A Sellword's Word
Twenty-Seventh Day of the Second Month 293 AC
Gorgious the Generous is not by any measure a handsome man. Sparse greying hair frames a face wrinkled like an old prune, and what you can see of the rest of him is hardly any better. Truth be told you would rather not see him in his current state of undress, hidden only by the fraying sheets. Yet for all that you must look deeper, lest the ordinary tableau hide some more sinister truth.
Thankfully neither you nor Dany spy any telltale signs to show the woman is more than she appears, a courtesan or lover, in a somewhat unfortunate place. With a touch of enchantment you send her deeper into slumber before carefully taking the sellsword's weapon out of reach and shaking him awake.
"Who... what the devil," he calls, beginning to struggle. To his eyes you must be an indistinct shadow against the faint light filtering though the tent's walls.
"We mean you no harm," you assure him, a half-truth at best, but one he thankfully takes as enough to stop, though it might also have been Oathkeper's flames as Ser Richard half-draws it from its sheath.
"Prince Viserys, I pressume?" he asks after a moment of taking in your features by the sword's light. "To what do I owe the honor of your company?" His tone is thick with irony, but you pay it no mind.
"I come bearing warning and an offer," you begin.
"Turn my cloak lest you turn my guts inside out, is it? I thought princes were above assassination... with their own two hands at least," he interrupts, testing you, seeking to distract you or perhaps both.
You would be wrong then, you think, grimly recalling Gorthos' fate, though outwardly you keep a a pleasant demeanor as you explain what you had learned of fiends and treachery in the ranks of his company.
"So I'm fucking expected to believe that there are demons running loose, that one of my men is conspiring with them against me, and that you came here to warn me out of the kindness of your heart?" the sellsword asks incredulously, tone rising with every word until you fear that he might wake his lover even through the haze of enchanted sleep.
"The first two, but not the third," you counter. "Before this night is out Tyrosh will fall to my men, for steel and sorcery both I have enough of to make it so. However, I am no savage to revel in slaughter nor a fool to love the looting of my own future subjects or blood spilled for its own sake. I would much rather have the aid of your men in taking and holding the city, guaranteeing you a place in my realm."
"A place as a traitor and turncloak whom no man would trust to keep faith and a contract unbroken," comes the shrewd reply. "I'm old enough to have seen companies make that mistake before, but the Second Sons have ever held faith and that is why the broken sword still flies where so many other banners are lost and forgotten."
"Faith is a thing for more than one to keep, whether they be paymaster and sellsword or lord and bannerman," Dany interjects unexpectedly, causing the man to actually flinch slightly from her heavenly guise. Your sister continues not noticing or, more likely, not caring. "To allow such a canker to grow in their city makes the magisters unfit to command you, just as though they let the plague run rampant and expected you all to stand and die at your posts. Is any gold worth that?"
"I have seen no demons nor even any sorcerers of note... until now," he replies. "I'll not break the company's word and bond over tales spun in the night."
Truth be told you find yourself grudgingly respecting the man who can say that looking death in the face, inconvenient though his honor might prove to be. Thus you ask plainly: "And if we prove the truth out our words by bringing this traitor forth, will that be enough?"
As you speak you notice Dany whispering softly under her breath her eyes distant as they oft are when she draws upon the dream. Your eyes still touched by sight beyond sight you instantly recognize the
spell. She mirrors Gorgious' nod with one of her own. The man does not play you false.
You suspect Merro will not be so easily caught unaware as his commander had, given he already has ties with the daemon-callers. By the same token, however, you doubt he is expecting quite the kind of opposition you and your company can bring to bear.
How do you capture Merro for interrogation?
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OOC: That was a really outlandish story you had to sell here even with all your buffs. On the plus side you could not really fail because the rolls for it were already done when you divined the answer at the beginning of the month.
