ROLEPLAY

The spy

The rain was pouring down on Avalae. Stealthily, a Matis crossed the space separating the Majestic Gardens Caravans counter from the bar.
He quickly entered the elevator, which took him to the green-lit room where the thirsty took refuge.
There was only one customer that evening and, as usual, the barman greeted arrivals outside the building. It was the homine the Matis was looking for. He watched her for a moment. Despite her relaxed posture, he could tell she was trying to play the noble Matisse. The Matis judged that soon the "cover" would be perfect.

The Matis signaled his presence with a tap on the shoulder, then uttered the phrase of recognition in Taki zoraï that his agent had planned for their meetings during the infiltration. After a moment's silence, the hominin replied in a morose voice. She mumbled: "Cirrus, Nu is happy to see Liu.
Cirrus let the silence linger for a moment. He wondered if he would be able to get through to her despite her apathetic state. Cirrus" placed a packet on the counter, from which a strange odor was rising. The homine seized it and quickly stuffed it into her pocket.

"Now is not the time to flinch".said "Cirrus" in an ironically paternal tone. "Your new friends would be disappointed to find you here in this state. You now have more than enough to relax behind closed doors with this package."

The interpellée didn't answer. Cirrus" added nothing. The Matis simply pretended to leave. He stopped when he heard an amber cube hit the wood of the counter.
"Cirrus" retraced his steps and picked up the object.
Then, without a word, he left the bar.

Smoky reveries

In her Avalae apartment, the mysterious "Cirrus" handmaiden was emerging from her vaporous hallucinations. Lying on her bed, she breathed slowly, her head in the smoke of her concoction. That evening, she had exhausted her supply of gibbai flesh. Her large water pipe contained nothing but damp ashes.

When she had fully regained consciousness, the homine stood up and splashed some water on her face. She then brushed her hair, smoothed out her dress and stepped outside for some fresh air. The building's janitor saw a graceful young Matisse walk past him, a carefree smile on her lips, whom he would certainly not have recognized a few moments earlier, slumped as she was in her cloud of hallucinogenic smoke.

Cirrus"'s accomplice, as she walked, let her thoughts drift on the waves of her memory.

She remembered her first meeting with the enigmatic Matis, who turned out to be a convict. Although he was older than her, the young homine had been seduced by his attentive manner, and if she had fallen for him, she might still have had doubts about the reciprocity of her feelings, but this was not a primary concern for her.
She escaped for a week from her life in Zora, joining "Cirrus" in his tribe in the Green Summits. She shared tents, wine and smoke with him.
Just as the young homin's escapade was about to come to an end, as she didn't want to arouse the suspicions of those close to her, "Cirrus" introduced her to vaporized gibbai flesh, a powerful hallucinogen. For a brief moment, she was reluctant to consume it, as her Zoraie upbringing forbade such things, but once she had tasted it, she forgot her scruples. However, the Matisse didn't notice that "Cirrus" hadn't taken any with her.

Back at home, the young homin couldn't forget the exhilarating sensations this new preparation had given her, so much so that she couldn't do without it. Unable to obtain some in the Pays Malade without being indiscreet, she sent an izam to "Cirrus". He offered her a deal...

Cirrus fears

By nightfall, "Cirrus" had reached the convicts' camp. He entrusted his mektoub to a guard and rushed into his tent. Having shed his coat, he pulled an amber cube from his pocket. With an air of satisfaction, he settled himself comfortably on a cushion and placed the object on the crate that served as his table. Having lit a candle, he searched the faces of the cube for the magic rune to activate the reading.

But the amber sizzled without releasing its contents. The heart of the amber, usually glittering, was dull. A vague expression of fear materialized on "Cirrus"'s features.
He had, however, retrieved the amber from its intended location, hidden in the roots of the Avalae Rotoa.
His spy had told him, during a brief meeting, that the amber report was of the utmost importance.
Had she placed the wrong amber in the hiding place? Had some kind of magnetic activity triggered the message's destruction?
"Cirrus" knew that these miniature ambers were particularly sensitive to Zoraie magic and magnetic disturbances, but the amber in question had only been in the hiding place for a few hours, and the Forest was not known to be regularly crossed by what the spy called magnetic auroras. That was why they had opted for this means of transmission.
The fact remained that his henchman wasn't always totally lucid, especially when his "salary" had fallen. But "Cirrus" told himself he couldn't rely on this explanation alone.

"And if someone was watching Staeflina..." he thought. "Or, as bad luck would have it, a Matis or a curious stroller might have snooped too close to the Rotoa... But an ordinary person... ***could he have found the playback mechanism? And why would he have bothered to erase the recording? A stroke of luck from handling the cube?
He thought for a moment.
"What a bummer! Just when this report was going to give me the first information on Yrkanis' defenses! I'll have to question Stae..." he grumbled.




*** [HRP]Any hominin can claim to have intercepted the spy's message. Please reply to this topic to tell about your "find", preferably a story consistent with the publications above. Enjoy your role-playing adventure!:) [/HRP]

Canillia is in her office,
She absent-mindedly scans the weekly report of her "Ch'tits" when her attention is drawn to a name: Staeflina.

She remembers the kindly Matis raised in Zora.
Because of her kinship with the man who claimed the throne of Stevano, she remembers giving instructions to keep a low profile.

The Nindën of the Alkiane Order opens the envelope containing the report:
it contains a small amber cube protected by a Taki glyph.

she begins to read...

Canillia looks at the cube, displeased...
The exchange was a mistake.
The recipient may now be alerted.

Deep in thought, Canilla compulsively manipulates the Amber Cube:

_ The "gentle Matis" Staeflina has a double life: this is not new information. Many people indulge in secret what they repress in their public lives.
The damsel's relationship with this Marauder with the changing name became much more interesting with the appearance of this cube.
It may just be a love letter, but the expensive amber backing can only rule that out.

Canillia, aware that her fingers are playing with the cube, resists the urge to open it.
It's wiser to entrust this task to a specialist who knows how to avoid any pitfalls...

[HRP] Cinabre is only the narrator in this story. The one called "Cirrus" is a fictional character, at least for now, until the real homin behind this pseudonym is revealed. [/HRP]