[Malber] [U] The Watering Hole

[Rand M. Guardman]

While Arl postulated about his relationship to the gathered group, the man in gold walked over and slipped himself into one of the open seats at the table. He arrived just after the young woman's comment about the people in red.

"They're all from the neighbouring town of Maroo; cast out by bandits. Shameless thugs."

His voice was deep and clipped, as if he were used to delivering information succinctly.

[Riesig]

As Arl spoke, then Rand came over, all he could say was a simple "Nope." before Rand joined them and informed them who they were. "Well, that leaves you, random guy in gold. What brings you here?" He asked as they were joined. He spoke in a calm and neutral tone as though he had no strong feelings for or against what was going on.

[Arl Lotreab]

Ah. He wasn't with the group then. Arl quickly sized the man up as he sat. Their new table-mate looked younger up close than she'd originally pegged him as; maybe he was some sort of official? "Are you from around here?" asked Arl, her friendly tone spiced with just a hint of caution.

[Rand M. Guardman]

The man had reached up into the air to get the attention of the barman, who nodded and set about seeing to something.

"I came to help these people get their homes back. I'm hoping you two are here about my messages?"

[Arl Lotreab]

Arl blinks in surprise. In retrospect, though, she should have been expecting that. "So you're Mr. Guardman? Pleased to meet you! I'm Arl Lotreab, and I am indeed here to help these people." The woman's wide smile temporarily switches to a more pondering look - something didn't add up. "Wait, you aren't from this area either? Is anyone in the town working with us on this?"

[Rand M. Guardman]

Rand frowned a little at that, looking down towards the table for a moment before speaking up.

"I'm afraid not. These people were terrorised out of their town, some of them even had their family homes burned by these thugs. You can understand why the next town over aren't keen to draw their attention."

A tray of glasses arrived at the table, each filled with what appeared to be a mixture of water and fruit juice.

"Thank you. The group we're after call themselves the Crimson Murder... I thought I'd dealt with the little pricks back in Tiburon."

[Riesig]

Riesig nodded at the explanation. That made a lot of sense. Being less concerned, he collected his mist and had it form a bracelet around his right wrist."That sounds crappy. What do we know about the bandits? And what kind of plan do you have?"

[Rand M. Guardman]

"When my squad ran them out of Tiburon they were easily spooked, easily baited and easily beaten. I doubt that's changed much in a couple of years."

Randall took a quick draft of his drink before continuing.

"The plan as it stands so far is to march in the direction of Maroo and come up with a slightly better idea than 'rush the blighters and beat them until they surrender' on the way."

[Arl Lotreab]

Arl, for her part, had looked far more concerned, although she had calmed a bit when Mr. Guardman had explained that they would need to head to Maroo to reach their enemy. Still..

"Wait, these thu-.. wait, let me start over. The group we're after also has a red theme going on? Is that just a common clothing color in that area, or are we dealing with an internal split?" Arl twirled a raised finger to emphasize what she was talking about. She also glanced around the room with the corner of her eyes to see if anyone was eavesdropping in on their conversation.

[Rand M. Guardman]

Looking around Arl noticed a few of the group were clearly trying to listen to the conversation discreetly, and were about as subtle as a giant sledgehammer about it. Rand for his part glanced from Arl to the group as he responded.

"An internal- oh... Oh, no. Maroo is a dye farming town."