--- Kat ---
"Announcent ti once again! Today we’ve got an interesting combination. I wonder what the people who found these scrolls think? The first one is the ’Friendly Pause’ scroll. It makes it so that the penalty for standing near your teammates doesn’t start until you’ve spent an hour near them, and requires at least a day to recharge. Just to be clear though, it’s just the penalty. NOT the basic tir. You can’t hang out with friends for a spare hour.
"Which is perhaps good, because the next rule change is BACK OFF. Teammates spending ti together now eats up TEN TIS the amount of ti. That ans that you can only spend five hours together if you’re full up on stones. To make this not quite so punishing, you are also warned if you’re getting too close to soone. Plus, the paused tir from above turns the bracelet pure white, darkening to a black as the tir runs down. Should be easy to understand! Good luck!"
Thy’s voice faded out and Kat looked over at Hedera. "When it rains it pours I suppose..."
Hedera nodded. "Yes, though a good change I think? It ans we can have short etings with people if we run into them without issue... and it also ans you can’t team up for a day to try and fight in a group. Still... I wonder who picked them up?"
"No idea," admitted Kat. "I an... I could see anyone on my team taking the first but I’m not sure they’d take the second. What about you?"
"About the sa. Maybe there was a reason? Or perhaps they thought it was worth the risk? Just at a glance though, I wouldn’t assu it to be soone I know," said Hedera. "Do you think it’s the Gold Dwarves?"
Kat shrugged. "Not sure about that. I could also see it being the familiar team. They already have a ’team mber’ around most of the ti so it might not be as big of a hit?"
"What about the Moore’s team? Neither of us ntioned them so..." Hedera offered leadingly.
"I feel like considering the fact they’re both married they wouldn’t want a reason to stay away from each other. The ’pause tir’ though? That I could really see. The problem is, it’s just a nice addition to smooth things out. Before, if you just barely got too close you could start losing extra orb charge," sighed Kat.
Hedera opened her mouth to comnt when she spotted Lily whip her head around to the front of the house. Soon, they heard the door open and could hear armour on the floor. Kat glanced at Lily who gave a slight shake of her head and remained in place. Hedera, seeing this waited as well, having a good guess as to who it was. Granted, Lily wasn’t certain, but she was pretty sure.
It was confird a few monts later when Steel sped into the room and noticed a big bowl of salad and a smaller bowl filled with dressing for him to apply when he was ready. Steel clearly hesitated at this, before sighing, taking his helt off and sitting down in the chair. "I was originally just going to rush off, but I am hungry and I’ve got no idea when I’m going to eat next.
"The plan remains the sa, for you three at least. I’d like you to keep an eye out for the thief. The only difference is that I probably won’t be around in the morning to et up with you. I’m on guard duty for Jen tonight. If one of you could co and make a report to as soon as the thief is caught, or soti early before you go to bed or do other things that would be ideal. I should be at the guard station until about eight in the morning,"
Steel said all of this after dumping all of the vinaigrette into the salad and mixing it aggressively, more for speed then a desire to turn everything into a paste but he was doing a good job at both anyway. When he finished speaking he imdiately when to dig in, and then paused right before it hit his mouth. "Feel free to ask any questions."
Hedera, who had finished about half of her own al at this point, asked "What if we see any people who look super suspicious again?"
Steel grimaced, "Oh I completely forgot about those guys. I made a report already so it SHOULD be out of my hands... shit. Ok that’s actually an annoyingly good question. We’re really close to ’high alert’ or whatever else you’d call it because things could be going downhill fast. We would be allowed to question soone like that if we saw them, but by ’we’ I an ’the guards’.
"It’s been a while since I double checked the rules on assistants so I’m not sure if you can or not. I’m also not sure how important interrupting sothing like that could be. Going after them for ’nothing’ could be the spark that sets of this rapidly filling powder keg... at the sa ti, letting them go and having them hit sowhere important could do the sa.
"I think for now, it’s best to keep things simple. If they don’t seem to be part of the orb thefts make a note of them and I’ll make a report, hopefully for soone else to deal with it at so point."
"Is that more because you don’t want to overstep, or that both situations are just as likely?" asked Kat.
"Yes." Stated Steel... and nothing else.
Kat sighed, "Fine then. Sa plan as last ti I suppose. I’ll probably co and see you personally, or if there’s big news I imagine everyone will go. Though, I guess that’s a question. If we only spot one thief, do we stick around to try and see if they have backup?"
"No," said Steel firmly. "If you don’t imdiately notice a second figure simply leave and co to . If I was asleep it might be different but ANY advantage we can get at the mont is massive. Just confirming they’re unrelated to everything else would be a huge boon for the guards." Steel paused to glance down at his bowl. It was mostly empty. "Now I really do have to run."
Steel shovelled what remained of the al into his mouth, picked the dishes up and dropped them next to the sink before power walking until he got to the door where he broke into a sprint. Quite audible because of his armour. With Steel gone though... "Weaver?" asked Kat.
"Weaver," agreed Hedera. Kat placed the orb on the table and Lily tapped it with her nose. It took a few seconds for it to shake and unravel into the humanoid part of Weaver’s torso where she obviously looked around.
"Hello, good to see you all... though... is it just you three? I’d have thought if you were going to contact for a chat it would’ve been earlier..." Weaver said, trailing off.
Kat winced, but Hedera nodded along. "There was plans to, but things happened and it all got complicated. We got attacked by so pretty serious threats, twice, then got stuck in a place without any orbs to recharge our bracelets before ending up in a city that banned contact with you... despite wanting a tunnel. We were just going to wait for said tunnel but I wanted to chat. Kat and Lily also wanted to inform you of what’s going on,"
*Not sure I enjoy being thrown under the bus here...*
[Actually she’s more throwing herself under the bus.]
*What?*
[She’s placing herself more in the ’friend’ role and us in the ’acquaintance’ one and basically saying it was her ’job’ to force the issue and call, but things happened and we didn’t.]
*I’m so confused.*
[Just don’t say anything until she’s finished with the explanation.] So Kat gave a ntal shrug and did as Lily requested, waiting for Hedera to explain. Things... took a while. In fact, Hedera was only reaching the section with the Trapmaster after thirty minutes and Kat was looking out of the window a tad worried.
*Um... do we have TI for this? Shouldn’t we be on patrol sooner rather than later?*
[Yes probably, but I don’t know if we should interrupt them. A risk we’ll just have to take maybe?]
*Don’t you need, or at least want, to be inside the barrier? Actually wait. If Steel was closing it purposefully on most nights. What’s happening tonight?*
[Oh shit.]
"Hedera! We gotta wrap things up. We just realised Steel forgot to lock the enchantnts on the place we’re watching. I’m going to run over and ask what the plan is with that, while you and Lily finish up here and hurry over to the spot," said Kat.
"Oh shit," echoed Hedera before turning back to Weaver. "Kat’s right. This ti though? Unless we’re actively being hunted I’ll make sure to call you tomorrow evening. The ti might be a bit different but I will keep you updated!"
"It’s no problem, I understand. I get you’re a bit nervous but do rember I spent centuries by myself. Now I’m a bit more adjusted to the new status quo I can manage," admitted Weaver with a smile. "Still, I look forward to it."
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