GW2: Illusion House

     I realized today the folly in keeping my report logs in my own house and I can't exactly just walk up to the Seraph Headquarters everyday and report personally to Captain Thackeray. That would be a bit too obvious for anyone watching me in the future. I know I haven't drawn any attention yet, but I will if I can manage to figure out how to do my job right. I just have to stop thinking like a seraph and start thinking like a bandit. I enlisted the aide of my lieutenant, Blodwen to help me find the right spot. It had to be somewhere easy enough for me to get to, but hard enough to reach that others wouldn't accidentally stumble upon the location.  Blodwen went and found a planter for me and I immediately liked that idea. I could wrap my journal in linen and bury it in the planter. Maybe wrap it in something more waterproof. If it ever comes to it, this journal may be needed to clear my name in the future, depending on how deep in the underworld I get myself buried.

     I saw a planter I liked better. One that was up high without any doors leading to it or windows. I don't want innocent civilians coming across my records anymore than I want bandits and outlaws finding them. After figuring how to get up there, I'd realized I'd been there before. I wasn't as careful back then and anyone could have seen me there, so we looked for a different place. Luckily I saw a different planter a few roof tops down.

     I decided this new location was perfect. I can only get there by walking off the streets above it. There are no doors or windows leading to this balcony that are large enough for anyone to come out of. The tree seems to be growing out of groves in the stone and cracks in the pavement, so no dirt to hide my book in. There is a little arch behind the tree though, and I found a loose stone where I can hide my journals. Now, only Blodwen and myself know this place. I will probably sent work to Logan as well in case something happens to myself or Blodwen he can collect the journals in the future and clear my name. He promised he'd get there eventually. I'm half excited about this assignment  It's a great opportunity to bring down the organized crime syndicates in the city, but my family thinks I'm a disgraced seraph and have brought dishonor down on my house. The only way to make it all better is to do my job the best I can now and hope it all comes to light later. 

     It's a good thing I have friends like Blodwen. She's been through the war with me. She knows how much I have lost and though I like to tease her for being a street rat, and she me for being born noble. . . there is no social class among the seraph, only rank. I outrank her, but we are both equal in being seraph. Though being a street rat, she doesn't have to worry about the whole dishonor-your-family side of this assignment. I made sure to remind her that she can't call me Captain anymore. Not even Captain Tightpants. But I also told her she can't call me Artie, and she refuses to call me Lord Dylane.

      After locating the place to put the journals that will clear our names in the future after this job is done -or if I get 'caught' by seraph thinking I'm one of the bad guys- we decided to hit up the Maiden's Whisper. She hoped in the fountain and took her boots off, but I had to inform her I would be keeping my clothes on this time. It's not proper engaging a subordinate in romantic pursuits.

      Nothing much was going in in the Maiden's so we decided to go find a secure location to discuss our plans. I decided we should go to The Great Collapse. No one else is ever there but workers so the odds of us being overheard were not high. She is still in well behaved seraph subordinate mode and so she followed without question. I suppose that won't blow our cover, it has to be known we served together and her under me. It's not like we're hiding that we were once seraph, only that we still are. On our way we found a high number of suicide attempts under the statue of Dywana. It was odd. Are people really losing hope? (While walking past it, like four or five different people hit the ground, falling to their deaths.)

      We went out on the bridge. The bridge is perfect because we can see anyone that is close enough to hear us. But we were not alone there and so we instead went to a bit less secure of an area, but still in The Great Collapse. 

     We talked about the best way to start getting our job done. We've been on this assignment for a week or so now and haven't gotten anything done. I realize I have to get busy or get fired for real. I know how fickle the other nobles are. If I don't secede at this assignment, I might as well really have been disgraced, fore that is all they'll remember. My good deeds now have to outshine my fake bad deeds.

     Blodwen suggested we find a tavern. Well first I told her to go pick a pocket and she rushed off to do that, but I had to call her back. We can't do our jobs from behind bars. We first went to the large inn in the Ossan Quarter, but nothing much was happening there. So we decided to take a tour of the bars and headed  over to The Busted Flagon. We stood and listened, but didn't overheard any shady type of talk. Finally I just had to ask. If I were a bandit type person looking for work, who would I see about that? No one answered.

     I was about to leave to go back to Maiden's Whisper to ask there, when I saw this pretty Sylvari. I've never really noticed a Sylvari woman before, but something about her caught my attention. It might have been the red. I love a lady in red.

     She loved Mr. Fluffins. I had to tell her how we were in the war and he's fought centaurs. She asked if he had no fear, and I said he did not. He was battle born after all. He was born and raised fighting centaur. I won't go into great detail any flirting I might have done, but I did realize later that to keep my cover I might need to stop bragging about being a seraph. It'll be hard to curb my pride in my nation and the other seraph. Well, the good ones. My company seemed to have a lot of the bad ones, which is why we were picked for this job. Well, those of us not actually disgraced and sent to jail. Also there were a few selected to be cleared and transferred. We couldn't all be bad, that'd been to obvious.

     Sylvari are curious people and ask many questions so I thought maybe she'd know some criminals. I asked her, but she did not. And she seemed suddenly less interested in me as well. That's another side affect I hadn't thought of. The type of women I like aren't going to like me if they think I'm a dirty scoundrel.

     At the Maiden's Whisper, there was again a very sparse crowd downstairs. I asked again if anyone knew where I could find crime work, but no one answered. It might not help that I've run around this tavern going on about being a seraph before. Maybe they haven't heard the news yet? I went upstairs and there seemed to be some shady people standing there. I asked them but they didn't know either. Looking back they were in colors like the Order of Whispers weren't they? Maybe they weren't the right people to ask.

     I was too distracted by the manner of the clothing the woman was wearing to pay attention to the colors they were in. The pants showed she was a serious type of girl, but that top was totally brothel house wear. Not to mention it's complete lack of support. She'll regret that when she gets older. . . or so my wife used to tell me.

     Back outside I hoped behind the fruit booth before Blodwen could to turn her joke on her. Mr. Fluffins stole the show and the joke by putting himself up for sale. We may seem like goofs to many people, but if you knew what we'd been through with our company and it's fall and the death of my wife. . . there's a lot solemn there, a bit of lighthearted antics are needed to keep us sane and going. To keep us hopeful in these dark times.

     We went to the jail to see if there was anyone imprisoned that we could ask about crime. There was not. I told Blodwen that if she'd picked a pocket they'd have put her in the little hole in the wall cell. The one that's only big enough for her to lay, not even sit up in. She asked if I had made her a reservation and then told me it was thoughtful when I said I had. Really, Logan as told us that if we're caught without anything good to show to get us out, he may not be able to help us. We have to get our job done to clear our names. Though I'm sure if we stop now we could clear them. I don't intend to stop however. I intend to clean up the city from within the underground.

     We stopped by to see my mother, but she wasn't there. So instead I walked out on the glass dome and told Blodwen to wait right there. She's such a good little solider that she did exactly as I told her to as I ran down the stairs and under the glass. She pretended to be angry when she realized, but I know she thought it was funny. More of that lighthearted antics to keep us going. Besides it was too far for me to see anything.

     We decided to go roof hopping again. We do this a lot to make ourselves look shady to anyone that might see us, to see if any one that really is shady is up there doing so, and to learn the in and outs of the city that most don't think about. I hadn't told her, but I had set up fake house front. I had to have help of course. Such a permanent illusion isn't easy to pull off. I used a couple of friends I had that are priests of Lyssa. I almost joined them once, before I was a seraph. The only way to Illusion House is across some roof tops and down the back, then in the back door. It'd been nice if the door to the illusion could have worked, but that'd taken a bigger illusion and not something we could have pulled off. It was either door, or no door, so the door is in the back. Since the house is an illusion we can't hang a door on the frame, it's just open. The oddest part of course is that the visual of the illusion is only on the outside. From the inside we can see through the fake walls. Once inside the only way out is by those neat little Asuran devices that instantly travel you to an Asuran waypoint.

     Now we have our meeting house where we can go to speak business with our other seraph, relax, and report, or in my case, receive reports. With the business side out of the way I decided to give Blodwen a bit of a treat. She loves chickens and there is a villager down at Fort Salma that signs a song about chickens. I took Blodwen there so she could hear the song and she did indeed love it. Then we went swimming. Besides chickens, she also loves quagaan so I showed her a quaggan village near Fort Salma. Of course I pretend I was just heading in that direction and it was all an accident  I don't want her thinking. . .well it just seems improper for me to take too much notice in what she likes and go too far out of my way to provide it. I suppose it could keep morale up though and thus keep her doing her job well. These days her job is mostly watching my back, so I'd like her to do that well.

GW2: Shadow Behemoth

      This is me waiting for and then fighting the shadow behemoth on my mesmer Artaen. I don't actually do anything roleplaying in this video, other than having Mr. Fluffins out. Artaen is almost never seen without Mr. Fluffins.

GW2: Caite, Nick, and Marty

     I found myself in Divinity's Reach for no real reason I'd like to record down so that it can be later held against me. It's probably not a good idea for someone like to me to keep a journal, but I've been told it's good for my soul to have a place to put these things away so they can't weigh me down. I'm not sure it works like that. But I digress. I was looking for all the nifty places in shadow to linger in case I ran into trouble or had to run from the seraph. Or something worse. Caite found me rather quickly and though she took a different route than I to reach that spot, I was slightly impressed with her ability and speed. Of course I played it off and complimented her instead on her stalking abilities. Stalking can be a good trait to have in our line of work, however. 

      She still has a bit to learn about reaching the places she may need to get, but her finding of me is more skilled than I'll ever let her know. I guess out in the wild if she were a hunter, one would call her skill tracking. But I leave no foot prints on the city streets or the roof tops. She's an urban stalker. I can't help but wonder what it'll be like if I test her skills out in the wilderness. I shall have to try that later.

     I showed her one of my favorite spots to sit in this city. She didn't say so, but I know she was a bit surprised. It's only a little hidden, people coming can see me if they look and it's not as much in shadow as the places she normally finds me in. But it has a roof over it, making it shelter, and it's still hidden enough that most won't bother me there. It also only has one way to approach, making it defensible. It also has a bit of greenery, so if asked by a seraph, I can tell him I'm there to enjoy the vine in the shade. Or that I'm waiting for a friend to come down that certain set of stairs and we agreed to meet there. Knowing my luck that's when Caite would suddenly pop up and declare the waiting to be over. Come to think of it that would be lucky if trying to explain myself to a Seraph.

     Caite showed me her house in the Ossan Quarter. It's right near a tavern, though I don't know if she picked that location on purpose or it just happened that way. She suggested I try out the comfy bed and that her bear would tuck me in. I quickly informed him I needed a new rug, but Caite just laughed. I'm not sure she takes my threats seriously.

     We then went out into Queensdale to hunt. The only prey we found were centaurs, but several of them fell to the three of us. There were people in need of help so we established a local cover as wandering adventurers looking to aide the people in the lands we travel to. I'm just worried the bear might draw too much attention to us. I prefer to go unnoticed. I should get Caite to dress more colorfully when we're not really working so people will notice her and her bear and I can remain hidden from sight and memory, nothing more than an, "Oh wasn't someone with that girl and the bear?"

GW2: Enter Ramina

     They say the war between Grenth and Dywana is over. I was blessed by Dywana, yet it seem Grenth has taken more notice of me. I found myself near death a lot outside Divinity's Reach and am questioning my choice in coming inland. I had a friend to find though, and falling off cliffs wasn't going to stop me.

     It took me awhile and a few deaths, but I found my friend. A group of local bandits were attacking some sort of water plant. I assume it feeds water to the city or the farms nearby, maybe both. Either way the locals asked for help and while in these seraph infested lands I decided I might try to blend in with the others playing hero. Leithul would liked to have blended in as well, I could tell. Well he shouldn't have let himself be found by his loud and colorful friend then. I was quick to proclaim to the bandits that Leithul would put them down if they tried to blow up another pipe. One was already blown by the time we'd gotten there.

     After saving the . . whatever the heck is it, Leithul was feeling a bit frisky and pushed me off one of the pipes. I guess that's what I get for climbing up there. The gods had my back however and no sooner had he pushed me, then he fell even further than I did.

      We picked ourselves up, dusted ourselves off, and continued to explore the area. We found death several more times. Then we found a brewery. I got myself a nice keg of whatever they make there. By that time I didn't care to ask, I just drank. I think it was wine. Leithul found himself a keg too and we sat up on the wall and drank until we were feeling really bold and decided to head out to the swamp. I think I can still hear Grenth laughing.

      Several deaths later -by several I mean a lot- we headed north again from the swamp. We found some little place called Bettlestone or something. Some hot shot minister had a huge mansion there. You'd think he could spend some of that gold protecting his lands from centaurs. Or his rivers from killer fish. We found death again when all we were looking for was a nice cool swim.

     I think dying is my new hobby.

GW2: Norn, Pirates, and Roof Tops

     Artaen found himself back in the tavern, probably a bit earlier than he should have, but he's looking for seedy people and seedy people love taverns. He can almost hear Blodwen making some comment about his own seediness. At first he just stood there silent and watching, well listening more than watching so no one would notice him doing it. He ordered two mugs of ale and no one questioned him this time when he put one on the floor for Mr. Fluffins or when Mr. Fluffins lapped up his entire mug's worth of ale. A girl near the bar decided to start a conversation about how strange Norn are. A few others joined in and Artaen waited, and waited, but no Norns said anything. He asked if the girl knew there was a Norn behind her. She said she did, but if the Norn cared, she'd have known before it got that far. He couldn't argue that statement. The girl was most definitely a peasant  but she knew what she was talking about. He knew she was a peasant because she carried a broom like it was a staff. Either that or she was mad, and liked to wear brooms on her back. Or drunk and thought it was her staff. Artaen didn't ask.

((I like how the Norn appears to be looking right at the human speaking about Norns.))

      A man who spoke strangely entered the tavern and kept asking for a doctor, but no one responded. He seemed to think they were ignoring him. Artaen had no responded because he was not the doctor being asked for, but he realized how it might have seemed so he spoke up. Then fearing there was trouble he needed to look into, he decided to ask more questions. The Norn who was not caring to respond to the human broom wielding girl also joined into the conversation with the pirate.

((I love how the Norn's idle makes her look like she's discussing the pirate with Artean in this shot.))

      Artaen not being a doctor didn't think he'd have a good excuse to follow the pirate back to Claypool. He really wanted to though to see if they really were pirates as he suspected and what kind of trouble their captain got into that had one of his men looking for a doctor in the tavern. He wasn't paying full attention, but he's sure the Norn had said something about knowing a doctor, because she was suddenly going to get someone and the pirate was returning to Claypool to wait for her and the aide she'd bring. Artaen let them go as if it were nothing to him.

((The shot above is better, but I threw this one in in case anyone wanted to read a bit of the chat on it. Click to enlarge.))

      He struck up a conversation with the white haired girl back at the bar, Chelwynde. The first conversation was about how he could see through the laces on the sides of her pants and she wasn't wearing under garments. She said only the rich wore those. He didn't offer right way, but the conversation got back around to that later. The conversation changed to the pirate, and she wasn't sure he was one. She then told a story about a pirate who caught her trying to steal his grapes and put them in her chest. Artaen paid full attention to the story of how the pirate tackled her and laid both hands on her chest and she had to twist about to knock him off then plucked his grapes. He's still not sure if they were having the same conversation, and blamed her lack of clothing for the direction his mind kept going. He even told her so out loud and offered to give her a bath because she was dirty.  Blodwen walked up about the time he was offering to show Chelwynde if he was rich or not based on what he was or wasn't wearing under his trousers.

     Done with the tavern and not wanting to just stand there awkwardly between his two white haired beauties  Artaen decided to take a walk. He suggested the ladies join him, but only Blodwen did. Chelwynde seemed to want to finish her milk and despite the conversation he had the feeling she just wasn't that into him. He's not sure Blodwen is either, but he's her secret boss, so she doesn't have as much of a choice. The three of them, Artaen, Blodwen, and Mr. Fluffins decided to go leaping across roof tops again, as is becoming a nightly habit of theirs. It's a good way to catch thieves, or at least make them think you're one of them when you're always being seen doing it. Well, common folk won't look up and notice, but the seedy folk and the seraph will probably notice. Artaen has always enjoyed trying to find high places, especially those that others don't go to often. Mr. Fluffins likes high places as well, and it seems Blodwen does too. He should probably worry about that. What draws a girl to want to pick up necromancy and not mind the dead things made of bone and pulsating flesh? And is it the same thing that compels her to get as far above the normal lives of those around her, or is she just following her mad captain?

     Artaen still hasn't figure out exactly how to infiltrate organized crime, but he at least knows Blodwen will follow him anywhere and they'll probably find enough death along the way to keep her happy.

GW2: Blodwen and Artaen

Artaen and one of his faithful seraph subordinates decided to go check out the city from a certain favorite watch tower of Artaen's that is not easy to get to without a bit of crazy jumping first. He goes there often to look out over the city, but this was the first time he'd brought a girl up there. He's sorta her boss. Alright, he's flat out her boss and commanding officer, but once at the top of the tower, he realized it could be nothing more than a date. A high place, a nice view of the city at night, and pretty girl at his side. Mr. Fluffins agreed. Well, he mewed, but Artaen decided that meant he was agreeing.

Blodwen also must have thought it was a date, because she found a nice spot to sit and stare up at the night sky in a romantic nature. Artaen himself is still often inspired and taken back by the beauty of the city. Lyssa must have a presence in the city for it to be so pretty. 

After the viewing was over Blodwen decided to go run around the statue of Kormir. Artaen did not question her. . . not out loud anyway. He could only assume she was a follower of Kormir and that it was some ritual. She ran around many circles before stopping to sit in a flower bed. Again he didn't question this. She's a necromancer, so she can't be all that sane by default. He decided to join in so he didn't ruin his chances with the pretty girl and had a bit of a lie down in the same flower bed. Then she dumped her strange bony flesh pulsing minion thing on him. He tried not to protest too much, but decided that when she pointed out how bad he smelled now that it was all a trick to get him out of his clothes. He had to oblige such a pretty girl. They went to the tavern -her idea- so he could strip down and wash off in the fountain. Then he put some clothes back on and they went inside to find a room. After a bit of cuddling by the fire, going to bed was mentioned. Artaen thought he was going to get lucky, but then she went and slept in the bed on the other side of the room. Of course if you ask him, he'll coyly avoid the subject so you'll still think he got lucky.

The next morning he woke up alone except for Mr. Fluffins. He went downstairs to ask if a note had been left for him, but one had not. Later when he mentions it to Blodwen she'll respond in such a manner that suggest she doesn't think he bothered to check for a note. He guesses that is why she didn't leave it.

  

LOTRO: End of Knight

     Eibwen realized the reason she never hears from her fellow knights any longer is because she is no longer one of them. She can only guess the messenger bringing her news of this action was lost on the road. Maybe beaten to death by orcs. At any rate, she's pretty sure she's failed and was not good enough, so they kicked her out. (Really I'd gone inactive on her and they removed me from the kinship.)

     Eibwen dealt with the news in the best way she knew possible. By going to The Prancing Pony and lamenting to the Cat in the chair by the fire about how tavern wenches shouldn't try to be knights anyway. She may have tossed back a few as well. A few dozen.

     Eibwen after another woman came in and removed the cat from Eibwen's presence for fear of the damage Eibwen was doing in sharing her ale with Cat, Eibwen decided she had no friends left at all and stumbled home. Or she tried to, she made it out of the tavern at any rate.