RP:Xzavior, Sneak

Part of the Craughmoyle's King Arc

Summary: Xzavior and Pilar meet in the Hanging Corpse, and upon finding out Pilar is a member of House Dragana, Xzavior decides to use it to his advantage. Pilar brings him to the house to show off the library, which doesn't have what he's looking for. Laezila is nervous around the naga, but that's all forgotten when Hildegarde arrives. Xzavior sneaks off and breaks into Larewen's study, successfully locating her book on the Order of the Shade.

Hanging Corpse Tavern

Xzavior nodded and gave her an appreciative smile, "I'll be fine. I've dealt with worst. I fought off six giants and came out with barely a scratch didn't I?" He gave her a less serious look at that trying to brighten things up a bit, "A good thing I have my own place other wise it wold be a bit awkward. But even that gets a bit stale after too long." He shook his head lightly with a smirk then turned to Pilar curiously, "Where did you go to find rest? Well... before Artia's that is."

Pilar was glad that he seemed to be brightening up. Still, she'd worry about him. It was just how she was. "Oh, I have been staying at House Dragana. Lady Larewen is so kind. She lets me stay there without asking for anything in return. I try and help out around the house, to show my gratitude, but there's not much the servants do not take care of."

Xzavior raised a brow at the name of where she was staying, "Alright, glad to know that there are some good people out there like that." It was relieving to avoid the topic and a lot more when he found out that his job for Gevurah could be made a lot easier then he thought, "Actually, I have nothing planned at all today, would you care if I saw the place? I was in Trist'oth the other day and heard some drows talking about some books about some Order and that Larewen might actually have those. I'm actually quite the reader and thought it would be interesting to check that out too," He rubbed the back of his head awkwardly. He wasn't exactly lying, but the hand motion was an innocent one. He didn't think himself as someone who looked like someone who would read often, but he did. How else would he know a selection of languages and how to use cryomancy for that matter.

Pilar was surprised to hear that Larewen's library was so well-known. She must have a pretty impressive collection! No wonder there were so many protective enchantments on the house. Perhaps she'd had problems with theft? "She has many books, and I'm sure at least one of them mentions an Order of some kind... There seem to be many of those. Come, I'll show you to the house." Pilar led Xzavior out the eastern side of the city and into the Dark Forest. There were a number of dangerous creatures in this wood, but the well-worn path was generally safe. Soon, they arrived at the dark but impressive Dragana manor.

House Dragana

Xzavior smiled appreciatively as she lead him to the house, he didn't feel all that great about lying to her after everything he told her but at least the only thing was why he was there and not what he was doing. He was kinda glad now that he hadn't pulled off his other plan before finding out who all lived here. Wasn't anything dark just sneaky.

Pilar opened the doors and stood aside so he could enter. "Welcome to my home." Once they were inside, she closed the doors, and showed him to the library. "Here we are... Look around as much as you like! I'm not sure where the stuff on this Order would be, though... "

Xzavior looked around the grand mansion impressed, he wouldn't have minded a look around of the building itself but he was glad to have a chance to get this over with quickly. So when she lead him into the library he have her a thankful nod and went to work searching for the book. It took him a bit to check them all then did a double check to make sure he hadn't missed it the first, but alas it wasn't there. With a disappointed hum he made his way back to Pilar and shrugged, "Not here sadly, do you think it could be in one of the rooms here? You could go in them so I wouldn't be intruding on anything."

Pilar found a couple spellbooks and read through them while she waited patiently for him to search. She needed to add some more skills to her repertoire. She was partway through the second book when Xzavior came back. She frowned at his request. "I'm... not sure. Maybe her office, but I do not want to go sneaking around in there... What is so important about this Order, anyway?"

Laezila heard movement; her vampiric senses were rather acute, if not quite augmented to an eerie, almost haunting point. One she recognized, and that was Pilar -she was a nice woman. The lithe young drow clung to the shadows of the hallway and foyer, attempting to eavesdrop and spy a glance at the new person.

Xzavior bobbed his head side to side finding it to be a reasonable thing, though that did make finding out for sure harder. He chuckled at her question, "Along with everything I already do I am also a procurer of random knowledge. I've already read all of Artia's and my own books so I wouldn't mind coming here again sometime," He paused for a moment when it came to the Order and raised a hand to his chin, “This Order is called something like the Order of Ice or something like that though truthfully I think that's bull. I read a lot about cryomancy and everything involved with it and haven’t seen a thing about it so I want to clear that up.”

Pilar thought that was an uninspired name for a cryomancy sect, but she didn't know much about magic history or anything outside of how to do a few spells. "Hmm... I don't know that Larewen is all that interested in cryomancy. She's a necromancer, you see. I can ask next time I see her, though. And I'm sure you'd be welcome to return, so long as I was here. Larewen wouldn't take too kindly to a stranger in her house, I think."

Laezila peered out of the hallway for a moment, to catch a glimpse of... Xzavior was officially the first real, live naga she had ever seen. She sharply inhaled, and instinctively reached along the wall to grasp hold of a letter opener on the couchside stand of the foyer, near the opening to the hallway.

Xzavior huffed internally, well it was worth a shot. He shrugged and gave Pilar a smile, “It’s probably some trick or whatever anyways. I used a bit of cryomancy, someone probably saw that and thought it would be funny to get my hopes up and all that. Well, thank you anyways.”

Pilar smiled. "I'll let you know if I find anything. You're welcome to stay for awhile, look through some of these books. You want me to grab something for you from the kitchen? We have fresh cookies, I made them this morning."

Xzavior was actually half expecting Pilar to show him out. That’s what he would have done anyways. Made him feel self conscious about his skills as a host a little bit. His eyes lit up at the proposition of freshly made cookies. He hasn’t had much of that in a while! And he had a chance to check out that book. Can’t forget that. “Cookies, definitely. Books and sweets are always great!”

Laezila kept hold of the letter opener as if it were a dagger of some sort, though truthfully the ex-matron had doubt that it'd be able to do as much as pierce the scales of Xzavior were she to attempt to strike. As it were, though, the reptilian male and Pilar didn't seem in any sort of hostility or confrontation; the letter opener lowered, but glinted behind Xzavior for Pilar's benefit. The young woman gestured silently toward the other female, in question to if Pilar needed Laezila to stab the unknown serpent-man.

Pilar's eyes widened when she saw Laezila's gesture. Okay, play it cool. Don't let Xzavior know that your housemate wants to know if he should be stabbed. "Yes, books and sweets with a ~good friend~ are always nice." Subtle. "Anyway, shall we?" She opened the door to the foyer so that Xzavior could leave. "The kitchen is just across the way."

Hildegarde had not quite anticipated returning to House Dragana quite so soon, but she was worried that Linn hadn’t arrived safely. After all, she last saw him hanging around the door and she wanted to be sure he made it inside safely and hadn’t been nabbed by the notorious spiders of the Dark Forest. So the Silver trudged through said dark and evil forest, cautious as she went and wary of the ever dangerous arachnids until she came across House Dragana. The knight dusted off a little bit of webbing from her armour before rapping her knuckles upon the door. She wasn’t sure if there would be an answer.

Laezila 's own eyes narrowed as Xzavior turned, and she simultaneously lifted the letter opener in a defensive point toward the naga, held between her diminutive form and the larger, serpentine one of the cryomancer. "Cahlind-nesst, zexen'uma rath," she harshly spoke, her accent that melodic yet naturally cruel twinge that correlated with the subterranean Trist'Oth. Her face, scarred by three parallel marks that stretched from the corner of her forehead, over her nose, to the opposite jawline like a large claw-swipe, deepened a frown into a scowl as Xzavior called her letter-opener bluff. But before she could reply, the sharp sound of knuckles rapt upon the door caused the woman snap her eyes down the hallway and toward the front door. A glance at Pilar and Xzavior, and the former was mouthed the word 'Who?' before she slowly made her way toward the front door, not turning her back on the naga until she was clear down the hallway. The door opened, Laezila utterly stilled, stared.

Pilar wondered what on earth Laezila's problem was. She spoke several languages, but drow wasn't among them, so she supposed she'd have to ask later. She smiled apologetically at Xzavior. "Sorry, she's..." Paranoid. "... nervous around strangers. But, sure, you can look around all you like! I'll go and get you some cookies. I'll be right back." She left Xzavior alone in the library, and if he was fast, he might be able to sneak out and down the hallway to Larewen's office, though the door would probably be locked. Margret, the house steward/maid, had appeared upon hearing the knocking, but was beaten to the door by Laezila. Pilar was halfway across the foyer herself when she saw the Silver. "Hildegarde! Hello!" she called.

Xzavior gave a silent sigh of relief as both of them left. He would snake his way down the hall to the one that was locked, if it was the house owners study it wouldn't be left unlocked. His wasn't. He hadn't had much issue with the locked door. Once his hand was on it he deep freezed the thing to the point that the locking mechanism was so brittle it snapped easily when he turned the handle. It wasn't perfectly silent, the snapping was still slightly audible but it could be played off as someone's ears tricking them. Once inside he quickly rummaged about any drawers or cupboards in there looking for his actual objective.

Hildegarde had expected a servant or perhaps an actual member of the House to open the door to her, not Laezila. Truth be told, she hadn’t expected to see Laezila here. If she was here, where was Ayras? She had told the vampire to keep Laezila safe, to not leave her side and – if need be – give his life for the former matron. “Laezila,” the knight said quietly, not sure what else to do. Would she be like Orikahn and think her some unseemly shade? Or would she believe? The knight offered Pilar a little smile, “Pilar--” whatever it was that she was going to say was lost; as her head cocked to the side at the sound of a snap. While vampires had sensitive hearing, a Silver dragon’s hearing was so sensitive that it was almost painful to talk above a whisper unless they learned to master their senses or blot their ears a little. “Is someone exploring where they ought not to be…? It sounds as if something has broken.”

Laezila did not see the execution of that order; the vampire had since gone mad, abandoned her in Frostmaw, and was in the throes of homocidal spree when the drow found him. "Hilde...?" As far as the vampire knew, unlike Pilar, the Silver was dead. Murdered. She had shed tears in mourning, she had prayed to every god she could think of. Those eyes blurred as they filled, but still the former matron said nothing. "But you're..." Her hand lifted -damn the sound! Her hand lifted to touch at the scarred face of the woman, briefly recoiling when contact assured her that the taller dragon was indeed, real, and alive -it was short lived, because again those fingertips sought the cheek of the other, "But Frostmaw... And the giants, and Ayras, and you are dead... were dead? They told me, you were dead, they made me believe it!" Suddenly her face wrenched in heartbroken anger, "-You- left me there!" Because, obviously, she was not dead, right?

Pilar had heard the snap, as well. "It could be one of my pets... they can get into trouble." Pilar cringed as Laezila cried out. She could totally understand her confusion, her hurt. Pilar took a few steps forward. "Laezila, she ~was~ dead... I saw her die myself. But Lady Leone brought her back, just as she promised. Hildegarde did not mean to leave you there." Xzavior, meanwhile, would find a dark leather bound book with the symbol of the Order on it. However, it would refuse to open. The book was actually enchanted, the soul of a woman named Phyllis bound to the book. It would not be so easy to pry the secrets from it pages.

Xzavior had only to find the book. Once he saw it he smirked slightly and placed everything back where it was. It wouldn't be much, that would be a waste of time that he didn't have much of. Especially when he was in a house full of people most of which he was sure had great hearing and most likely heard that noise. Closing the door quietly behind him, and removing any traces of frost, cold, or ice. He kept a low profile and returned to the library. He quickly grabbed a book from the shelves and opened it to a random page, sadly he had already owned and read this one. He remained quiet for a moment but when he realized no one was coming to check out the noise he sighed in satisfaction and placed the book back. Now the night could proceed as normal, his job was done. He made his way back out of the library to see the newcomer and offered her a wide grin, "Silver! It's great to see you again, I was wondering when our next meeting would be."

Hildegarde had never been particularly keen on people touching her face once it had been scarred and mutilated quite so terribly, but she understood that to be the affectionate way of Laezila. “They made you believe it because it was true,” she said softly, patiently but firmly. She knew this much to be true. “I didn’t *leave* you. I… I was dead, Laezila. I had no choice in the matter. I… With the trouble of the Savage Queen, I told Ayras to protect you. I thought he would be looking after you still, even now. I thought you and Talyara would perhaps be together somewhere safe. I was not about to drag you into another war,” she said the latter firmly. She had already pulled Laezila into conflict before, had already exposed her to the brutalities of war and she wouldn’t do it again if she could avoid as much. As Pilar spoke of a pet, the knight gave an expression of uncertain acceptance; as if she trusted the woman to know what was what within her own home but that she didn’t truly believe it. Even the smiling appearance of Xzavior does not allay her suspicions. “Xzavior. Did you not hear a noise from within the house? It sounded like a sort of plopping, didn’t it?”

Laezila shook her head, blinked along tears, briefly looked toward the other two in a distant acknowledgement of their presence, before she was staring at Hildegarde again. "Talyara and Linn -I couldn't endanger them, not with my thirst. And Ayras he... was caught. And then I saw him and he was... not himself. He..." Was throwing people off cliffs? Getting Laezila to feast despite her protests? "Something is wrong with him." Her hand lowered from that scarred face, having confirmed that it was, indeed, the woman. Alive and there. "The giants in Frostmaw are mad, Hilde. I could not stay, I could not stay because they would kill me." As it were, she still wore that ragged dress, ripped in parts and musked with dirt and clod, "The gate is shut now. And here, I can't stay here," and the ex-matron's voice dropped to a whisper, "I smell drow having been here." She frowned and lowered her gaze, both small hands ascending to grip the cloth or cuirass of the Steward. "I'm going to go with the crab-man. Far from the drow, and from endangering everyone. I missed you so ve-" She paused and stilled entirely, then, abruptly, "Somebody is casting a spell. A long one."

Xzavior nodded at Hilde's question, still keeping the smile. He hoped this was the last obstacle of the night, "More like a click to me." He lifted a hand and placed two fingers together, a layer of ice freezing them together, then snapped them. It wasn't a perfect replication of the noise of the lock but then again two snaps of a finger couldn't sound the same could it? Especially with magic ice, "I have little ticks while I read, tapping my tail, pacing, or snapping. Kinda a reason I don't read around people, it tends to annoy them." He noted Laezila's state and looked back at Hilde for a moment before nodding once to himself and keeping quiet. He needn't disrupt this. He looked down at Pilar from where he was and motioned towards the kitchen. He wanted that cookie now.

Hildegarde frowned at the news that something was wrong with Ayras. “Do you know where he is?” She had to help him. She needed to know what had happened to her loyal man; the man she had entrusted Laezila’s life to. “I know, things in Frostmaw are bad. But not for long,” she vowed; her hand intercepting Laezila’s and keeping a gentle hold of it. She didn’t want Laezila to cling to her like a helpless child. She wanted to offer the same affection to the drow that had been offered to her. “Kreekitaka? You can stay with me in Vailkrin for a while if you l--” then Laezila fell still. Something about a spell being cast. “What kind of spell?” she demanded to know. Yet soon she is distracted by Xzavior’s finger snapping. The knight offered him a little smile, “It was more like a snap to me; like something breaking. But perhaps it was just the click of your fingers,” she said, though she still retained some wariness. Who was he to prowl around the library of House Dragana? What were his connections here?

Laezila shook her head slowly, and she twisted her eyes up toward Hildegarde, "I don't know. It's just like a shiver up my back, the feeling when magic is used nearby. This one was long." A moment of silence, of tense wait, before the drow seemed to give up, "Maybe I just imagined it," the accented voice offered and inflected the sentence almost as if she were questioning it herself. The hand was held by Hildegarde in gentle embrace, but if the drow was dismayed or even seemed to outwardly notice the movement, she made no sign; the young woman felt more secure all the same. "Ayras. He was headed this way. But, he... He was throwing people off a cliff. And feeding. And, so much blood. I told him not to, begged him, but... I had to go, away from him. There was blood everywhere." It wasn't spoken out of fear or trauma, at least that last statement, but almost out of thirst -ravenously, rather than horrified. Her body shivered again, suppressing that feeling of magic being cast, this time, and refraining from speaking it.

Pilar accepted Xzavior's explanation of the snapping sound readily enough. When he motioned to the kitchen, she smiled and nodded, though the mention of a spell being cast gave her pause. "There are many magic users in the house... I'm sure it was one of them." She just wanted Laezila to feel safe. As the drow went on about Ayras' condition, she frowned. She didn't know the elf all that well, but he'd seemed okay. What had happened to him up in Frostmaw? "Hildegarde, Laezila, would you like to join us in the kitchen? I made cookies this morning, Xzavior and I were just going to have some." Cookies. That would totally make everything better, yup.

Xzavior cringed slightly at Laezila's story. He hadn't met the man but he was pretty sure Artia knew him. Hearing all this made him glad that Artia wasn't around Ayras any more. He hoped nothing else would pick up from his sneaking about, he wasn't proud of it but neither did he expect all these people to be around here either. He thought it was a simple and clean job to find out if the book was even here and be done with it. When Pilar invited them for the cookies he offered them a small kind smile hoping that maybe things could calm down on their part and made his way besides the kitchen.

Hildegarde shook her head at Pilar’s offer of cookies. “As much as I would love to devour your food, I cannot stay much longer. I only wanted to check in on Linn, but I assume he must have gotten here safely. But I had best head off for the castle and resume planning for the war ahead.”

Laezila lightly squeezed the Silver's hand, "Will I see you again?"

Pilar's brow furrowed. "I... have not seen Linn here." "But I have." Oh yeah, Margret was still here. Poor servants, always being ignored. Then again, it let them get into all that dirt, so it could be useful. The undead woman remembered the shining enchanter quite well, even though she'd only met him the once before he showed up the other day. "I let him in, myself. All is well, madam, you needn't worry." Pilar was surprised that her friend had been around and she'd never seen him... but then again, the house was just so big. Pilar nodded, satisfied, and smiled to Hildegarde. "Until we meet again, Hildegarde."

Xzavior hummed a bit disappointed at the fact that Hilde had to leave right away, despite nearly catching him red handed he still wanted to find out all that has been happening in Frostmaw. Next time then. He also had no idea why Linn was here but that was something else he'd have to find out later. He gave Hilde a nod and a wave farewell as she took her leave and waited patiently for Pilar.

Hildegarde offered Margret a smile at her confirmation, bowing at the waist as she gave her thanks. “Thank you, m’lady,” she said politely, before feeling the squeeze on her hand. “We will meet again, Laezila. I’m settled in the castle of Vailkrin. You can visit me at any time.” The Silver promised. “Nice to see you again, Xzavior,” she said kindly with a little dip of her head, before offering Pilar a smile, “Hopefully soon, Pilar.”

Laezila watched, quietly, Hildegarde's departure. She was alive. Without another word, the drow fled the room, preferably to isolation.

Pilar called, "Laezila!" as the drow fled, presumably to her room. She must have been very close to the Steward, Pilar thought, to inspire such a reaction. She then smiled at Xzavior. "Well... come on, we have cookies waiting for us."

Xzavior watched with a slight frown as the drow ran away, seems no one would be sticking around but could see why she would do such a thing. But at least he had those cookies. He looked over at Pilar returning her smile and motioned for her to lead, "To the sweets we go then."