[IRP] Dread Star's Zenith

[Swift_Assassin]

Lennox was sitting in a dark corner of a tavern, wishing to be alone with his thoughts. However, he had a companion at his table, and not the one he started his journey with. Across from him sat his brother's spy master and former fiance, Cassandra. He doesn't know how Cass found him after he left Tania. He would have preferred her find Carla instead so he can finally be alone, but instead Carla was off tracking her cousin, and Lennox was stuck here with her. "Cass. Why are you here? How did you find me? Shad told me you were in Tania with him, but I must have left hours before you did."

"Lord Tyber wanted me to send a message to you. He figured you'd be able to take care of the task," Cass said as Lennox narrowed his eyes. He was weary of Tyber, despite his help in Shad's affairs and raising his cousin Maria. After all, this man was responsible for the deaths of most of his family, even if they were set up. "As you know-"

Lennox cut Cassandra off. "I don't, actually. But go on." He left Etruria before it's capitulation to Lycia and hadn't been back since.

"-Tyber is trying to raise an Etrurian based resistance under the guise of a mercenary company. He's heard word of a sect of mages in this area that have been hiding out. He sent someone to try to negotiate some alliance...but. No one returned."

"Big surprise," Lennox dryly replied. "Let me guess, Tyber wants me to recruit them."

"No. He wants you to try and put them down before Wolfram contacts them," Lennox cocked his head at that. Before Wolfram contacts them? As in, uncle Wolfram? "They are messing with some terrible magic. The kind that a scholar like Wolfram would love to learn. We don't need any more Lycian attention on your family. Especially after everything at Santaruz and Tania. They thought Shad was responsible for the incident in front of the church in Tania." Most of this isn't my fault, Lennox thought to himself.

"So you want the guy actively being hunted by relic seekers to take down a group of dark mages?" Lennox replied scratching his head. This was going to be a pain. But perhaps it'll give him a bargaining chip so he can get out of an altercation with them.

"What?"

Lennox got up to his feet and looked down at the much smaller Cass. "I'll be the monster they same I am and I'll take them out." He began walking past her and Cass grabbed his cloak. He looked back at her.

"We don't know how many there are. This was Tyber's mission and they weren't able to get any information to me before I left to meet up with Shad. So, you may want to find others also targeting these men." Lennox looked forward, trying to think in his head how long the travel time from Arretium to Pharae could be. "Yes, that's how dated this information is. But I guarantee they are still a threat. On my way here, I've put my ears to the ground. They-"

"Fine." Lennox said leaving the tavern, Dyrnwyn heavily wrapped up on his back over his dark purple cloak. He didn't care for magic, but the worse they are, the more justified the hatred of magic gets. Wolfram, despite all of his posturing, would probably love to get his hands on their records, their spells, or their means of fending off the Church, if they are doing that. He'd probably align with them if push came to shove.

He was lost in his thoughts about this situation when he came across a large gathering of people. He stood at the back of the crowd, both to keep anyone from grabbing Dyrnwyn and because he had no obstruction of body they were looking at. He heard someone mention dark magic, which prompted Lennox to move through to crowd. If people were going to volunteer for this mission, he wanted to be front and center for it.

Lennox chuckled to himself. "This is like one of your terrible ideas, Shad." He said under his breath, imagining his cousin in front of him.