[closed] blades in the dark

[katabasis]

WHO: Tony Stark, Yseult, Byerly Rutyer, James Flint
WHAT: Divheads discuss the fine art of politics
WHEN: Now
WHERE: The Gallows, Forces Division office
NOTES: I'll add anything if it becomes relevant

[The sun is setting, and the Forces division office on the sixth floor of the Gallows is begining to recede slowly into shadow despite the lighting of various oil lamps and candles. It serves to paint the impromptu meeting occurring there in more flattering light than it might actually warrant.]

Kyrus is one of the Altus mages in the Magisterium who we know to be opposed to the influence of Venatori in Minrathous, [Flint is saying, blowing out the long match stick he's only just lit a candle off. Snapping the fine little reed in half, he tosses both ends into the cold fireplace.

For all that the office is large, it only just has seats enough for them all now that a private conversation between Flint and Yseult has morphed into the four of them gathered here. Riftwatch's Commander would apparently generally prefer not to make it easy to entertain many guests and a shortage of chairs and stools usually is adequately discouraging. That no one present has a cup in hand (yet), however, can probably be partially attributed to his shit taste in liquor more so than any failing in hospitality.]

And he's a well connected slaver. Apparently, Tertia's people want to see him dead.

[Which is an inconvenient set of cross-purposes.]

Comments

[propulsion]

Well,

[ says Tony, who is here, and if no seats are available to him, he will trend towards a restless perimeter wander. But there are, and so he engages in the opposite, a deep sort of slouch and an ankle kicked up onto a knee, sedentarily comfortable.

He hasn't requested any liquor, but he won't be above raccoon-rifling around for some later depending on the tenor of the conversation. ]

They kind of all are, right? The Magisterium wizards? Well-connected slavers that people want dead? And this one happens to want one vital non-shitty thing.

[bouchonne]

[ Byerly's face is studiously neutral. On the one hand, this seems like a terrible idea diplomatically. As they say, a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush, never mind a wealthy and powerful aristocrat in the hand versus a couple of of scrappy and bedraggled rebels in the bush. To trade the former chasing the possibility of the latter would be diplomatic madness.

On the other hand: fuck that guy in particular. ]

This one is rather...worse than others. One of the odder of our bedfellows.

[hassaran]

It's a test.

[ Is the conclusion Yseult has already expressed to Flint, from her perch on the edge of his side-table. She doesn't say it like it's meant to be a revelation to the others, but like she's putting to words the unpleasant thing of which they are all already implicitly aware. ]

If we do it, it must be in a way that limits the damage to our cause.

[katabasis]

[Flint's low hum of a acknowledgement is in broad agreement; he doesn't yet move to take the chair that has been saved for him—enough of that restless impulse that Tony is restraining himself from keeping him in his feet.]

The man must have enemies other than the Venatori. If we were sufficiently quiet about it, every possibile assassin might share a little blame.

[propulsion]

There's this rhetorical device from my world that I invented called being a devil's advocate, which means you're not allowed to get testy—

[ seems exclusively directed at Flint, but a gesture and a look around encompasses the room as he continues with, ]

The math is that we kill this guy, we gain some trust with regime rebels, I get it. What's the value comparison between this anti-Venatori guy having a foothold in the Magisterium, versus doing our scrappy underdogs a favour?

[hassaran]

[ Yseult casts a look down to where, were they in anyone else's office, a cup might be held in her hand, conveniently available to gaze pensively into and then raise to drink from, thus buying her a moment and concealing the twitch of her mouth at the question--. But Flint's rum is diabolical. ]

Truthfully we've made little progress on either front, [ is an admission she pushes briskly, matter-of-factly past. ] The rebels don't trust our commitment or our reach, and the magisters are still too comfortable to commit themselves. Making Kyrus a martyr could serve us well with both.

[katabasis]

[Who's testy? seems to be the implication of Flint's eyebrows in Tony's direction. Nevermind that he absolutely would have been without the leading disclaimer.]

And his opinions on the Venatori aside, I've not heard anything about Kyrus or his ilk being all that opposed to the invasion.

[(Is maybe an oversimplification of certain anti-Venatori sentiments in the upper echelons of Minrathous. But fuck them.)]

Gaining the rebels' trust gets us a way into the Tevinter under the Magisterium's nose and shorts Corypheus the same network. They've not been shy about their ties to Calpernia.

[bouchonne]

Plus, [ adds Byerly with a droll little smile that might make it seem like he's being a bit ironic, save that at this point they likely know his sympathies enough to know well that he's being sincere, ] it's the right thing to do.

[propulsion]

[ Tony is listening, but it's this very last thing that sparks; ]

To start killing people who align with the mission?

[ A spread of his hand. He's just saying. If there's a bristle at being reminding about the moralist angle, its smoothed over quick. He is, after all, advocating for the devil. ]

I love merking bad guys as much as the next knight in shining armor, but we should probably consider the implications of jumping this specific hoop. We're not exactly overfloweth with trained assassins who won't just get their asses captured.

Why do the rebels want him gone?

[hassaran]

He owns more slaves than the average magister. And he's prominent, well-protected. They want to see what we can do, and what we're willing to.

[ If she's a little bit annoyed by that, it's in a sort of grudging way. It's not entirely unfair for them to be set this test; she just doesn't like it. ]

Do they want him made an example, or will they be content with his death however we paint it? We should look into his heirs.

[katabasis]

Unless he's gotten extremely creative, he doesn't have any, [says the soporati with maybe a touch too much confidence. But why shouldn't he be abreast of magisterium politics?]

I would imagine his heirs consist of a string of cousins.

[bouchonne]

[ Always abreast of magisterium politics, and having done his research before this meeting: ]

A nephew, currently studying at the university. The young man's politics are unknown, but the university is associated with more liberal views.

[hassaran]

So an unknown. [ Imagination and campus leanings don't count as intelligence. ]

Quietly, then. Or else we plant evidence that he'd planned to free his slaves to fight against Corypheus and was killed for it.

[bouchonne]

Ooh.

[ Byerly clearly likes that idea. ]

[katabasis]

[A tip of the temple and a glance in Stark's direction: eyebrows floating up like a question mark. What's the next bullet point on his pretend objections list?]

[propulsion]

Yeah, which. That's a convincing scare tactic. Problem, because it's a scare tactic. Meaning we lose out on would-be Magisterium allies, or piss off the ones who don't spook that easy if they find out what actually happened.

[ A gesture, a little dismissive; not, on purpose, trying to be difficult, but he's saying. ]

High risk for a reward. I'll vote the party-line if we think it's worth it and make meaningful eye contact if it bites us in the ass, how's that sound.

[hassaran]

[ Yseult concedes the scare tactic point by a head-tip of her own. It's rare that Riftwatch has to worry about doing something too effective. ]

So, quietly. An accident, suicide, unrelated murder?

[bouchonne]

Hold on.

[ He holds up a hand. ]

I think our dear provost is underestimating Thedas' love of a martyr, and the Magisterium's snooty pride in their autonomy. Let's not move past the political murder just yet.

[katabasis]

To both points, if the truth about the killing comes out then I doubt trying to make it look like an accident rather than a political killing earns us any friends either.

[Though this is a mildly made point, the assassinating aspect itself seemingly more or less settled.]

We may as well aim high.

[propulsion]

[ Tony turns a hand out. Not convinced but not arguing. ]

Flashy draws heat. Political thermodynamics are roughly translateable between dimensions. [ To Yseult; ] Do we have the people for the job?

[hassaran]

[ The long answer is maybe, uncertainty present both in the limited personnel available and in the present lack of the intelligence necessary to say what exactly the job will require--all the details of time and place and method that'll need to be gathered to convert the bare objective determined here into an actual plan and a list of requirements for its accomplishment.

The short answer is: ] I'll do it.

[bouchonne]

[ There's the tiniest flicker in Byerly's eyes - not born of doubt that Yseult can do it, but born of anxiety over the thought of something going wrong. Times when she's gone missing in action have been...difficult, to say the least. And if she's caught, there's no doubt that everyone would know exactly who she was working for.

Still. It's not like this isn't the sort of mission that deserves that high level of attention. And she knows her people best. So he swallows down any objection in favor of a slight nod. ]

With someone to support you, I hope.

[hassaran]

[ She works hard never to be a public face of the organization, at least not with her own face on, effort that proved its value when their captors knew only Flint. But it isn't a trick she's likely to pull off a second time. She isn't really thinking about that now, as she lets one brow tick minutely upwards at Byerly.

She lifts fingers, non-committal. ] Once the necessary intel has been gathered I'll determine the operational details.