Aris grinned at Lord Wavethunder, "Any brute can knock on a door. What do you want us to poke into first?"

Lord Wavethunder frowned, "Elfyr dropped out of contact. He was following a lead on a snake cult operating on the edges of Cencin lands."

Aris' mind whirled, "Whoo boy, right into the rat's nest. Yarizos is already untrustworthy, so he's an unknown factor. If he's part of the cult, he's already working with them. If he's not part of the cult, he might have gone after Elfyr for his own reasons."

The King and Queen stared at Aris intently. Lord Wavethunder leaned back in his chair, "So what's your plan?"

"I'm going to talk to Yarizos."

The butler at the door took one look at Aris' uniform and the dire look on Talae's face and got out of the way.

Aris nodded curtly, "Thank you. Lord Cencin is in his study I assume?"

The butler nodded furiously, "Yes he is. This way Master Cretu."

Aris nodded and followed the butler.

Yarizos was understandably furious. "What have you done with my Daughter?"

Talae bristled, but leaned against the doorframe.

Aris simply stood his ground and raised one eyebrow. "Interesting. In every letter you sent, she was 'Lady Cencin', but now that she's outside your reach, she's your daughter."

Yarizos huffed smoke, "Of course she's my daughter! And you can forget the 'good Agent, bad Agent' act, I've seen it before."

Aris didn't even blink. "What makes you think I'm the good Agent Yarizos?"

Yarizos sneered, "Of course you are the good Agent 'Master' Cretu. Everyone knows what Dark Elves are like!"

Aris gave a lazy grin, "Agent Telena is here for the express purpose of making sure you survive this meeting."

Yarizos stopped sneering, "Why are you here?"

Aris didn't stop grinning, "Lord Cencin; this your formal notification, as required by the laws of Althiem, that Agents are conducting independent investigations on your lands."

Yarizos nodded, constrained in his responses by the sudden formality of the exchange, "As the Lord whose lands these are, may I know what matters are being investigated?"

Aris turned to leave, "That's classified."

Status Report:

Money: +50 gold per day.

Food and water: 10 days of hardtack rations.

Equipment: in good condition.

The Ring: obsidian band with one carbuncle gem and two empty settings

Total Deaths: 1