The reception-Eeee-st is new to Alptraum, but the bat seems to have a less perky attitude than the previous one. He also clicks and pings quite a bit. "Welcome to the Mage's Guild Hall of Babel," he finally says, zeroing in on Alptraum with sonar. "How may we help you today?" He doesn't seem blind, but does have a thick pair of glasses hanging around his neck so likely depends on his sonar for most things.
"Alptraum Reisender," Alptraum states politely as he approaches. "Though probably better known as the Barsunala by most. I'm here to speak to a mage that specializes in scrying and using enchanted objects to boost such. The reason, to eliminate or confirm the usage of magic in recent acts of piracy."
The receptionist blinks, then lifts up his glasses and holds them at various distances from his nose to bring Alptraum into focus. "So.. you really do work with the Mages then? Scrying.. that's.. Sphere of Light.. just had some turnover.." He then sets the glasses where glasses should normally rest on the face, and flips through a binder. After finding the entry he wants, he opens the end of a speaking tube and whistles a series of tones into it, quite loudly. "Gaah!" a voice barks back from the tube. "What in the Thirteen Hells of the Marquis' Wife's Bidet was that? What is this thing? Hello?"
"I work with lots of people. I'm trying to mend old wounds," Alptraum points out while the strange Eeee shuffles through the paper. The whistling, though, causes him to flick his ears back and splay, as does the retort. "This better not be a Gallesian," he mutters.
"Mage Albiarro of Light, a.. VIP.. seeks your counsel on a matter of scrying," the receptionist replies. "Where?" the tube-voice asks. "Let me get my map of this place. Is it Reception?"
"Yes sir, Reception," the receptionist notes. "I'll be right there.. do I just flip this cov.." the Mage replies, but manages to cut himself off somehow. "Piracy, my goodness," the Eeee says, turning back to Alptraum. "I didn't realize it was bad enough still to require divine intervention."
"Or I'm just nosy and like to get involved," Alptraum comments and shrugs a little. "Plus it threatens trade agreements with Saskanar, and good trade agreements this city sorely needs. I'm trying to eliminate groups that may be involved. And no, I don't mean kill, I mean exclude."
"Yes, I don't imagine you'd be into the killing aspect of death.. although that's not really Death's thing, is it?" the man muses. "I mean... Death doesn't kill you, it's a side effect of being killed, I suppose. You.. probably get people blabbering a lot like this, don't you?"
Alptraum mmmms. "Well not particularly. Most people tend to be intimidated," Alptraum admits. "And sometimes, yes, it is Death's thing to kill, if the circumstances warrant it."
"Really? Oh.. you mean the Yodhsunala. I suppose they are known for sometimes being on the supply-side of death.." the receptionist muses, when a Mage enters from one of the side passages, staring down at something held in his hands. And yes, it's a Gallee - a gray one, instead of white or black. "I hope this is it," the canine mutters, then thinks to look up. "Ah, I've found it, first try!" he exclaims. "I knew this General Purpose Scrying spell would be handy." His happy attitude seems to fade when he actually looks at Alptraum though. "You're awfully big," he notes.
"Big compared to what?" Alptraum has to ask, "Alptraum Reisender. Also known as the Barsunala. I'm here to understand if magic can me used to mark, then scry and identify where that item is. The reason, I am trying to eliminate methods by which pirates may be tagging vessels."
"Pirates? The Barsunala? Isn't Sunala the... uh.. Kindly One of Burial Rites?" the poodle asks, and searches through the pockets of his robes to find.. a Mage's Guide to Babel pamphlet. "Are you a priest?" he asks as he tries to find what he's looking for. "I'm new here.."
"Demigod, actually," Alptraum corrects and raises his right hand and wiggles his fingers. He also uses the moment generate a few whisps of shadow tendrils from it. "Which grants me some skill with shadow and life magic."
"Shadow and Life?" Albiarro asks, forgetting his guide book for the moment. "I've heard of Shadow and Light, but.. who did you train under?"
"No one, I'm not a mage," Alptraum comments, "And it's not really important to the reason I'm here."
"Your predecessor was Shadow and Life, Mage Albiarro," the receptionist notes.
"Really? I could have sworn it was Light.." the poodle mutters. "Ah, right.. scrying focii is what you wanted to see me about. Please follow me to my chambers.. your.. uh.. Demigodness?"
"Just call me Alptraum, please," Alptraum requests. "And I have to ask this ... but are you loyal to Gallis?"
The Mage makes a snorting sound as he consults his GPS spell to find his way back to his room. "Never been there, never going to visit," he notes. "I'm a gray.. ah.. you probably don't know what that means though. Gallisians are very uptight about pure-breeding, so white with white and black with black. My parents didn't give a fig about those traditions, and weren't nobs anyway, so.. I'd probably be stoned or something. I'm from Rephidim."
"But of course as a Mage I'm loyal to Caroban and the Guild," Albiarro adds, to further clarify things.
"Ah, good, then I can work with you. If you were loyal to Gallis, I would have to request another contact. There is enmity between myself and that country," Alptraum states as he prepares to follow the mage. "The Maquis killed someone dear to someone dear to me."
"The Marquis kills.. probably nobody that deserves it," the gray poodle notes, and stops before a door. "This should be it!" he says, and opens it to reveal.. a typical mage's suite. There's a table covered in arcane paraphernalia, including several crystal balls that wouldn't look out of place in a gypsy fortuneteller's tent. "They never last long, leaders like that. Then it's another headless statue in Fluefille.. I'm still unpacking. Be careful where you step.. I nearly knocked myself out when a bunch of hard candies rolled across the floor from somewhere."
Alptraum mutters something about being able to curse or perhaps even kill the Marquis remotely, then shakes it off as he enters the room to look around and watch for deadly candies. "Why did you come to Babel? You do not seem particularly happy here," he notes.
"I'm still settling in," Albiarro says, "And.. well, taking a position here actually reduces my education debt by five percent." He clears some space on the worktable, and picks up one of the crystal balls. "This one's my favorite, brings me good luck! I won it from an actual gypsy fortuneteller when I correctly guessed what she had in her pocket! She still guessed that my wallet was empty.. not sure how she managed that, because it wasn't empty before she made her guess. Anyway, you wanted to know about scrying for specific items?"
"BEcause she or one of the tribe children lifted the money from your wallet first. It's an old distract trick. Where specifically did you meet the gypsy?" Alptraum has to ask as he retrieves the slug coin from a pocket, then offers it over. "These are used to match weight to real money. I'd like to know if they can either be marked, or specifically scried for to use to identify a ship without currency."
The poodle takes the slug and examines it. "Oh.. I met the gypsies in Himar, in Elamoore.. back before the boomer," Albiarro notes. Then he bites the slug. "This.. is actually a really poor choice to use for a scrying focus. There's nothing unique about it, you see, not if there are a bunch more just like it. When you want to track something, the more unique it is the better - it's why tracking a specific person is most effective. Now, there are other methods. An enchanted artifact can be used to scry through - to spy on the area around it. There used to be artifacts that let you track a person too. Last one I know of was actually being used from Babel, but.. no.. wait, that was a spirit spy. But that's another method. Now.. you say someone is tracking money though?"
"Himar? I wouldn't know the tribe, then. Anyway, they may be tracking money, or the lack of it," Alptraum notes as he finds a place to sit. "If one of these were somehow marked magically, could it be traced? Somehow out of two chests, the pirates always know which has money and which does not. I'm trying to eliminate or confirm scrying as one possible way."
"Pirates.." the poodle muses, and then sits down on the floor as he moves the slug between his fingers. "Assuming that they aren't using an actual Light Mage, but some sort of artifact.. and something as small as a coin for the focus.. Well, would they need to know the location of the focus, or just that the focus is present? Airships aren't that hard to track.. usually. We use a beacon and receiver setup for Caroban. That is, so our airships can find it. It's really pretty basic, so.. I'm wondering if it isn't something similar at play."
"I would say the presence of it would indicate it isn't the target ship, so that then they know to go after the other ship and its route. I say that because it's probably easier to get the beacon in the crate without money. But ... if they retrieve it each time, then it would have to be on the target ship. Which I guess would make the target ship more trackable ... but then that means someone who loads the chests would be dropping the marker," Alptraum admits. "Which ... I don't think helps us know much either way. We're still in the dark."
"Wait.." Albiarro says, and stands up. He sets the slug on the table, and digs out some chalk to begin drawing a magic circle around the slug. "Recovering the marker.. see, that's where it falls apart, right?" he says as he scribes. "But what if they didn't have to? What if there isn't a single marker that's got a powerful homing spell cast on it? An expensive spell at that." He finishes drawing and begins to chant over the faux coin.
"Are there simpler spells that wouldn't matter about recovering? Such as it sort of just wears out?" Alptraum inquires
It's a few minutes before Albiarro can reply, but once he's finished his spell the inner ring of the magic circle has a very slight glow to it. "Simpler.. ah. Clever.." he mutters, and then picks up the casino chip. "These are always used? I mean, these playing coins from The Money Pit?"
"Maybe? I don't know specifics, but I imagine it's likely," Alptraum admits and rubs his forehead. "What is clever?"
"Casino chips have no value outside of the casino," the poodle notes. "But that doesn't mean they aren't worth counterfeiting. So.. the casino needs a cheap, effective way to make sure the tokens are genuine. This chip has a very weak dweomer placed on it, a permanent one. You wouldn't do it for each chip individually though - the mage would cast a relatively powerful enchantment over the whole batch, so each piece gets a little bit of it. Enough that an enchanted tool could detect it if held very close to the token."
"That's interesting ... but this would need to be detected at range," Alptraum notes, "To identify the appropriate ship."
"Unless there are agents on both ships that can do a close inspection," Alptraum concedes. "Then they send out a signal of some sort."
"Right, but the key there is that the it's a batch enchantment," Albiarro explains. "No single token could be detected at range.. but get several hundred or more together, and you have a significant enchantment. The pirates would need as many of the reader tools as they could get.. there wouldn't be that many, but if this casino's assets were all sold off, it wouldn't be difficult. They'd still need to be close though, yes. Either on the ship or able to get close to it. I've no idea how sensitive the readers would be. They might work over a distance if you had all of them together. After all, you'd only need the barest detectable signal to identify the ship that was carrying a lot of these tokens. And I assume they get reused too, since they're not being stolen."
"I believe that they are, yes. If onboard the ship, you signal from the ship that has the fakes. If remote, well, you don't need the signal. Could you detect this and guess the range if you got a chance to examine the ships in question?" Alptraum inquires. "And would you? I can't really offer much money, this is to help the city."
"Community Service then?" Albiarro asks. "I can file an expense claim for that! But.. possibly. I'd need a lot more of these tokens before I could reverse-engineer the detection signal. But.. once I have that, it wouldn't be difficult to spoof it. That is, send out a false signal, at a different strength. If it's being read from a distance, a stronger signal would register further out, and the pirates would then try to intercept at the wrong location. Or send out multiple signals and confuse them."
"I would need to speak with the captain in charge of the ship security to see if he would permit it. I think he would, but I am not an expert in politics," Alptraum admits. "Can I send word to you when I know?"
"Of course, I'll.. be here!" the poodle says. "I'd need an escort though for any on-site inspection though. I really have no idea how to get around in Babel."
"Or you like the idea of being escorted by a local demi-god," Alptraum remarks and arches his brow a little. "Do you have any questions for me before I go?"
"You mentioned that you could do Shadow Magic," Albiarro notes. "Can you hide things with it? That's a fairly common use for it, after all."
Alptraum sets his right hand on the table. "I can, yes. I learned the abilities when I captured the Shadow of Amena," he notes, "Which did some damage to me, as you can see."
"Oh, that's actually your hand?" the Mage asks with a bit of alarm. "Does it hurt?"
"No, it doesn't hurt thankfully," Alptraum says, "But, lesson for the future, sticking your hand into a demonic entity and capturing it is not pleasant."
"I'm not allowed to play with demons," Albiarro notes. "They tend to mess with scrying. But.. demonic or not.. Shadow can usually block scrying attempts. So that's an option as well."
"I can't cover two ships, though," Alptraum points out, "But I could mask the fake target if I was there so that it doesn't send a signal ... then the real one sends a fake signal and they'd go after the dummy ship instead, hmm. Also, oh, you are a mage of Light, yes? If I were to tell you I could arrange a chance for you to examine an ancient artifact, would you be interested?"
"Well, I do like ancient artifacts, especially ones related to my Sphere!" the poodle says with a big smile. "Nobody makes Scrying artifacts anymore - there are so many restrictions. Light artifacts are different though, since light is useful for a lot of things."
"I know where the Light of Nala is," Alptraum comments, "And as payment for help, I might be able to arrange you a chance to examine it a little."
"Oh my.. is it an actual light?" the poodle asks, ears perking. "Oh.. by the way.. you can use light to hide an airship too, during the day with a clear sky."
"It is a great many things, but mostly it is an immense magical source. A friend and I recovered it from the Well of Souls," Alptraum notes, "Back in Sylvania."
"Oh my, there are all sorts of legendary artifacts associated with Sylvania!" Albiarro enthuses, clapping his hands together. "Granted, most of them are unfortunately sinister."
"I've seen several of them, and unfortunately yes," Alptraum admits. "Anyway, I am not sure if I can arrange it, but I wish to try as payment for help. It would count, yes?"
"Payment? Oh, I thought it would just be something between friends," the poodle notes. "I have to file for community service payment.. although really it's just reduction of my debt rather than payment. I assumed you'd want the Light of Nala kept secret, since.. I didn't hear anything about it being here in Babel."
"Well, yes, I would," Alptraum admits. "And we are friends?"
"You're a demigod," Albiarro notes. "I'd hardly want to be an enemy."
"The guild in general already is," Alptraum notes. "They made several attempts on my life."
"Really?" the poodle asks. "Is it alright for you to come to the Guild Hall then?"
"The Babel Guild hall is sort of a special case. The issues I had were in Rephidim," Alptraum notes.
"Oh.. yeaahh there was some sort of issue with.. uh.. Sunala, I think.. a few years back," Albiarro notes, rubbing the back of his head. "I think a lot of toes were stepped on, and some mages were involved on both sides of the issue."
"I was there, and they tried to kill me just for being there," Alptraum notes.
"Was it during the big Dream Ritual thing?" Albiarro asks. "Things were pretty tense."
"Near it, yes," Alptraum says.
"There was a huge shake-up with the Caroban Watch.. the Witchhunters especially," Albiarro says in a hushed voice and shudders. "Even now it still seems like Caroban and the surface Guild Halls are following different agendas."
"It makes me suspicious of the guild, is all," Alptraum admits, "I have unpleasant memories of being hunted when I was far weaker."
"The old guard has not cared for Caroban's.. political awareness.. since the last war. The Guild has really lost a lot of power and influence and some are not happy about facing that reality," the poodle notes, shaking his head. "The big city Halls tend to be the ones that overcompensate now. At least, the ones where they used to be main campuses. The smaller ones have always been a bit more practical about things."
"And Babel's Hall is.. a small one, now. The campus and old hall were taken by the Boomer after all," Albiarro adds, a bit sadly.
"Such as making deals with monsters?" Alptraum has to ask.
"Cooperating with local custom and authority," Albiarro rephrases. "There was real discussion about pulling out of Babel completely, but that would be a disaster!"
Alptraum chuckles. "Even I know I'm a monster of a sort. You don't have to be polite," he notes. "And yes, it would have been. My hope is to bring Babel out of the darkness it has been in for far too long, and I'm willing to work with various groups to make it happen."
"Oh, that's a relief," the poodle says, placing a hand over his chest. "We really don't want to be kicked out. It was really bad for awhile when the landlords turned to the Yodhzakaro to maintain the Earth Magic that keeps the towers from falling down. Our Earth Mages need to be able to work here, or else the city will literally fall apart.. and we wouldn't feel very good about that."
"Your best bet would be to work with the Yodhzakaro if you want the Earth Mages to have work. Partnerships and understanding, so to speak," Alptraum points out, "I can usually smooth things out with the sects."
"Well.. it's just that Yodhzakaro.. uh.. weren't very good," Albiarro says quietly, in case anyone is eavesdropping. "Towers collapsed. They just claimed that the owner didn't have enough faith in Zakaro, but.. they can't all do real magic, I think. But the Yodhzakaro are gone now I heard.. and the Coalition requires the use of Earth Mages. I haven't met any here though.. not yet."
"I have not met any either. Mainly just Cyprian and Rostre," Alptraum admits, "And I am taking up entirely too much of your time, too."
"Well.. at least I have something to do now, and on my first day!" Albiarro says, and wags his tail. "I do need to find the box with my underwear in it though."
"Or just go without," Alptraum suggests and rises. "And can't you use one of your crystal balls to find the box?"
"You'd think that, but they don't actually do anything," the poodle admits. "They're to help with concentration. Staring at a candle flame works too. But the time it would take to use a scrying spell is far longer and much more work than just looking through the boxes directly. This is the unglamorous reality of magic.. at least for a mere Journeyman like myself."
"You mean you don't stick them in your pants and proposition women?" Alptraum has to ask. Why? Maybe he knew someone who tried that once.
The poodle looks confused. "Are you talking about the crystal balls or the underwear? Because of course I wear my underwear inside my pants. I'm no Chaos Mage!"
"I'm talking about the crystal balls. Socks work too," Alptraum comments.
"Ahhh.. no," Albiarro says. "Light Mages.. uh.. don't do well with women. As soon as I show interest in a girl.. well, she'll think I'm some sort of creeper using magic to spy on her. Female Light Mages have a similar issue, but more about guys worrying that they'll reveal their secrets or something as revenge or to win arguments or just if they break up later.."
"Try being the son of Death. That makes any sort of normal relationship about impossible. All mine tend to be ... odd," Alptraum admits and shrugs.
"I know a lot of girls that are into the whole tortured bad-boy thing," Albiarro notes. "I think they're all rich though. Hard to tell sometimes. Seems like a rich-girl sort of romantic notion though, doesn't it? My sister fell for the guy who mended her clothes. Not even at a discount, mind you. So.. I probably shouldn't go by what rich-girls find romantic."
"Don't. Just find someone you would do anything for with no strings attached, and then you'll know that's the one," Alptraum notes. "The money they have, or position, should not matter."
"My peer group are all in massive debt, and generally just know magic, so.. I just have to find someone whose insanity meshes well with mine?" the mage asks.
"Pretty much. It's sort of what I did," Alptraum admits.
"I guess I should just work on making my insanity as shiny as possible then!" Albiarro notes. "But I'm not doing the sequins thing. I don't like sequins."
"I hate to tell you, you're not that insane," Alptraum notes, "I can tell such things. Of course I can also ..." And that he doesn't say, but instead demonstrates by running two fingers down one of the mage's forearms. It leaves a trail of inkiness, that when it draws back, leaves one stripe of pure white, and the other of pure black. "Change things."
Looking at his arm, Albiarro tries shaking it to see if it changes. "Does it wash out?" he asks, a little confused. "Oh.. wait.. Life Magic.. that's your non-Shadow skill! You don't even have to cast a spell for it?"
"No, but it has other costs associated with it," Alptraum admits, "But small things like that aren't much."
"And it will wear off," Alptraum adds.
"So it's not going to fall out?" Albiarro asks, just to be certain. "I shouldn't be surprised though.. Death-Magic and Life-Magic are really the same thing. Or.. no, I'm thinking Life-Magic and Disease-Magic. I'm not sure there's anything that could be considered Death-Magic."
"I could make all your fur fall out," Alptraum offers. "But no, that little bit won't fall out."
"Hmmm, I wonder what would really happen if you could mix Light and Shadow," the poodle ponders. He's probably not thinking about the creation of a Forbidden Zone though.
"You get a violent reaction, that on large scale creates forbidden zones," Alptraum notes. "It has happened before."
"What? From Light and Shadow Magic?" the poodle asks with a look of horror. "I thought they'd mostly just cancel out, the way Shadow blocks Light, and Light weakens Shadow."
"Amenlichli's battles with her sister Nala was Light and Shadow magic battles. "Some of the forbidden zones are the results," Alptraum explains. "I've seen it happen through the memories of those that were there."
"Amenlichli uses Shadow Magic?" Albiarro asks.
"A variant of it it and life magic, yes," Alptraum notes. "There's a city out in the wastes a ways from here that she plundered for things to use. I don't recommend going there."
"In fact, it would probably kill you," Alptraum amends.
"I'm not really into things that will kill me," the poodle admits. "I don't even try the drinks at the Chaos parties."
"I've actually met both Amena and Nala, too. Nala is very much a gentle soul. Amena ... Imagine the most vile and evil woman you can ... and she would be a saint in comparison to Amena," Alptraum notes.
"My grandmother wasn't very nice," Albiarro admits. "She was very.. traditional.. so doesn't actually acknowledge my or my sister's existence and disowned my mother."
"And of course there is the demon that turns people inside out. Then the dragon that devoured worlds. I know a lot of really unpleasant beings," Alptraum admits with a sigh. "And your grandmother is an idiot."
"Yes, well, most grandmothers probably are after a certain age," Albiarro notes, then blinks. "Wait.. you've met a dragon and a demon? They.. uh.. aren't here in Babel are they?"
"They're here right now," Alptraum remarks with an amused grin. "I keep them imprisoned."
"And.. does that mean if anything happens to you they'll be set loose?" the poodle asks nervously.
"No, they would be obliterated," Alptraum explains.
"Oh, well.. that's good to know!" Albiarro says. "Not that I hope anything bad happens to you or anything, but.. I'd hate to be surprised in my old age."
"And now you feel safe in telling the Witchunters how to ambush and kill me?" Alptraum asks.
"Those guys are creepy, so.. no," Albiarro promises. "Besides, I'm not sure demigods are in their jurisdiction anyway."
"I'm not easy to kill anyway. Fairly impossible, really," Alptraum notes and shrugs.
"Well.. nobody's perfect?" the poodle offers. "I'm fairly possible to kill. So.. I need to worry about it."
Alptraum chuckles. "Ones that may need to kill me already know how to. I have entrusted a few with the secret," he admits, then shrugs. "And I really should be going. I'll let you know if and when you can check the ships to be sure we may be onto the right lead."
"Ah, well, it was a pleasure to meet you," Albiarro says and holds out his hand while smiling. "Do.. you shake hands in Babel or am I supposed to offer some sort of sacrifice to you?"
"You're supposed to sleep with me," Alptraum claims, straight-faced.
"What.. every time?" the poodle asks. "What if there is a group?"
Alptraum laughs. "I'm teasing. No such requirement. A handshake is fine," he says, then shakes ... with his right hand. Shadow tendrils join in the shaking.
Albiarro twitches a bit at the tendrils. "So.. we're not actually doing anything more intimate than shaking hands, are we?" he asks.
One of the tendrils goes in Albiarro's hand, which likely feels rather odd. "Not really, no," Alptraum claims, and withdraws the tendril fairly quickly.
The poodle rubs his hand after the grip is released. "Ah, that's also good to know," he says. "I'll get things ready for when you're.. ready for me."
Alptraum opens his mouth to say something, then stops himself. "I won't make another joke about being ready for me," he concedes. "And I apologize, I sometimes cannot resist making people uncomfortable."
"Well, I'm almost always uncomfortable, so.. sorry for not being much of a challenge?" the poodle notes. "I sort of got the impression that you don't like Gallees."
"I don't like ones that are allied to the Gallee that decapitated the husband of someone dear to me," Alptraum explains. "Since you do not, I have no issues with you."
"And the ones who invaded the lands I grew up in," Alptraum says, and makes sure his Sylvanian accent comes through thickly and poignantly.
"Well.. uh.. for what it's worth, the Marquis is a Kujaku," Albiarro offers.
Alptraum chuckles. "And I hear he's a pecker, too," he adds. "But he does represent the Gallee, and has harmed a great deal of those I care about. I could burn that a lot of that country to a cinder and feel no remorse for it, so they feel the pain they have inflicted on others. To them, I would very much be a monster."
"Well, it's only the noble class that makes decisions.. everyone else just has to do what they're told," the poodle says. "Everyone else belongs to the serf class or.. worse."
"They choose to do what they are told. No one has to. There's a point you have to say no, otherwise you're just as guilty," Alptraum points out. "I've said Babel will not continue as it has been, that they will have a future and be a source of beauty and pride, not of fear and ugliness. And I know ultimately this will also probably destroy me. But at least I wasn't complacent in allowing the bad to continue and can pass knowing that."
"Saying no isn't always an option," Albiarro claims. "My dad's family.. they got out because they were told to execute the families of those who didn't serve their Chevaliers. They weren't highly ranked, so would have been executed themselves for disobeying. My uncle says it only saved them though, since someone else would have been tasked with doing the executions of the serfs."
"We could argue this for days. Those that have directly harmed that which I care about I will not forgive. Others connected indirectly will be judged independently," Alptraum says, "And as such I bear you no malice."
"I understand.. it's just 'guilt by association' I worry about," the poodle says. "But that's my thing.. based on my family's past. Sorry."
"If I felt that way, I would have turned you into a hog," Alptraum notes. "And no, that isn't a metaphor. I could. You said you did not support the Marquis, and you are helping. I see no reason to hold you guilty of anything he ordered."
"Well.. just don't become a monster if you can help it?" the mage asks, and grins weakly.
"Don't give me a reason to," Alptraum counter offers, and smiles.
"I've never given anyone a reason for anything, so.. shouldn't be a problem," Albiarro promises.
"Ever been bitten by a vampire?" Alptraum asks oddly.
"I got drunk with one once," the poodle offers.
"You should try getting bitten, it's interesting," Alptraum says, flashes fangs, then adds, "And on that odd note, I bid you a good day."
"Bit me a.. oh, bid.. right!" Albiarro laughs nervously. He's very nervous about certain things it seems.. things that don't involve magic apparently.
"You need to get out more. You're too twitchy," Alptraum comments, bows, then slips out the door. He's been here enough that he mostly knows the way, and can use aura sense to fins the dorky receptionist in any event. So, now it is on to inform both the captain of the Yodhrephath Airship, and others, about the scanning suggestion. It's a good a lead as any at this point.