Thalmor, so they have more people that could have done it, even with part of them in that skirmish."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

There was a few moments of silence as everyone did what they could to think of an approach. Kaleeth proposed an idea first, though she of course had not had much time to think through the details. "Maybe...we can get one of those trinkets like them? An amulet of Talos or something? We could just buy one from that dealer back in the inn. We could send one of us in to act like a Talos worshiper whose in trouble. Maybe say that someone suggested to talk to them. Then, we can ask questions about who to trust and who not to trust."

Colors tilted his head slowly from side to side, being largely uncertain of the idea. "Well, that could work, could not work. It really depends on who these people are. If they're people who help other Talos worshipers, who might have someone sent to them, then it would work fine. But these people might also be in it more for themselves; it might be strange or unexpected for someone to be sent to them for help. Might cause suspicion. Just having one of those amulets isn't enough proof for them. Look, I think we should just find a good time, then go straight up and knock on their door. Tell them we know they're Talos worshipers, tell them we don't care, and tell them we want their help. They won't like it, they'll deny it, but if Sabine tells them what she saw through the window, they'll know they've been found out. And it looks like they're just merchants; not really dangerous themselves. They'll bend over backwards for us to try to keep us from turning them in, not that I'm saying we should threaten them or anything. No need for that. Obviously, they won't trust us, but we don't need them to. Think about it; we don't need to ask them to sell out their friends. We just need to get them to tell us about their enemies. If they have us right in front of them, thinking we might turn them in, then they might not see any harm in telling us about people they hate anyway." He suggested, speaking softly.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

In the moments following Sabine jumping down to the street, there was some movement from inside the window. Kaleeth followed Sabine's lead to bring herself out of sight. A few shadows danced around the window, but as the rest of the group had already gone through the effort to make themselves inconspicuous, there was nothing for them to see when they peered out onto the street.

Eventually, the shadows moved away from the window, and Kaleeth joined Sabine to regroup with everyone else. Out of caution, they did not simply walk straight across the street to the others, but instead met up a short distance down the street, out of sight of the house. In keeping with his usual energetic nature, Colors was the first to eagerly question Sabine.

"So what did you see? You get a look at what he bought from the dealer?" Colors questioned.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Kaleeth lifted Sabine up as steadily as possible, though Sabine would have to rely entirely on her own balance on the way up. Since Kaleeth could not see her, she was not able to re-adjust to make it easier for Sabine to stay upright. Once she was up on the wooden support, she would need to shimmy along the wall carefully until she reached the window. There was little room to place her feet, so there was also very little room for error. A fall would not be terribly dangerous unless she landed at an unlucky angle, but it would be loud.

Peering into the window, Sabine could see a softly lit bedroom. It was as well-furnished as one might expect of a merchant's home, with a large bed, several pieces of sturdy furniture, and even a medium-sized bookshelf. The man had gone right upstairs as soon as he had returned home, and fortunately for Sabine, she had managed to get a look inside in just enough time to see something valuable. He had moved a dresser next to his bed aside to reveal a metal safe built into the wall. It was somewhat difficult to see from Sabine's angle, but she could make out the man storing in the safe a carved stone statuette in the shape of a sword being driven into a platform: a simple shrine to Talos. Afterwards, he sat down on the edge of his bed with the other Breton in the room, a woman who was presumably his wife. The fact that he soon pulled her into a kiss would essentially confirm that suspicion.