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Quoted By:
<span class="mu-i">Almost exactly sixteen years ago, in the Empire’s Old Hinterlands</span>
Your name is Odovacar, and right now, you should be ecstatic, or content, at the very least. You have managed what seemed impossible – a clean break from the Inquisition with your woman. As far as they know, you were killed by highwaymen in a nighttime road robbery gone wrong while you were on your way to get your Socket inspected by that specialist Ophthalmos while she is still in Moevia. Ironically enough, you managed to “die” a hero, trying to keep sensitive equipment out of the hands of some thugs … who were actually just Arbogast and his wife, dressed for the part. Admittedly, when you first heard their part in the plan, you had your doubts. While the pair had managed their performance as Amalasuintha’s master and mistress well enough to fool the Inquisition, the idea of an older couple as bandits seemed almost farcical.
But Arbogast was not just some actor-as-window-dressing that Amalasuintha had to obfuscate herself, he was a Man-of-Arms, raised and trained by the same Coven that Amalasuintha had belonged to before it dissolved after the death of its leader. After a long conversation with the man, and a test of his strength, he managed to convince you – and when the time came, he did not disappoint. But the most incredible contribution to the entire job was Amalasuintha. If you had just disappeared, then there would have been questions. So she managed to make a true to life decoy. The thing looked just like you, even getting the geometry of the Socket housing correct. With the assistance of another construct, the decoy was even able to breathe – though beyond that it was dumb, deaf, mute and blind.
But it bled! After coach driver had been sent off, it was a struggle to get your Socket out of you and into the decoy so that Arbogast and his wife could shoot it while the drivers were still close enough to hear the shot. You all managed though; you are certain.
That said … helping your wife hold up a doppelganger of yourself so it could be shot was … well, it was Strange. Not the decoy, though. Amalasuintha assured you of that. After that deed was done, all there was left to do was to finish staging the scene, and for you to say your thanks and for your then-fiancé to say her goodbyes to the two “highwaymen”. Or rather, the highwayman and highwaywoman. Obviously, the pair was needed back in Moevia, otherwise the Inquisition might manage to make a connection between your “death” and the disappearance of persons of interest that you were charged with investigating.
You had thought that Amalasuntha would have been upset at having to leave them behind, but in spite of some tears at the departure, on the whole she was happy about it. Later she would explain that most departures in her life were more messy and less amicable, and with all evidence of magic removed from their house, Arbogast and his wife were now safe from the Inquisition.
Your name is Odovacar, and right now, you should be ecstatic, or content, at the very least. You have managed what seemed impossible – a clean break from the Inquisition with your woman. As far as they know, you were killed by highwaymen in a nighttime road robbery gone wrong while you were on your way to get your Socket inspected by that specialist Ophthalmos while she is still in Moevia. Ironically enough, you managed to “die” a hero, trying to keep sensitive equipment out of the hands of some thugs … who were actually just Arbogast and his wife, dressed for the part. Admittedly, when you first heard their part in the plan, you had your doubts. While the pair had managed their performance as Amalasuintha’s master and mistress well enough to fool the Inquisition, the idea of an older couple as bandits seemed almost farcical.
But Arbogast was not just some actor-as-window-dressing that Amalasuintha had to obfuscate herself, he was a Man-of-Arms, raised and trained by the same Coven that Amalasuintha had belonged to before it dissolved after the death of its leader. After a long conversation with the man, and a test of his strength, he managed to convince you – and when the time came, he did not disappoint. But the most incredible contribution to the entire job was Amalasuintha. If you had just disappeared, then there would have been questions. So she managed to make a true to life decoy. The thing looked just like you, even getting the geometry of the Socket housing correct. With the assistance of another construct, the decoy was even able to breathe – though beyond that it was dumb, deaf, mute and blind.
But it bled! After coach driver had been sent off, it was a struggle to get your Socket out of you and into the decoy so that Arbogast and his wife could shoot it while the drivers were still close enough to hear the shot. You all managed though; you are certain.
That said … helping your wife hold up a doppelganger of yourself so it could be shot was … well, it was Strange. Not the decoy, though. Amalasuintha assured you of that. After that deed was done, all there was left to do was to finish staging the scene, and for you to say your thanks and for your then-fiancé to say her goodbyes to the two “highwaymen”. Or rather, the highwayman and highwaywoman. Obviously, the pair was needed back in Moevia, otherwise the Inquisition might manage to make a connection between your “death” and the disappearance of persons of interest that you were charged with investigating.
You had thought that Amalasuntha would have been upset at having to leave them behind, but in spite of some tears at the departure, on the whole she was happy about it. Later she would explain that most departures in her life were more messy and less amicable, and with all evidence of magic removed from their house, Arbogast and his wife were now safe from the Inquisition.
