On a lovely sunny day, late in the early afternoon, after a fine day of exercises Rask addresses Alexis and the group as a whole.
Rask’s exercises of late have including live blade sparring with Ca’armine and Gus, the two of them taking turns wearing Red’s armor. Rask working to burn non-lethal longsword-strikes into his muscle and bone through repetition. Along the way he offers many suggestions to his Brothers-In-Raiden in the art of fighting defensively, his expertise in combat as evident as the Power of Aegir is represented and channeled by the tattoos on his chest and back. Rask wears little but the shield ring and boots, but he is maddeningly difficult to land a strike on. When he does get hit or cut he shrugs and fights on, accepting first aid at the end of the skirmish, and only after he opponent has been looked to.
Sitting in the midst of camp, clean, content, and sun-soaked, Rask speaks clearly and catches Alexis attention, and looks at Ca’armine as well.
“My Liege, our target, what do we really know about about them and their Band-Leader?
“Did they really steal away the Empress from her wedding?”
“Their slithering and spinning pets, and their truffle-hounds, we have met, and we seek their farrier now?”
Rask is clearly still paranoid not naming their enemies. In addition, the group may have noticed that he has been trying hard not use any of their names since they left the sewers.
Gus and Ca’armine he calls “Brother” or Brother Arrow an Brother Blade when he needs to specify, he calls Alexis “My Liege,” or “Boss.” Ethelred is too busy studying for Rask to talk to often, Rask usually address him as “Friend,” but Rask has been testing out a few nicknames, “Book” and “Ak’lyte,” “Hedgey,” but nothing has stuck yet.
“We know they are making weapons here in the Westlands. We also know they are using gnolls as slaves in their search, possibly in the hills and mountains to the north of us.”
“They can watch us with magic, at least from the Hills, right?”
Rask looks around suspiciously.
“We know many things about the Dark Hand. But about Bandesign himself very little. The Dark Hand is very interested in items of power. They are rumored to be involved in the slave trade. The have human and non human spies Aigier and Sutheron. One would assume the westlands to, as we know there are source weapons there.
We know the Dark Hand pays well and attracts talent that other can not. We have see true believers and those just hired to do a job.
What do you really want to know about Bandesign or the Dark Hand Rask?”
“Their strengths and weaknesses, signals they use… that would be nice…. But I want us to be prepared for what is to come…”
“Know your enemy and what not…”
Rask shakes his head a little,
“I want us to be on the same page. I want us to be ready and able to work as a team. I want us to understand and be ready for the challenge we have taken on together.”
Rask looks at Alexis and Ca’armine in particular.
“We were unprepared in Sutheron. We now know that the Army and the Raidensblud are looking for us, and we seek to take out the head of an organization we barely understand, but know can use magic to watch us and we know is powerful enough to hire or at least ally with powerful agents and is connected to the underworld in Sutheron and Llanos.”
“Right now we have even less allies than we did in Sutheron. We know our camp host,”
Rask gestures back down the river,
“Has had dealings with our enemy…”
“I’m curious who everyone is scared of. What happens to those that make the ‘wrong’ inquiries? I also want to know if, and when, this river is used for the weapons shipments. Where the weapons go, presumably that’s where we’ll find how the Made are created. If we have to tear the Dark Hand apart piece-by-piece, so be it.”
At first, Rask is surprised, and looks at Alexis with a stare of deep confusion, then he begins to ponder, his mouth moves, and his eyes dart about as he tries to makes sense of what Alexis has said
“I am one thousand times with you on tearing the Dark Hand apart piece by piece. Finding out where the weapons go is an interesting question to be certain, do we not also want to find out where they are made still? Perhaps disrupt their manufacture? Interrogate those in charge of such a forge?”
Rask nods eagerly, and looks at Alexis with certainty of purpose. He begins to talk again, and looks away, his eyes dart about, and his voice is halting.
“Watching the river is not a bad idea… but we are unlikely to be able to see the marks we seek… even with Red’s spyglass… offering to work for our… admiral-friend… or having a… serious talk with him perhaps…”
“But… we already know the river is used for weapons shipments, we weren’t told that by the pirate after all… we also know what happens to those that cross our shadiest enemy… and no smuggler worth their own breath is going to come out and tell us… especially if they have any idea who we are…”
He looks at Alexis for clarification, clearly still confused about some parts of what he said.
Alexis meets Rask’s eyes.
“I agree that staying here is not ideal for our goals, but there are still many mysteries I would like to have answered. Just unlikely I’ll ever actually get them answered.” Alexis looks disappointed, but resigned.
“What questions have I left you with?”
“Only, what’s next?”
Alexis crouches and draws a symbol in the dirt.
“We track down who is making the weapons with these marks.”