“Persevering under distasteful conditions may be unpleasant, but the victory at the end is all the sweeter when the task is done.” —Lady Tresa Segretian “The Spymaster”
The edge of Coalition Lands, West of the Tower, Cryptonia, Ground Plane
Sue had reached the delineation between the Coalition and the Tower’s lands in only a few hours, making good time traveling on her own. Once there, she changed into the visage of an ordinary-looking half-orc. No one would question a half-breed. They were everywhere, and tended to be looked down on by most of their full-blooded counterparts. The northern orcs had a strange social order, in Sue’s opinion. Bastards were a common thing, frequently allowed to remain in their parent’s houses, yet they were not held to the same rank as their recognized and named siblings.
With her disguise in place, Sue made her way through the easternmost villages of the Coalition, in the State of Gor Inanth. She posed as a nameless lord’s whelp returning from an errand in The Vill. Her sharp ears and mind listened intently for anything that could be gleaned from the population, but she was still a distance from her true objective. There were little useful rumors to be heard, so Sue quickly moved on. None of the outlying towns would have truly helpful information for her. Her goal was Fal-Ig-Han, the central city and location of the Coalition’s Parliament.
It took her a day at the quickest pace she dared to reach the city. It was not a bustling metropolis of stone and brick like the dense urban areas in H?llthar, but a more rural country city. The majority of the buildings were constructed from some variety of wattle and daub, lime mortar, or simple wood and clay. Though the structures were simple, they were aesthetically pleasing and strong to boot. Roofs were primarily slate, thatch, or a unique type of wooden slats Sue had only seen in the orc region. The streets were largely dirt, although the main road was packed with limestone. The shapeshifter made her way down the lane towards the largest structure in town. The building was constructed like a cross with a large circular section in the center. It was three stories tall and by far the most impressive property.
The Parliament had four sharply pitched A-frame roofs over each branch of the cross. Numerous windows faced the street from the outer walls. When Sue approached, she saw the guards at the front gate and decided to continue past them, just looking the place over. It was no trouble at all to find a side street flanking the large building. She located the servants’ entrance and paused in a shadow to change once more into one of the guards out front. This was a tricky and risky step in the process of infiltration. If Sue were confronted, she could likely talk her way out as her physical body was authentically orcish. But if the guards laid hands on her, the glamour of the armor she was apparently wearing would quickly fall away and she would need to act fast in order not to be captured or killed. Her natural abilities were impressive, but even she could not conjure armor and weapons from thin air.
Sue paid close attention to making her illusion as realistic as possible. Her physical appearance was a simple matter of willing her body to reshape into the aspect she desired, but copying the sound of rustling chainmail and plate was more difficult. It was impossible for her to accurately mimic metal with her flesh, so she had to rely more on her telepathic sending ability to affect an individual’s mind and senses to go unnoticed. Sue straightened her borrowed outfit and was content with the projection she had summoned. She donned the mien of a busy guard, one hand on the pommel of the faux short sword at her hip and walked purposefully towards the side doors.
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The servants bowed their heads and stepped aside, allowing her through. The one guard on duty nodded, his boredom-fogged mind hardly needed any convincing that Sue was who she appeared to be. The spackled interior of the building was decorated with many trophies from hunts, honor duels, and battles. Racks of swords, axes, and spears hung in various states of repair. As Sue recalled, orcish culture permitted the winner to proudly display their victory for all to see. Status as a warrior and reputation was very important, so all jumped at the chance to announce their accomplishments.
The infiltrator did not particularly care for keeping trophies, herself. She had finesse and a certain artistry to her, but it was better in a spy’s line of work to leave no trace. Sue kept that in mind as she walked through several halls before one opened out into the main hall, outside of the large room. She wove between the large wooden beams that supported the arched ceiling, peering curiously through broad misty glass windows into the chamber beyond, where the Parliament convened. The majority of individuals bustling around her were servants and staff. Sue quickly realized she was a little out of place in her armor. She headed for a nearby closet, checked around to make sure she was unobserved, and ducked inside. She abandoned the guard and reverted to the half-orc disguise she had worn during her journey, but now she wore the drab colors of the Parliament staff. Sue slipped back out of the small room and sighed contentedly.
‘Now, let’s see who is in attendance today,’ she thought with a little smirk. Since she did not have to focus on her intricate illusion any longer, Sue was able to open her mind to the beings in the surrounding building. She was no true psychic, but her abilities did allow her to catch flashes of the desires and surface thoughts from those around her. The barrage of images and emotions that assailed her was disorienting. She grimaced and shook her head to clear it. Markets and cities were bad, one of the reasons she avoided them, if possible, but this was unfortunately one of those times she could not. It took her several moments to sift through the mass of servants and guards until she found the dozen or so heads of state that had taken up temporary residence. With the sheer amount of presences and minds around Sue, she began to worry it would be a long process to find any information regarding the invasion. Still, she focused on those nearby, sifting through their emotions and thoughts.
Most were caught up in their own petty hunger for power, for successful business ventures, even one young baron wishing for his beau to accept a marriage proposal. Virtually everyone in her vicinity was only focused on one or two subjects at a time. She found the situation so uninteresting it bordered on a waste of time.
“Orcs,” she sighed in quiet frustration, shaking her head. The spy resigned herself to blend in and simply observe the beings coming and going from the Parliament building. Perhaps trail a few of the individuals she marked as slightly more interesting than a plank of wood. She blew out a long exhale and settled into the role of unseen servant. She had a long and slow job ahead of her.
