When the first of you come into the room and witness the circle of stools and the one ornate chair, your eyes fall on a mildly attractive woman. Her green, sparkling eyes turn from the tome-lined shelves and she says simply "hi" before turning back to examine the shelves, chair, and paintings. It appears that she has never seen such a richly adorned house. She does stay in her seat, though a few times her gaze falls on a book and she dearly wants to get up to see it better; her eyes go to where the stuffy fellow was last seen and she remains seated.

A fidgety, ratty, little man treads quietly to the chairs. His eyes dart around, glancing at the others and at the opulence of the room. He rubs his lips and smiles nervously. It is quite obvious that he doesn't know what to make of all this. He moves to a chair at the edge and looks around guiltily before seating. Waiting for something, the man drums his fingers on his lap. His eyes never stop moving.

Aanparon is a human male of average height and slightly slender build. His blonde hair is clean but disheveled, much the same as the faded brown tunic he wears over his faded brown leather armor. Aan will happily raid the bookshelves, and does not sit but leans with his back against the bookshelves facing the door as he leafs through various titles. If he finds an interesting one on Wizardry he will begin reading, though he knows he cannot finish it. His eyes will frequently look up, especially upon movement of the others.

"Greetings gentle beings. I am Ganthanor Flagenstavos. I presume that this matter is of some import as I would not have been summoned otherwise. Rest assured that if you consider me a friend I will do likewise. The lady will be here shortly I'm sure, as nobility are extremely aware that punctuality is a necessary protocol."

Ganthanor moves to the only seat available and sits down. You notice that out of habit, Ganthanor's right hand appears to be fidgeting with his sword. He moves confidently but you do notice that he appears to be doing his utmost to cover his nervousness about the present situation.

As everyone is talking, reading, etc., the door opens, and in walks a tattered and rough looking individual. "Merry meet all...my name is Gregory Homlock, woodsman and world traveler to say the least." He walks around the room looking the place over and smiling at everyone. He comes to Adriena's seat and stops. He looks at her with his deep blue eyes and says "I have traveled far and wide and have seen many beautiful things but your beauty does surpass them all." He takes her hand and kisses it then walks over to and empty seat and sits down. "I suppose all of you have been summoned here just as I have. Does anyone know the reason." He glances around the room anticipating a response.

A deep blush washes over Adriena's face, all the way down her neck and out of sight below the collar of her blue robe. She returns her shaky hand to her lap and bites her lip. she appears to be to flustered to talk until the question is asked...

After all of the seats are filled she clears her throat, and says very softly, " I guess it is silly of me, but at first I thought the summons was just for me - though I can't imagine what it is for. Once I got here and saw all of the stools.. well, I just can't imagine. Perhaps one of you received more information?"

In the silence she continues, " My name is Adriena Von Hollan. I grew up on the seacoast and studied magic at the School of Magecraft. Since my graduation I have been traveling, trying to find a good place to put my studies to practical use. I have no idea how Lady Otasura found me or even knows of me, but here I am .... with all of you... " Looking at the 'shifty' people sitting around her she adds, "I hope it's not serious."

Aan responds to Adriena: "I can't imagine how it could not be serious. Nothing ever seems to happen to me that isn't."

"Pardon me for interrupting, milady. My name is Aanparon. My friends used to call me Aan, but I seem to be short on friends I can trust these days." With that he returns his eyes to the book, frequently looking up and observing the others.

Ganthanor, after sitting down says, "The war goes well I hear against the Orcs. I welcome the chance to do battle with them myself again. Have any of you had the pleasure yet?"

Aan looks up from his book as Gregory enters, returns to it upon seeing the woodsman sit, and, still looking at the book, replies, "No, but I imagine I won't like it much."

Adriena glances nervously at the noble warrior's fidgeting hand, but looks a little relieved when he sits down and speaks kindly ( she was beginning to wonder what sort of crowd she had fallen in with). She replies," You have done battle with Orcs? I've never seen one myself. You think this meeting has to do with the war against them? Well, I don't know how much help I can be in a _WAR_, but I suppose I should wait and see what Lady Otasura has to say to us. I appear to be in the company of strong and clever fellows .. and you my lady (directed towards the other, still silent, female)."

Pointing to the armoured warrior, Adriena says, "Though, Ganthanor hopes it has something to do with the Orc war.." and she lapses into silence, hoping herself that the two men will take up the conversation.

Ganthanor replies, "I am in the dark as you are, friend. I feel as if I am being watched right now. Perhaps our good lady to watching to see how we are reacting to one another. I have a feeling that she needs us for some rather important."

Ganthanor looks around from his seated position and examines the walls of the room. Concentrating a little more on pictures than other areas of the room.

"Aye," The fidgety, little man agrees in a whispery, nasal voice, "I don't know which to dread more: the possibility of being sent into war, or punishment for some crime!" He stops and upon realization of what he just said, quickly adds, "Falsely accused, of course. Probably a case of mis-mistaken identity." He looks to the ground biting his lip, his hand rapidly tapping his knee.

The man looks up again, glances around at everyone, never meeting anyone in the eye, and says so nervously, "Forgive me. I have not introduced myself. I am Garth, called the sneaky, a reflection of my skills, of course, not my, ah, character..." He stops then, pursing his lips, feeling that he has said far too much.

Gregory looks at the fidgeting Garth and replies "if you were brought here to face charges, false they are I'm sure, the lady of the house would probably have you bound and shackled to keep you from walking around her magnificent home, wouldn't you say?" He pulls his long hair behind his head and reaches into his vest. He pulls out a flute and begins to play a soft tune to ease everyone's hearts.

Malis says nothing to this strange man (Garth). She looks at this strange group and thinks to herself, "Typical. We probably have been called together for some kind of a mission. After all, we're not important. Who would care if a rag-tag group like this died???" Malis finally speaks, "I am Malis, Cleric of Tyr...."

Ganthanor responds with genuine sincerity: "Clever Garth, very clever! I'm going to have to watch you, not that I don't trust you but you are far more clever than you lead other to believe."

Ganthanor smiles at that and then turns his attention to Adriena. "The Orc war should be foremost on all our minds. The good lady is a learned scholar and professor of the college. I believe her purpose for us does in someway deal with the Orc invasions." Ganthanor's hand begins to fidget with the handle of his sword. It appears that his patience may be growing thin as he looks about expectantly.

You are all sitting in the room, Ganthanor stares at the paintings on the wall only to determine, to his unpracticed and untaught eye, that the paintings look very valuable.

After the Priestess of Tyr speaks everyone looks up as the old man clears his throat by the open door. "Funny," you think to yourself, "I did not even hear the door open." The old man looks at Adriena for a brief few seconds with a frown that only touched the edges of his mouth as he noticed her fixation on the books of the room.

With a soft voice but one that seems to carry throughout the room he announces, "The Lady Otasura of the House TwoFold." With that he performs a half bow as the Lady seemingly glides into the room.

A tiny, ancient birdlike woman comes gliding into the room with great grace and ease that defies her apparent age. She is dressed in an elegant blue satin dress that falls to the floor which covers her feet.

Everyone is stunned for a moment at the overpowering aura of strength that seems to flow from her. Ganthanor is the first to recover and jump to his feet, giving a deep humble bow. The others seem to break free when Ganthanor moves and they too get to their feet only seconds behind him and perform bows of their own (though some very crudely as they are not in the habit of bowing). From the door there is an audible "sniff" as the old man shows his disapproval for the lack of manners from the slow-moving guests.

"Rise," commands Lady Otasura seated at the head chair, "and be seated." Quickly the group obeys noticing that the old man is gone again and that the door is closed. The Lady looks over the group for a moment as the setting sun lingers on the horizon, its rays tinged blood-red by the smoke from burning fires, then speaks without any preamble, "Two days ago, HonShar suffered a major setback. Orcs attacked a small escort force traveling between two of our army camps. They killed most of the soldiers and may have captured a few, including Lord General Herpein. I saw him go down fighting, but the orcs seemed determined to take him alive. I managed to teleport myself and several soldiers away to a safe location. One soldier died later of her wounds."

The Lady stops speaking and tuns to face the study windows, which provide a view of the setting sun. Clouds shift and slide along the horizon as the minutes pass. The group of people seated in the circle at first to nothing, but slowly as time passes they begin to look at each other with bunched up shoulders and palms in the air.

Just as Adriena gets ready to speak, something happens... With the sun's last rays, the swan that is the sign of the TwoFold House suddenly appears on the glass of the study window, flashing brilliant green and silver. The swan is real for a moment, then is gone. The Lady sighs and then turns her back to the group and continues, "As I said, I think the orcs captured Herpein alive. And well they should. What he knows could hurt us badly, were he forced to tell. That is the worst news, but there is more. Because of my hasty escape, the orcs also captured the Ca'ega, a magical key which I used to augment my magic. I must have it back in order to be fully effective. The gods only know if the orcs can use the Ca'ega; it is magecraft, after all, and normally unusable by them, but they and their foul gods have bent magecraft to their will before."

The Lady pauses as she sweeps her eyes over the group again and then finishes, "What I want is this: I want you to journey to the orc stronghold of Krimba-Hai, sneak in, rescue Lord Herpein, and retrieve the Ca'ega if you can. But rescuing Herpein is the first priority. You will be amply compensated upon your mission's completion."

Lady Otasura stops finishing then and waits for your questions and your agreement.

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