Alexei is nodding enthusiastically. "Understood." he turns to the men. "Arm up, we're leaving. My Prima, I will inform you as I may about the results of this. Rotgiers and Lucius are high on my list of who is behind this, but I'll keep my eyes open for any that might be involved."
With that Alexei leads the party the way down, waiting for when he feels that he is out of the Aegis.
Alexei turns to Isen and speaks quietly in German. "I'm not certain what is the best way to return, I feel that most likely whoever did this might be watching. Perhaps we should return by way of the portal..." he then covers his mouth so his lips might not be read. "But I'll head back at that moment on my own."
If Alexei is going to Leap back, he either needs to request a token (reasonable assumption and or/request), or go to the bottom of the steps getting out of the Aegis...
Of course, he's welcome to try up top, first.
((At what point does the Aegis for Val Negra end and the portal to Harco begin? I figured there would be some space between them, unless the portal has its own Aegis, which is certainly possible))
((That's perfect, just what I was hoping for. What I intend to do is have us all cross through the portal, but at the last second, before entering the portal, Alexei will try to port back directly to Mons Electi using Leap of Homecoming. I can't make a roll right now, not til later this evening maybe, but it might require a Finesse roll to make it look real))
Yeah, a Per+Finesse roll of 6+ to get the timing right. A failure means it takes effect on the Harco side. A botch means you slip up and state your destination on the Harco side. Also roll for botch on the spell, since you're not exactly "stress-free"
Alexei speaks once more in German to Helmut and Isen while covering his mouth. "I go directly to Mons Electi now, return as quickly as you can, but if there is a fight or anything you can discover do so. Stay calm and betray nothing, but be ready to fight when you return."
((Alexei will grab his healing ring and put it on, supress the parma a moment and turn on the pain reducing affect. All of the Soak buffs are still active, so he'll pop the spear head on and head out of his sanctum. He's not going to cause a panic yet, he's going to go the captain of the guards for this shift and get a report on any activity; visitors, sightings, anything out of the ordinary and tell him to get him a turb of grogs, 5 of them and meet outside Alexei's sanctum, and send a note to the Imperator (it will be funny of he says "That's you sir") to come immediately as well. The alarm will be raised if he sees anything out of the ordinary))
((This might be spreading Marko a bit thin... It's up to him. We'll just say that Alexei has the guard doubled, and sends a note to Roberto as to why.))
While Alexei is discussing things with the captain of the watch, everyone returns from Val Negra without incident. Twenty-four hours pass by, with nothing happening...
Alexei is going to spend just a bit of time questioning the ones that have returned from Harco. Just Helmut, Michel and Brionne would be fine, questioning Isen more than a simple report on what happened at Harco might be inappropriate. Once he finds out that everything went fine coming from Harco as I assume it did, he'll simply ask them about the incident with the bandit kidnappers from years ago, Alexei is not yet aware that two have spoken to Fiona about it and assumes it's a bit of knowledge that is a secret the four of them have. If they all give a similar recollection of the event, Alexei will assume that they haven't been replaced by doubles. The key bit of knowledge that might trip up an impostor is that Helmut believes Alexei was drunk, while Brionne and Michel know that he wasn't at the time.
Once that's done he'll advise Jacques and Roberto to please keep an extra watch with the grogs and that someone has impersonated the Prima in a letter and sent him on a wild goose chase.
So I don't assume too much, the initial messages were sent by a Redcap? What was the Redcap's name? There was the initial letter Alexei and Isen received, and then Alexei sent a message asking about the passage to Harco. Did Ariel send a message back? It could also be that the Redcap (if he knew) would have just informed Alexei that there is a passage to Val Negra that he can use. Based on this info will determine my next actions, but one thing will likely be to call a meeting first of the Flambeau at Mons Electi. This could be either a House issue, or a Covenant, or simply directed at Alexei and I don't want to over react and involve the others yet.
As far as the letter, it depends on how perceptive Alexei is, would it have been reasonable for it to go to a page, first, and be brought to Alexei? Redcaps come through here fairly regularly with the Portal, so there is a reasonable possibility that Redcaps are background and blase by this time. Or at least, if one is in a hurry and says this is for Alexei, and that he has other errands to run, a page isn't going to think twice and stop and ask him who and what his name is...
As far as sending the letter back and forth to Ariel, same thing...mail is sent to Harco almost daily, gets sorted and sent off to its next/final destination.... Maybe getting a Redcap involved in the story could help...
No, sorry, there is a part of the story in 1227's events where Helmut and Brionne talk to Fiona about an event with bandits before Alexei came to Mons Electi, bandits kidnapped Fiona and Alexei killed them with extreme prejudice:
Is there a Redcap that resides at Mons Electi? I don't mean Korvin, who is a Gifted Mercere, if Alexei can't think of Redcap he'd ask Korvin of any Redcaps that regularly visit or stay at Mons Electi, if he can't he'll ask Korvin ((I honestly am not sure of the names of any Redcaps at the Covenant)), but he'll also try to get the pages to recall who gave them the message.
