When Grand Sorreter Drag had learned of the Plan at the 898 Pilgrimage, he had almost immediately been opposed to it. Still, it wasn't until Bishop Therman of Plist founded the Protestant Movement in 902, that Drag and his closest followers began truly taking action to stop the Plan. By then, of course, it was far too late to resolve the issue peacefully, though none of the Protestants were willing to accept that an actual war would become necessary, until early 903. It was then that Drag began scrying all around the world, attempting to locate the descendants of the elves who had been banished from human society one hundred and thirty years earlier. He knew that their ship had sailed west from Sorret, but beyond that, he had no idea where they might have ended up. In fact, he had no idea if they had even survived their journey, much less whether they'd started a civilization of their own, which might still be extant. The fact that the map of the world had been completed in 885, and none of the cartographers had mentioned any signs of such a civilization meant Drag felt little hope, but still he tried. He intended to invite the elves to return, and hoped they would join the Protestants against the Plan. Alas, as Drag had feared, his scrying yielded no results. He concluded that there must no longer be any elves alive on the Land.
It wasn't until the Battle of Elves' Ambush, on 31 Su'yet of 903, that he learned he had been mistaken, when the elves joined the war on the side of the Order. He couldn't imagine how his scries had failed, much less how Durell had found them, but he received an answer to these questions from a most unexpected source, not long after the battle ended. Yuki Des'Salucin found Drag, and met in secret with him and Lorraine. Yuki claimed that Drag's words to Elf Chief Des'Eller at the start of the battle had made him reconsider his position. He'd barely joined the war effort, and already he wanted to switch sides. Drag was unsure whether Yuki could be trusted, and yet the elf proved useful in a number of ways. Most importantly, he informed Drag that when Durell had met with Des'Eller two years earlier, he'd learned of a spell called 'scry-spoofing,' which had been developed by Yuki's own ancestor, Salucin. Durell had known Drag would likely look for the elves someday, and convinced Des'Eller that if he found them, he'd spread lies about the Plan, and corrupt elven society. Durell suggested the elves hide their village from Drag's inevitable scries, using scry-spoofing. And now, Yuki taught the spell to Drag and Lorraine, who would later teach it to more of Drag's followers. In fact, Drag already had a plan in motion, for his followers to escape to a hidden location, should it ever become apparent that they were going to lose the war. He knew how much Durell hated him, and that if the war was lost, the Protestant Sorreters would be eliminated, if they didn't disappear. Still, he'd been unsure how long they could hide, if it came to that, and Yuki had provided them with a means of evading detection. Perhaps indefinitely, and certainly long enough to come up with backup plans. In the years since then, Yuki had continued to prove his loyalty as a spy for Drag, though of course Drag had never revealed to him the location of the ex-Sorreters' hidden settlement.
It was about a week after the ex-Sorreters had disappeared that Lorraine led a team of them to covertly infiltrate both the Sorret Magic Academy and the Council of Magicks, to procure any and all records pertaining to Drag and his followers, so that Durell and his followers would have a hard time finding them (or even recognizing the lesser-known among Drag's followers). It was believed that the mission had been a complete success. However, a few months later, it was learned that before the mission was even conceived, Durell had made copies of most of the records, which he kept in a secret cache of his own files. One of Drag's spies in Sorret had discovered where the cache was kept, and a second mission was planned, to steal or destroy it. Of course, Drag knew it would be well-guarded by various spells of protection and concealment, as well as alarms that would alert Durell of any attempt to break in. So every precaution was taken, when the new mission began. And of course the ex-Sorreters were alert for any sign that magic was being used to conceal the presence of actual human guards. They were also aware that the use of magic could itself be hidden from magical detection. But such methods weren't infallible, and the team Drag sent were fairly confident that they could bypass any concealment of invisibility spells. Unfortunately, their confidence was ill-founded, as Durell (or one of his followers) had developed a special combination spell that allowed this particular use of magic to go undetected. There were guards waiting for them, and in fact it was later learned that the information obtained by Drag's spy had been leaked to him by someone working for Durell, as an attempt to lure the ex-Sorreters out of hiding. Several members of the team were killed on that mission, and in all the years thereafter, Drag's spies would always assume they were being watched, on subsequent missions.
And so it was that when Cameron met with Yuki in Pritt, in the summer of 908, he didn't let his guard down just because he couldn't detect any magical surveillance. It might be hoped that no one was eavesdropping on their conversation, but just in case, he made sure not to say anything too compromising. Yes, he said he planned to kill both Faye Mireille and Ford Inspector (if Garrison Finger failed to do so himself), and to obtain evidence of their project, to use as leverage against anyone who might think of resurrecting said project. And while Durell surely wouldn't like for two of his allies to be killed, he just as surely would be willing to sacrifice them, and their project, if doing so gave him a chance to find Drag and the ex-Sorreters. If anyone were watching and/or listening in on their meeting, that person would surely be working for Durell, and just as willing as he to sacrifice Mireille and Inspector. This meant, in order not to spook Cameron, they wouldn't do anything to alert him to their surveillance, such as warning Cameron's quarry. So in essence, the only thing Cameron was worried about was ensuring that whoever might be watching him didn't learn his true identity, for that would make him useless to Drag, at best. At worst, he could be captured and forced to reveal Drag's location to Durell. Or at least, Durell would attempt to force him to do so. He'd fail, of course, but that didn't make the prospect any more appealing to Cameron. He was mildly concerned that Yuki's involvement with Drag may have been revealed, but Durell was smart enough to know that Drag never would have revealed his location to a former enemy such as Yuki. So it was unlikely that Yuki himself would be abducted or tortured. No, the only real danger would be if Yuki's employers in LandOrder learned that he was a spy. And it was unlikely that Durell's agent would inform them of that, for the same reason that they wouldn't warn Mireille or Inspector about Cameron.
Of course, Cameron had contacted Lorraine a few days ago, after Yuki first revealed the nature of the crisis to him via t-mail. One of the most important details he mentioned to her was that the Sorreter working on the project was named Ford. He'd become a master-adept in 895, just a few years before Lorraine had been apprenticed to Drag. She'd even had one class under Ford, briefly, and she'd never particularly liked him. By the time Cam began studying magic in 901, Ford had already been working as a gangster in Plist for a couple of years, so Cam had never met him. However, he was well aware that Ford had played a role in the Coming of the Order. Being a gangster, of course he wasn't among the Order's military Sorreters, but he did some behind-the-scenes work for the Army, including working as a liaison between his don, Seth, and Durell. Cameron didn't know the details of the work Ford had done, but he had reason to believe his sister did. She refused to talk to him about it, as she refused to talk about a number of things pertaining to her own work with Drag, during the war. But he could tell that she had developed a particular hatred for Ford, and for Seth. So when he learned of Ford's involvement in this project, he knew Lorraine would be interested, above and beyond the objective of the mission. And he was right, though she did her best to hide her interest from him. Still... this fact had been weighing on Cameron's mind throughout the flight to Pritt. It was one of the reasons he'd insisted that his bandmates stay in a different inn than he did. Mostly he was concerned for their safety, and also worried that if anyone was observing him and he led his watcher to his friends, even a glamour spell couldn't stop his enemy from figuring out his identity as a member of the Band. But beyond such practical concerns, he also didn't want his friends discovering that he was eager to kill Ford, for personal reasons. Especially since he couldn't fully explain those reasons, as he didn't fully understand them, himself. He didn't doubt that they'd accept the simple explanation of Ford being a threat, and therefore had to be eliminated. But still, he felt a bit of shame. And then there was the obvious question, why couldn't his backup plan of blackmailing others into leaving the project dead also be used against Ford and Faye? Well... he'd been trying to think of an answer for that, and hadn't come up with one. Which was one reason he quite liked Yuki's plan of using Garrison Finger to deal with the problem for them. If the gangster killed them both, he wouldn't have any difficult ethical questions to answer.
Sloane, of course, was aware of none of this. Nor was Spike. However, she had spent part of the past eight years learning various things about magic, and how to counter it. She had to give credit to the Planners: if not for the Coming, it probably never would have occurred to her that it would even be possible for non-Sorreters to use magic. So it was actually quite useful that part of the Plan had involved selling spell devices to the general public. But wealth had its privileges, and one of them was the ability to obtain certain particularly useful spell devices that weren't available to most people, even now. For example, a couple of years ago she'd bought a glamour mask from a contact she'd made in Frinn. At the time, she'd had no clear idea of how she might use it, and until now, she never had. In fact, a few times over the years, she'd thought perhaps it had been a major waste of money, considering how expensive it had been. But today, she was glad she had it. In the course of Spike's investigations in Kurok, he'd learned that the project Faye was working on had been instigated by Marlowe Gateman, so she found it highly ironic that she'd first made the acquaintance of this particular contact at one of Marlowe's abhorrent 'gate parties.' The fact that she'd be using the mask as part of her plan to destroy Faye added a rather pleasant spice to the sweet revenge she would soon dish out. (Although, what's with the sudden cooking metaphor? she asked herself.) In any event, it wasn't any ordinary glamour mask- not that any such mask is 'ordinary.' It was a very rare and special type, and therefore even more expensive than the already rare and expensive masks. This one would allow her to change the face it displayed several times, whereas most glamour masks only had one permanent false visage. What's more, it would even alter the appearance of her clothing. Not that she relied entirely on her mask; she'd also received training from Spike in the art of stealth. (An art he himself had learned after joining the spy department of Garrison's gang, which Sloane supposed was another delicious irony.)
A decidedly less appetizing irony was the fact that her plan to turn Garrison against Faye had gone a little too well. She had originally hoped to pit the two of them against each other, with the idea that they might take each other out. At first, she'd worried that Faye, being a Sorreter, might prove too great a foe for Garrison, that she'd kill him and easily escape with her life. However, in the weeks since Spike had informed the don of his suspicions about Faye, it had become clear that Garrison wasn't going to take any chances with her. It now seemed that Faye's death was almost assured, but Garrison's was most unlikely. And Sloane couldn't bear the thought of eliminating her own enemy while leaving Spike's alive and well. He'd been a great friend to her over the years, and that friendship had become even more important to her than the desire for revenge that had originally brought them together. It simply wouldn't be fair to achieve her objective and not his. And so, she'd amended the plan. She decided that when Garrison made his move against Faye, the Sorreter would need allies of her own, to make it an even match. Of course, the most obvious choice was Yuki Des'Salucin, the sorcerer who'd been working with her on Gateman's project. She suggested to Spike that he let Yuki know that Garrison was on to Faye, in the hopes that he would take steps to protect her. However, they also couldn't have him warning Faye about Garrison, for fear of ruining Sloane's entire plan. (There was also the fact that Spike didn't want any harm to come to Yuki, but Sloane decided that that consideration would probably be served by her instruction to Spike to tell Yuki not to warn Faye.) Sloane's hope was that Yuki would find outsiders he could call on to protect Faye, without letting her know about any of this. Of course, that could end up once again tipping the balance too much in Faye's favor, so she needed to be aware of exactly what Yuki did after his talk with Spike. But she also knew Yuki would likely be on the lookout for Spike, to make sure the spy wasn't following him. So, she decided to follow him, herself. Yuki had no idea who Sloane was, so he surely wouldn't recognize her. But she supposed that if he was looking out for Spike, he might just as well notice someone else following him. Hence the glamour mask. Any time she thought he might start getting suspicious about seeing the same face behind him, she could abandon her pursuit long enough to find a discreet spot to change her face. But she also knew better than to follow too close behind him, because, while the mask had a rudimentary concealment spell to hide the fact that magic was being used, she knew some magicians were better at seeing through such concealment than others. And given Yuki's background... well, it was best not to take chances. So, when she followed him to the park where he met with someone this morning, she stayed far enough away from him that she would (hopefully) be out of range of magic detection.
She'd been unable to hear any of their conversation, from her distance, but she hadn't really expected to. When Yuki and his friend parted ways, Sloane decided to follow the stranger. She couldn't be sure he was a person of any importance; for all she knew, he was just a random friend of Yuki's, with no connection to... well, anything. Or he could even have been a complete stranger to Yuki, and the two of them just happened to meet for the first time ever in the park, to play a game of chess. So following him instead of Yuki was a bit of a gamble, but she didn't want to risk losing a possible lead. And she could always find Yuki again later, if his 'friend' turned out to be no one. But if he was someone worth following, it also occurred to her that he might be a Sorreter, so she'd still have to keep her distance, just as she had when following Yuki to the park. It didn't take long for her to conclude that she'd made the right choice in following this stranger, because he employed the same kinds of maneuvers Spike had taught her, to avoid being spotted by a tail, or by the one being tailed. It was all she could do to keep up with him, and she wasn't at all sure he hadn't spotted her. She just hoped changing her face a few times might prevent him from realizing he was being followed.
And it seemed she was in luck. He eventually ducked into an abandoned building, where apparently he had friends waiting for him. Sloane made her way to an alley behind the building, and sat outside a window. She dared not peek in, for surely anyone going to all this trouble to stay out of sight would have eyes on any spot from which they might be seen. But she could hear just fine. She heard four different voices from within, once their conversation began, though she didn't want to assume there weren't any others, who remained silent. The voices of the four who spoke were slightly muffled, but not so much that she couldn't make out what each of them said.
"So, how'd it go?" asked a woman's voice.
"Not bad," replied a man, presumably the one Sloane had followed here. "Yuki's plan is to let Garrison Finger and Faye Mireille take each other out. The only problem is that the InterGang Sorreter, Ford Inspector, still knows how to work the spell they've been developing, so he'll have to be taken out, too. It's possible Finger will take care of that, but... just to be safe, Yuki and I will have to make sure that both Mireille and Inspector die. I'll also have to find evidence connecting them and their project to someone more important, without being discovered, myself. Once the two people- other than Yuki- who know how the spell works are dead, we'll need insurance, a way of blackmailing their superiors into not restarting the project with new Sorreters. That could include Finger, if our targets don't manage to kill him, as well as Inspector's own don in Plist, Seth Manager. It would also likely include Marlowe Gateman, a businessman from Frinn, whose idea the project was in the first place. But ideally, I'll find a connection to Durell Turner."
"I'm sure Drag would love that," said a second man.
A third man asked, "But would he be content to use such evidence as blackmail, instead of simply exposing Durell? It seems to me that stripping him of his political power would be of paramount importance to Drag."
The first man sighed deeply. "I admit, taking him down would be sorely tempting. For a lot of reasons. But this project... it could be even bigger than Durell. We'll have other chances to get him, but if we let this project reach fruition, we'll never have another chance to stop it. And we'll have a lot more people to worry about than Durell, if that happens. Besides which, stopping this project isn't just about protecting the ex-Sorreters, it's about protecting everyone."
After a brief silence, the woman asked, "So, how exactly do you plan to gather this evidence? And what can we do to help?"
"As for how I'll gather evidence, well, that's my problem. It's best if you don't know too much. But as for what you all can do... for now, just wait. Yuki will stay on top of the situation, and hopefully let me know when Finger is ready to spring his trap for Mireille and Inspector. At that point, I'll have to be on the scene, observing how it all goes down. I'll try to stay hidden as long as possible- ideally, I won't even have to take part in the battle. But if it becomes necessary, I'll step in to make sure Mireille and Inspector die. And if Finger's still alive, to make sure he knows it's in his best interest to let the project die with them. If it comes to that, I mean my having to jump into the battle before it's over, I may need backup. I'm not sure how many people Finger will have with him, but probably a fair number of enforcers and Sorreters. So I'll need all the help I can get just staying alive, myself. And again... please feel free to opt out of this mission. It's not your problem."
The woman replied, "Just a centhour ago you said this was about protecting everyone. Of course we're most interested in keeping you alive, but if the project is as big a threat as you say, of course it's our problem as much as it is yours. We're adventurers, after all, and how often do simple adventurers like us get a chance to save the whole world?"
The second man said, "That's right! We'll all be big damn heroes! Of course we're not gonna pass up a chance like that."
The third man said, "I concur."
"Very well," said the first man. "I'll be in touch when I have more details. Until then... take care, everyone."
After that, Sloane heard the sounds of people rising from their seated positions, and making their way to the front entrance. She made her own way to the side alley, and cautiously watched three people exit the building. After a little while, it became apparent that the fourth person- or rather the first, the one she'd followed here- wouldn't be coming out. So she returned to the back window, and peered inside. The room was empty, and she concluded that he had been a Sorreter, after all, and must have translocated away. She decided to follow his three friends. While she did so, she had a lot to think about. She'd been quite surprised to learn that Yuki, rather than protecting Faye, would be more likely to kill her. It was equally surprising to learn that he, and his Sorreter friend, were working for former Grand Sorreter Drag. At first this troubled her, since her plan had been for Yuki to find people to protect Faye, but after a few moments she chuckled to herself. What am I thinking? I wanted her dead, and now I'm more sure than ever that that will happen. As for Finger... he'll be easy enough to eliminate, once Faye's been taken out, and he lets his guard down....
After she'd left the building, an invisible man standing in the back alley suddenly became visible. He took out a t-mail bubble and made a call.
"Ah, Zeke," came the reply. "What news?"
"The guy with the glamour met some friends and had a short meeting, before he translocated away. He didn't say anything we didn't hear at his earlier meeting with Des'Salucin, though."
"Did you see any of their faces?"
"Nah, Drag's agent never dropped his glamour, and the other three were wearing masks. I mean, like, carnival masks. Funny they'd go to the trouble, when they were in an abandoned building with no one around- as far as they knew- and besides that it was dim enough in the room that I probably wouldn't have seen them clearly even without the masks."
"Well, in this line of work one can never be too paranoid."
"I guess. But anyway, that's not even the most interesting thing."
"Really? Do tell."
"I wasn't the only one that followed Drag's guy here. There was some woman wearing a glamour mask. So I reckon she's not a Sorreter, but she has access to some high quality spell devices. She listened in on their meeting from outside, then followed the three who left. I wonder what her deal is?"
"As do I. Yes, most intriguing. Very well, if you haven't lost too much time on this call, follow them. It would be nice to learn where the agent's friends are staying. But if that mysterious woman stops following them... I think it might be more interesting to learn what we can of her. So stay with her, and report back when you learn anything."
"Will do. How 'bout you? Des'Salucin lead you anywhere interesting?"
"Alas, no. But I found that the deli he stopped at this morning has excellent doughnuts, so I'm having a pleasant enough stakeout."
"Okay. Good luck, boss. Close." Putting away his t-mail bubble, he went invisible again, and jogged to catch up with his marks.