[Cspace]

Near what used to be the crowded desert market, a large abandoned structure is being used as a temporary command building. Two guards stand at the only entrance, and inside, the two remaining captains are making plans for Aderon's knights. High-ranking knights frequently enter to receive their commands, and then leave to convey them to the others.

The captains' names are Sir Flansburgh and Sir Sigurdh.

[Zziggywolf5]

Ziggy Lupus approaches the building slowly on foot with his rifle in the best position he could find to make it look like he has no intention to use it without keeping it out of reach. He stops short and gives a quiet verbal command to his mechanical horse. He walks to the guards.
Ziggy says, "Hello, good sirs. I am Ziggy Lupus, the leader of the Trabians. I am new to this area, and I'm sure you all are very busy, but I was hoping the Commanders here would be able to speak to me about important matters." Ziggy successfully tries not to grin or anything that could seem suspecious or make him seem any more annoying.
He thinks I doubt they care about the Trabia connection, but it shouldn't hurt me to have mentioned it.

[Darkness]

A figure dressed in an Aderonian uniform approaches the building, hand resting on sword hilt. He gives a quick salute to the two guards at the entrance, and sends a strange look at Ziggy -- clearly wondering what the adventurer was doing at the command building of the Knights of Aderon. He had, of course, missed Ziggy's explanation. But the guard had work to do, and it was likely far more important than whatever this adventurer had to say. Therefore, he did not wait for the guards to finish with him, but simply spoke of his business immediately.

"I was sent by my commanding officer at the gates with a letter to deliver to the Captains at once. It is very urgent I give it to them now," he said in a gruff voice with a heavy Aderonian accent. It was obvious this guard had grown up in Aderon. But was it really a guard? Cold, calculating eyes looked out from the opening in the helm, and the hand on the hilt of the sheathed sword was perhaps a bit too tight. Of course, this could be simply attributed to the news being dire and the guard being unhappy because of it.

[Cspace]

The guards cross their halberds over the entrance, indicating that they would not allow Ziggy or Rahvus to enter.

One guard says with a commanding tone, "I am sorry, but you cannot enter. The captains are..."

Just then someone leaves the building, pushing the halberds to the side and interrupting the guard. From the shadow of the building's interior comes a tall man with heavy armor, a large sword held over his shoulder, and short gray hair. He squints for a moment and looks around, trying to adjust to the bright sunlight outside the dark building.

The two guards salute with great respect.

"You there!" the man calls to a knight with a guardian axe, "I'm going to need help in the desert with something. Are you able to come?"

"Yes, Sir Flansburgh, right away!"

The captain and the knight swiftly leave Maldenar. Something must be happening, but nobody seems to know what. Perhaps it will be more obvious when they return, or perhaps Sir Sigurdh will be willing to explain. He seems to be alone inside the building, but still few are allowed to enter.

[Darkness]

Rahvus raised his eyebrow. Had he not said that he had an urgent letter that he had to deliver immediately? Clearly, these guards did not understand the gravity of the situation. Or at least -- the gravity of the situation that Rahvus was portraying. There was no situation, as far as he knew. But these guards had likely been on this shift for several hours, and would not have been to the gates to know any better. And therefore, that they would not allow him entrance when the information that he carried might, for all that they knew, cause lives to hang in the balance... It was quite surprising.

And Rahvus was just opening his mouth to tell them this -- that they did not understand the gravity of the situation -- for he felt no problem with interrupting the guard's silly banter, when one of the captains exited the building. By the other guards' words, he ascertained that it was Flansburgh. That meant Sigurdh was still inside, alone. He addressed the guards once more.

"Seeing as whatever the captains were doing that caused you to deny me entrance clearly can not still be continuing, as one of the captains has just left, will you now allow me to deliver my letter to Captain Sigurdh? As I said, it is vitally important. It is imperative that he reads it immediately."

[Cspace]

The guards listen to Rahvus' request, and one replies, "Very well, you may enter."

The other quickly turns toward the guard who so readily responded.


"You can't just allow him to enter... How do you know he's telling the truth?"

"He's from Aderon, why would he lie at a time like this?"

"Looking at his equipment, it's pretty obvious that he's a guard. Why not send someone with rank on such an important errand?"

"Perhaps nobody else was available."

"Perhaps he is making this up."

"If he was making it up, why would he risk using this story? I mean, we could check the letter, or bring the letter to Sir Sigurdh ourselves."

"We can't enter the building, just stand outside protecting it."

"Then let's check the letter."

"What if he really is telling the truth? Then we would get in trouble for reading the letter."

"I thought you said that he was making the story up."

"I said it's possible."

"But now you think it's not likely?"

"I don't know!"

"You're not making any sense at all..."

"Oh, right. And this is coming from someone who held his compass backwards all through that patrol of the Whispering Wood."

"We didn't need the compass anyway."

"Right, and we also didn't need to end up in Zolandor."

"Why are we talking about that now?"

"You brought it up."

"No I didn't."


... They continue to argue for a while, oblivious to anything happening around them.

[Darkness]

Rahvus nods and takes a step forward, then stops as the two guards start arguing. After all, he didn't want to seem suspicious. He raises his eyebrow again as he listens to them arguing. Of course, their low voices ensured that he didn't understand all of it, but he got enough of it to understand what they were talking about. Rahvus began to wonder how such incompetence had infiltrated the ranks of the Knights of Aderon. If it weren't for the other adventurer that was there as well, he would kill them both now. They would probably end up dying anyway, if he did not manage to kill Sigurdh silently. Oh well. It wasn't as if it was any loss for Aderon, those two's deaths.

As they continued arguing, he noticed that they didn't seem to be paying attention to much else. The way into the building was clear. And, after all, one of them had given him permission to go in -- and neither had said yet that he could not. It wouldn't seem too suspicious if he entered and they did notice. Therefore, he passed by them and entered the building. He immediately looked around, finding Sigurdh and learning the general layout of the interior and the things within it.

[Zziggywolf5]

Ziggy Lupus was surprised to see one of the commanders to leave so suddenly, but he decided to mull over that later. He does not seem particularly surprised about not being allowed into the building. In fact, he has a very slight grin now as he strains to listen to the two obviously incompetent guards argue. After watching the other guard enter the building, Ziggy clears his throat.
"Excuse me, sirs, but why are you arguing like this instead of actually guarding the entrance? And why can't I come in when I obviously don't need both of your approvals?" he asks. He gestures to the empty space around him.

[Cspace]

Inside the building, Sir Sigurdh is standing next to a rather tall table, intently concentrating on something while staring at a map of the known desert. There is a slight breeze circling the room, probably because the wind outside is blowing toward the open door. The large map almost blows off the table, when Sigurdh catches it and appears distracted for a moment, placing his sword on the map to weigh it down.

"There it is. I wish Flansburgh could have waited for a moment."

Sigurdh appears to be nervous, as is evident by him breaking off bits of the table with the tip of his knife.


*************************************

Outside, the guards suddenly stop arguing when Ziggy speaks. They look around and see that Rahvus had disappeared.


"This is all your fault. Why weren't you watching him?"

"You almost allowed entrance when he first arrived!"

"Oh, well that is an intelligent response."

"It's true."

"Well then, why don't we go inside and remove the guard?"

"We can only guard the entrance, not enter."

"That makes no sense! I'm sure that Sir Sigurdh would understand."

"Why don't you enter, then, and I'll guard the entrance."

"Did you actually see that guy enter?"

"Nope."

"How do you even know that he's inside? It's too dark to see anything in there."

"Well he's obviously not out here."

"I'm not going in there to find out that he did not enter. Sir Sigurdh would think I'm a fool!"

"You are a fool."


Again, they continue to argue, oblivious to everything happening around them.

[Zziggywolf5]

Ziggy's grin fades as the guards go back to their argument. He looks at his mechanical horse and makes a gesture towards it. It slips between a busted building and a large pile of rubble so it is not visible. Far enough away and hidden so no one will wonder about it or its owner, but close enough to be of use if needed. Ziggy thinks.
Figuring the guards are too busy arguing, he attempts to sneak past the two into the building with his hand on the rifle. Once inside a short distance into the building, Ziggy looks around. "This is not what I planned on doing, but I suppose it will work," he whispers to himself. He starts looking for a records room or anything that might hold information about this supposed relic or object.

[Cspace]

Nothing in the room stands out as being particularly interesting. All that seems to be here is standard equipment... Pretty much just armor and weapons, with a few maps scattered around.

[Zziggywolf5]

Ziggy curses his luck at stumbling right into a room with Sir Sigurdh and the other man. He could have sworn there was more than one room in this building. He feels, or maybe just hopes, he hasn't been noticed the other people in the room or that the guards outside haven't seen his absence as suspicious. He slips back toward the doorway, takes he rifle out, and looks out the building slightly to see if the guards are still distracted.

[Cspace]

Outside, the guards are still arguing.


"There's no way that you can beat Jack in a pie eating contest."

"Of course I can!"

"I would like to see that."

"Then you provide the pies."

"Fine, I'll arrange for some apple pies to be made."

"It's not apple season. Get some strawberry pies instead."

"No."

"Not even Jack will eat an apple pie this time of year!"

"Well that's not my problem."


They continue to argue...

[Zziggywolf5]

Ziggy slips through the door and circles around the guards, trying to prevent them from actually noticing him so close to the door. He starts to approach his horse deliberately.

[Cspace]

"You there!" the guards call to Ziggy. They must have seen him leave.

"Come here for a moment."