RP:No Secrets Here

Summary: The rogue is scouting Larket for information, and while lurking on the city bridge, he is discovered by the cryomancer Xzavior. Taking this opportunity to gather information eventually leads the pair to Kelay, where several familiar faces show and Lionel gives a very interesting statement regarding the situation.

Larket Town Square

The square, in stark contrast to its previous appearance, is beautiful and well maintained. Streets from the north, south, and west, cobbled smoothly, encircle a small area of land here, where grass and flowers grow. A small stone gazebo sits in the center of the square, raised a fair distance from the ground by marble steps, so that the structure can serve as a stage for public announcements. A board is fastened to its side, pulled from the wreckage of the old square. Vendors line the roads, selling a variety of wares ranging from food to clothes. East of the square stands a sturdy building of stone, its entrance guarded by armed men in Larket's livery.

Leoxander had heard all these rumors of earthquakes and destruction. Whether the square was on it's way to repair or somehow maintained it's beauty, it was where the pirate had opted to stop and take a seat on the edge of a stone planter, broken or in tact, to light up a cigarette. Tin firestarter in hand, he ignited the wick and drew from herbs far more strong smelling than the array of grass and flowers before he snapped the hinged lid closed on his thigh and returned it to pocket, pinching the end from his lips and sucking in a lungful of smoke behind lightly clenched teeth. His eyes were ever veined by the unkempt, unwashed hair that hung over them, and while the black fabric of his mask hung around his neck his face was still covered in the stubble from a lack of a shave. He wasn't exactly trying to stand out, but compared to any denizens of that well known city and the display of color in the scene, he did look just a little suspicious in his black leather jacket and pants, stained 'wifebeater' not quite white, anymore, underneath, and a large compound bow weighed across his back. Still, he looked pretty comfortable lurking there, watching any activity there was to observe and enjoying his toxic habit.

Xzavior was coming back from the fortress. Unhappy with the short visit and rather wanting to get on with his own toxic habit of downing a bottle or two of scotch or rum. The square was probably one of the least damaged places, though almost everywhere else had some sort of damage to it. Passing on by, the naga easily noticed the man sitting there smoking. Out of everyone around, he seemed the least bothered or affected by what was around him. Besides Xzavior himself. He didn't live around here. He just cared about making sure no one died. Slowing down before Leo, he raised a brow as he blew away some smoke, "Haven't we met before?"

Leo took another pull from his rolled cigarette, just kind enough that he didn't intentionally blow it toward Xzavior's approach, but he didn't seem bothered by any obvious dislike of the strong smell, either. A slight change of his expression was given, a quirk of a brow beneath blond as he gave the naga a look over and answered in a low, lazy tone. "Figure I'd remember meetin' someone like you, mate." Not that this was the first half snake he'd crossed paths with. This one didn't dress the part of a warrior queen, though. "But who knows. Mighta passed each other a time or two." He flicked the cherry of his smoke from the end and planted a boot on it to save half, tucking the half burnt blunt away in some pocket. "Jus' wanted to see what was goin' on around here for myself. You know much about this?" Even if the square wasn't greatly damaged, it showed enough that Xzavior would probably catch on to what the pirate meant.

Xzavior dipped his head to his reasoning. "Fair enough I 'spose." He didn't mind the smoke all too much, true. He might have if the smoke was blown at him. Alas it wasn't. "I wasn't here myself for it, but I'm here to clean up the aftermath of a pretty disastrous earthquake. Near Armageddon level in some places." He mused as e looked around the place. "I take it you're just coming into Larket then." Wasn't too often you ran into someone who hasn't heard of what's been going on here.

Leoxander considered the Naga's information with a simple nod, slouching forward in his seat to casually rest his arms across his knees in a familiar slouch. "Oh I heard plenty. Guess I just came to see it for myself. Anything of interest I should check out while I'm in the area? Maybe you could even show me the worst, if yer not on yer way out." He figured it was time to make good on an introduction. "Leo, by the way."

Xzavior considered it for a moment before offering a shrug and saying, "Why the hell not eh?" Motioning him up, Xzavior fixed the satchel before making his way towards what he found to be some of the worst damages in this city. That not being too far away actually. "The name's Xzavior." He said in return to the offered name.

Leoxander shrugged his bow higher on his shoulders but seemed to have no intention of using it. For the most part, this dark dressed rogue seemed in a pleasant mood. "Maybe we could even stop for a drink, if there's anywhere in these parts to lay off a bit. You lead the way, though. Let's see what's been happenin'..." It was a town he had been to a handful of times before, but most of those occasions had occurred when his brother and Jacklin were ruling the front. Or at least as far as he expected anyone to know.

Xzavior chuckled a bit when he lead Leo towards the tenements. Cracked earth, shattered remains of buildings and half standing walls dominated the place along side the people remaining, uninjured by the quake, "The Red Ogre was actually just recently demolished so there sadly isn't a place to sit down. Least we head down to Kelay for a drink." Stopping near the center of the road he motioned to the place before him, "The worst of it," Was all he said of it.

Leo took in everything there was to see as they walked into the area. Even though he was gaining that information on Larket's status, it was difficult to maintain anything but a grim frown at the scene. "Yeah... I'll buy you a drink, down there. I jus' wanna see a bit more. Maybe there's some way to help the new queen..." And in fact he did have some intention of doing so, just perhaps as a knight or noble would do. Leo took a few steps forward into the broken road and took it all in. "What about the castle? The healer's house? The shops?" He was fishing for any information he could, but there was a note to his tone that sounded actually concerned.

Xzavior looked over to him when he started asking about the status of everything else, "Some of the shops have to be repaired, they shouldn't all be in bad shape. The castle as far as I know is alright," But he hesitated when he went to mention Ara. Lowering his head a bit he looked back over to Leo, "Ara is gone. There was a sinkhole somewhere along the river and it flooded the house. Ripped it apart." Sadness in his voice when he said that. "Sabrina's been moving around since it happened and for the most part been doing alright. She's usually around the fortress gates if you want to catch her." He was assuming he knew Sabrina if he knew about the house. Can't know one without the other.

Leoxander looked fairly confused as he glanced at Xzavior. "Wasn't that damn place in the sky?" It had been, at least to his knowledge, before all these royal earth tremors. But he would give his tour guide a moment to answer. One last look around the area given and regardless of whether the naga responded or could not speak, he offered lowly. "Why don't we have a drink an' talk about this? As far as I know, it ain't exactly a secret. I heard it half across the land when the news broke. Haven't seen a hide 'er hair of this so called Queen." He turned, to go back the way they came, intending to leave Larket. It was up to Xzavior whether or not he would follow to that Kelay tavern for a drink.

Xzavior shook his head at the question, "No, the house wasn't in the sky. Sure, it could move, but it was on land." He eyed the pirate for a moment before he offered the drink and decided to go with it. He was heading that way anyways. "Lead on then, and as far as the queen goes, she's friendly but not my kind of person." He'd leave it at that for now. Don't exactly want to cause a commotion because of his standing on the royalty here.

Kelay Tavern

Leoxander made his way inside... cautiously. It had been a very... very long time since he'd lingered on those familiar streets, let alone made his way into the main pub. Mesthak knew him, but knew not to make it obvious, but then there was Nancy who was probably graying, by now. She wasn't certain it was the same rogue, for how he had aged since his first days in that establishment. He moved to a familiar table where he had propped his boots up carelessly onto in the past, but just took a seat in the chair, waiting for the familiar barmaid to wander over and proffer the familiar rum. He nodded as she placed down a glass, and would possibly wait if any others were to approach that area.

Xzavior had taken his seat along side the pirate though didn't need to make an order before Mesthak set up a bottle of rum for the naga. Obviously, he was a regular and ordered this quite a bit. "I've not actually gotten a chance to sit down here in some time. I've been on the move for a while." He mused as he leaned back against the chair. Drinking from a mug

Terra had lost a bet while inebriated. That was the only possible and semi-logical explanation for why she was currently tangled up in the chains in the rafters, anchored to the center piece of the vaulted ceilings. Then there was a noise that wasn't human but too muffled to be sure of the origin. "Bloody mother fuc--SST" she had touched hot wax as she continued to pull herself along the chains to reach... a cat. The large-eared thing had managed to get itself stuck up on one of the rafters and none of the idiots below were any help in retrieving the monster. From here she was able to watch Leoxander's approach with a furrowed brow. First Cenril, now Kelay? Strange sights... and he was friends with a - she narrowed her eyes at the naga and then wrapped tighter to the thick cords she had found herself glued to. "Hey..." she called from above, but not calling out anyone in particular. "Was it cats you don't like or pixies? One of them gives you fits, right?" That would narrow down who she was talking to. You watches that entry with a mild amount of pity in his gaze as he motions for Nancy to set the bottle down on the table.

Leo almost too casually looked up. Then there he was again, lifting his boots up to prop them in that cross ankle position on the end of the table, as Mesthak had always hated. He leisurely poured his drink of rum as he watched Terra struggle. "Both..." He answered matter of fact, looking in no rush to assist. "You lose a bet or somethin'?" For all his dry humor, he had unknowingly hit that right on the head. Leo lifted his poured glass to drink before he set it down, still staring upward at the woman in the rafters. Despite any change of appearance, there was still a scent, a voice, to recognize who he was looking at. He motioned up at Terra for Xzavior to notice, like it was a sight to see.

Xzavior glanced up when he had heard the voice and raised a brow when he saw Terra hanging from the ceiling. "Well. Never seen that one before." Chuckling a bit at the nonchalant manner of them all. Taking another drink from his mug, he felt like he should do something for the girl. Of what he could, he wasn't sure. There was a cat involved, but the only way he was catching that was if they wanted it to be an ice sculpture. So... more drinking?

Terra felt pretty upset that Leoxander couldn't see the glare she had adopted. It had been perfected over the years. "I wouldn't say that, exactly." Even from her spot at the top she could hear Mesthak's groan of frustration that Leoxander had returned and kicked up old habits. "I would say that Borge is a CHEATIN' chunk of flesh that somehow managed to get a fancy flush in the last cards game but I wouldn't say I lost." A large gremlin of a man grunted at that, his beefy hands slammed on the table soon after but what he could do? Nothing. And Terra knew it so she didn't mind adding, "Didn't even know he could count. Figured it was easy coins." Snowball, the blasted cat, moved a little further. Before Terra could issue a threat to the rotten thing, there was a knife being tossed in her direction and catching on her sleeve. "You throw about as well as you play," called down to Borge, who did not seem inclined to take the teasing lightly.

Leo murmured to Xzavior, "Get used to it, Mate." He set his empty glass down, soon to be refilled. "So what was your business in Larket?" Although he spoke to the Naga, he kept his focus on the woman in the rafters. He finally spoke to her, between. "You got a way of comin' down or do I need to come get you?" His glass was lifted, pausing there before he took a drink, to see how either the naga or the healer would respond.

Xzavior shook the bottle of rum he had taken with him from the bar and smirked a bit, "I've seen some strange things in my time pal, this isn't the worst of it." The question of what he was doing in Larket was met with a quick pass of the bag, "I double as a healer besides all the other stuff I usually do. So I head over to lend a hand whenever I feel like it is needed."

Terra entertained the idea of Leoxander scaling the beams but ultimately decided against it after she weighed the pros and cons. There was enough dust and -was that a dead bat?- grime that it grew tiresome to remain, so she'd work on shimmying back down the rafters... right after she scooped up the devon rex who took the climbing trick she learned a little too far. Turned out there was a large pole towards the back of the tavern that contained several U shaped pegs, used to gain access when the candles burnt too low. That was her method of getting up there and she took it down, somehow managing to keep steady footing despite the bottle of whiskey that had attributed to the climb in the first place. Leoxander got an elbow nudge to the back as she came near and this time she took the seat on the other side of him, not quite willing to sit next to Xzavior yet but she did continue to study him, hard. "How many new friends do you have?" Manners, it seemed, were lost in somewhere in the clouds.

Leoxander looked at Xzavior, "So that's what you do? You heal? I got a feelin' you have more up yer..." Not sleeves... "... scales." He shot his glass across the table in indication he wanted a dose from that bottle, if the naga complied. Leo rarely paid for his own drinks. It was about then the nudge occurred, and he grunted for the effort. He glanced at Terra to answer. "Not that many." Friends, he meant, but he knew or acquainted with a lot of people. This half snake being his newest to be more than a stranger. "You two know each other?"

Xzavior leaned in to fill up the glass, "Not at all." he answered as he pushed the glass back, "And you're right. There is more." Quite a bit, "As I said, I do other things on the side and healing I only picked up last year. My area of expertise..." He went to pour out the bottle of rum onto the table. However, the liquid froze before it could hit the wood. "Is cryomancy." Moving another cup under the bottle, he carefully melted the rum for it all to land in the glass. Motioning for Terra to take it if she wanted it. The studying was easily ignored. It happened a lot more then she knew.

Terra said, "No." It was abrupt and huffed. She did not know this stranger and she did not seem to enjoy that lack of knowledge. There was a time when she could place such creatures but lately... "There was a time I thought the oddest thing was a man that became a wolf and now there's sea-crabs outside of Gualon and snails." Perhaps that was why she had been venturing further out, only to find more things that made her head turn sideways. Strangely, she turned down the offer for a drink but did say "Thanks, but I've had my share for the evening. Still a few things I have left to accomplished. But... did you all mention Larket? How's it looking there?"

Lionel drifts to the bar, moving like a swift shadow. He's been here for some time, but in his thin black silks and in the absence of his Knight-Commander's vambrace, only those who know his face will think much of the man as he quietly takes his food and drink. Supping on a simple stew, the man peers into the flames of the fireplace. Mesthak doesn't speak to Lionel, despite all their many years of history together, for the dwarf knows his friend too well. It is patently obvious the Catalian is seeking a low profile tonight, and for that, the barkeep keeps the rum poured and leaves him be. Lionel remains after dinner for over an hour, flipping through the pages of an old red book.

Leo shrugged a shoulder. "Pretty messed up, far as I saw." He picked up the drink poured for Terra to take it for his own and downed it like water. He might have said more when his gaze went beyond Xzavior toward the knight at the door. Low profile or not, he could not ignore his opposite. "Good to see you aren't in the infirmary, today." He remarked loudly to draw attention to the warrior, before he tossed back another dose of rum. Leo seemed comfortable enough in that environment, even if he wasn't. His attention drifted back toward the Naga. "So what were you doin' there? I'm betting it was more than enjoying the garden."

Lionel studies a particularly worn page, polishing off the rum as the words swirl around in his mind. 'I had no calling, nor any port in a storm, but I'd heard the calling and I'd felt the stirring and I blinked and I was there. Always the great ethereal there, always this nebulous destination; there, which stands for elsewhere, which means anywhere but here.' The Hero of Hellfire makes a crease on the old page, nearly tearing it in the process, and continues on to the next page. Nearby, gnomes play at cards and a boisterous orc squawks her best impression of an avian's song.

Xzavior paid no mind to the knight. He had seen him a few times but not enough to remember the face. When Leo called him out, he raised a brow but nothing else. "Like he said, it's not in good shape. Not going to get good for a while at least." At least he suspected anyways. The remark was met with a chuckle before nodding, "Well, of course not. But I could say I just went up to get some supplies, or I could say I was making some impressions on the royalty there. More then likely not the good kind." Little to say that the king probably didn't like him and the queen most certainly hated him.

Lionel cants his head at the callout, smirking. "Rum," he comments back, almost idly.

Dyraxdiin is the next patron to find his way to the tavern, the door to swing ajar as he enters. The mage, clad in half-robes and half-plate, strolls in with an easy gait. A casual glance is given to the other patrons gathered, blue eyes to skip about as they go. "Mesthak," The Wyrm leans into the bar, addressing the bartender, "Whiskey, neat." His voice is deep and certain, the cadence of a man adjusted to the life of order and authority. He reaches into the coinpurse strapped to a broad leather belt and retrieves a coin; it is slid across the roughly-scarred bartop in exchange for the drink. Without hesitation, Diin tilts his head back and takes a generous swig, tongue to test the flavor before swallowing. Now the mage seats himself upon one of the empty barstools lining the bar, and leans an elbow to its surface. Blue eyes to once more regard the tavern and its customers.

Eleanor entered the tavern without much pomp or circumstance, a midnight-blue hooded cloak pulled tightly around her. Blonde waves had been arranged to conceal the diadem spanning her forehead, the hood pulled low to add to the shroud of mystery she'd inclined to wrapped herself in. Despite that, her strides were sure, graceful as she wended her way through the tables, pale eyes alighting upon Leo wherever he may be. It was possible patrons she passed might find themselves a few coins lighter at the end of the night, although she did not appear to brush up against any of them. A ghost of a smirk coiled in the left corner of her mouth as she made her way toward the wolf, glancing briefly toward anyone he was choosing to converse with. With a nod to Leo, she quietly took a seat nearby, helping herself to the nearest drink as she let those glass-green eyes survey the room.

Leo nodded to Xzavior, but he was not one to stay in one place for long. One more drink poured for himself. "Ain't the place to be, I guess...An' the royalty..." Well, he wouldn't say much more on that. He turned his attention back to the Hero who tried to keep himself as concealed as a rogue. "An' what'dyou know about the city? Been a might change since my brother was king, eh?"Although he revealed a bit of detail there, he looked somewhat amused, if lacking a smile. He gave a glance toward Dyraxdiin as he came through the door but offered no real greeting to the stranger. He did take his boots down off the table, perhaps indicating he was ready to depart.

Lionel slides his book down onto the countertop, his expression unusually stoic tonight. Again his azure gaze catches those flickering flames, and as he leans into his seat by the bar, lifting one slender leg up to his chest, his voice takes on a distant tone. "I missed the operative bits, there," he admits. "Larket's in danger." He says it calmly, so quiet that only a few patrons notice. "The city is one bad break away from complete collapse, and I don't know what terrifies me more..." Scooping up the book, the Catalian good deftly from his seat, tossing thrice as much gold coin toward Mesthak as is necessary. As he walks past Leoxander and toward the door, he concludes the thought. "...The fact that it's true, or the fact that I'm not even certain Macon himself is the culprit." He snickers. "On your guard, always." And he's gone.

Xzavior was just about ready to head out himself, looking over to Leo when he mentioned his brother was king. Was that so? Shrugging internally, he'd store that bit of information for when it might be useful. Somehow knowing it might not be. But hey, ya never know. Coming to a stand, he gave a stretch for a moment before looking over to Eleanor nodding then saying, "Welp, it's been fun, but I have places to go and people to more then likely annoy. Perhaps we run into each other again eh?" he mused as he placed some gold for their drinks on the table before going to make his leave.