The war room was not terribly well lit. There were no windows for it was a room built under the fortress that Banyan called his home. The walls were decorated in tapestries woven in muted earth tones and displays of old battered weapons, dulled and dented from past conquests. The wood in the room was a darkly stained oak that helped to suck up any extra light that might stray past the edges of the focal point of the room. There were 6 slight corners in the seemingly round room. A single large table in the middle of the room with a chandler suspended from one of the beams that crossed over head was the only thing of real note.

There was a single envelope on the table and Banyan sat at the only chair in the room. He had two guards positioned on either side of him and two at the door. The ones at the door had their faces covered but the two on either side of him were familiar faces to all in the room, Aaron and Iago. Bayan's closest friends and comrades in arms. Iago was the weapons master and Aaron the commander of the City guard. They where with Banyan the day he took the city and they shared in the destruction of the family that once lived in their new base of operations. Iago was a disarmingly slender man with pale skin. He kept his head shaved and his facial hair trimmed short. Aaron on the other hand had dark skin and shoulder length dreadlocks. His skin marked him as coming from the desert lands of Calimshan. He stood over six foot tall and looked like he weighed about the same as three Iago's.

There were two other men in the room one a half orc, larger than most humans. His tusks were subtle, and extend about one inch from his lower lip. His skin the usual mottle gray of his race, and his hair an ebony matted mess. His skin was painted with inks and dyes in the tradition of tribal of voodoo priests, and bones, teeth and other knick-knacks hung from his body. Centered on his forehead, etched in black and red ink was an image of a third eye.

The other man also had black hair, with small horns protruding from the top of his head and his face completely obscured by a leather mask. Only the pink shade of his albino eyes could be seen. He wore gloves that covered his hands and studded leather armor that left no hint as to the actual shade of his skin.

Banyan was very handsome and built like a warrior, with hard steely blue eyes and dark curly hair. Women loved the chance to be with him, and men liked to try and kill him. "I know you are wondering why I have asked you here. You have each impressed me with your skills. Possibly even served me before in some fashion or another. Either way I feel that you are the perfect ones for the job I have planned." Banyan leaned over the table and picked up the envelope then tossed it to the opposite side of the table. "You all know about my brother and our... differences. I have spent the better part of a year trying to find ways to punish him for what he has done to me. I have had a revelation on how to reclaim what is rightfully mine, or rather Aaron has." He nods in the direction of his captain and lets him take the floor for only a moment.

"Korbin is a weak minded man. He has hung up his sword for the life of a diplomat. His children distract and poison his life. They..."

"are the key to his down fall." Banyan interrupts. "It is no secret that I dislike children. I feel that humans earn the right to be heard as they become adults and my brother gives his children freedoms that make them spoiled and fat. I want to infiltrate my dead father's home and retrieve his three mewling brats. The reason for which I have hired you must not leave this room. For my plan to work he must not know who has stolen them. Not yet, at least. You will find I have given you every detail that I know about my father's fortress. I do not care how many you kill to get to them but the children must come to me alive and in one piece." He says this last with a smirk and a knowing look at one of the men in the room. "As for the others you may encounter I do not care what happens to them so long as no one lives to identify you or connect you to me. You will each be richly rewarded in the fashion that you wish, money, weapons, women...men." With his last word he gives a knowing look at Iago who stares at the others with a dark hunger in his eyes, a lust hidden deep within that would make any secure man squirm under his gaze. For the briefest moment the men in the room all felt as though they had been just standing there in the nude while being appraised like a horse at auction. "I will leave the planning to you. Aaron will assist you with anything that you might need for the abduction. Good hunting." Banyan said as waited for the first of the men to speak.

The person wearing the studded leather armour spoke up, in a very airy, hoarse voice. "And so that is why you brought me here? To bring someone in alive, and in one piece? I thought you more ruthless. Can't you just have one of the brats?"

The person snorted, then coughed softly. When they spoke again, the voice was high pitched, like a young girl. "Seriously Banyan, I thought you more of a man than that when you hired me. Why don't we place on of the little twerps on his doorstep, bloody and decapitated, another we'll torture for weeks, and then we can use the third as a threat. I think that having one of your runts strewn upon the front lawn would be nice... you could even set up a small table, cut out all of his organs, and place them on a plate with a glass full of his blood to drink."

Switching voices yet again, this time to a deep but clear voice, the person continues. "Then, place a knife and fork in his cold, lifeless hands, and give the scene a candlestick. Leave it on your brother's front lawn, and he will awake to a delightful showing of a beautiful banquet; his son looking as though to eat himself. We can call the second dead, when really they'll be taken away to a hidden chamber where we can perform torture on them for weeks and weeks, until they relish the pain. Only then will we put an end to their life."

Another voice change places the voice as that of a common woman. "Then, we'll use the third one to threaten him and get whatever joyful whatnot you want out of this. But must we really bring all three back in one piece?"

The person who wore the studded leather looked around absently, his pale pink eyes appraising everything in the room.

In my armour is my baby, but my baby doesn't like being called out all the time. She thirsts for pain. And she will give it... oh, she will give pain. My baby wants to kill the children... how better to serve my lady? The studded leather wearer thought to themself. A small giggle escaped from under the mask, like that of a schoolgirl. This would be fun.

The half-orc in the corner offered a brief snort at the morbid musings of his apparent partner. Such sadism was worthless, a metaphorical measurement of your manhood against the world. If the job was torture, then torture he would, and bring pain unknowable to the miserable brats, no qualms about it. But the mystery albino had a point. A simple kidnapping... really, the half-orc thought, far below his particular skill level.

Raising himself up from one of the many shadows in the small room he leveled his eyes at his new employer. "I'll agree with the mystery man over there. The job does seem a bit simple. But I must say, we seem a bit... stretched. Is it to be two against a fortress? I am no stranger to stealth, but I might appreciate a large ally. Preferably one who will stand before me in a fight, and is handy with a sword." His eyes drifted idly towards the package on the table, and one could fairly hear the gold clinking inside his head.

"Then, we'll use the third one to threaten him and get whatever joyful whatnot you want out of this. But must we really bring all three back in one piece?"
Banyan studies the young man, then says "You will learn that physical pain is only one form of torture. Learn to master them all and then you will truly honor your lady. Remember, death is a form of escape. To keep your victims alive for as long as absolutely possible is truly a feat and a tribute to the lady of pain. I know my brother well, and wish to torture him for a very... long... time. I have given you freedom to do what you like with those you cross, so long as you don't get caught, but the children are mine. I am paying you to insure that I have the perfect tool for torturing my brother, don't expect me to allow someone else to make my weapon their own. You of all in this room should understand that." Banyan says this with growing intensity and command that makes the guards in the room tense and alert.

"I'll agree with the mystery man over there. The job does seem a bit simple. But I must say, we seem a bit... stretched. Is it to be two against a fortress? I am no stranger to stealth, but I might appreciate a large ally. Preferably one who will stand before me in a fight, and is handy with a sword."
Banyan stands and faces the half-orc. "I mean no disrespect to your skill by offering you a job that seems menial. I simply knew that to secure my tools I needed a group with particularly unique skills."

"Don't think for a second I don't respect my lady. She gets a wonderful amount of respect from me, and you would do wise to show the same if you're employing her services."

The figure in the studded leather armour's voice was growly this time, with an intense but controlled fury behind it. Giving a snort, the figure turns from Banyan.

"There better be a lot of people in our way. I'm thirsty."

Turning to the hulking brute of a working partner, the figure asks in a childish voice. "So who are you mister big bag brute?"

The shaman cast a look at the scrawny man in the studded leather out of the corner of his eye. Turning to fully appraise his ally for the first time, he said:

"I am Balaar M'rock. I am a mystic, and that is all you need to know." Taking up a staff, intricately decorated with small bones and feathers, that had been leaning against the wall, the half-orc continued. "And yourself? What's your story pale-man?"

A deep, rumbling laugh came from behind the mask. Keeping with the low, tone, the figure spoke. "I know not my true name. It has left me from when I was originally born. However, my Lady has given me a name to be called by, and so I shall be called by it. My name is Sornek. I have lived around for a long enough time to be capable of doing this task."

Sornek smiled beneath his mask. The voice changing was most enjoyable. It was a favourite tactic, often used when standing in the shadows, so that victims didn't know how many threats there were.

"So Balaar, are you ready to undergo in this endeavor of slaughters and destruction?" Eyeing Banyan, Sornek sighed. Changing his voice to that of a drunken wench, Sornek added, "And of course, the important part... bringing the runts back... alive." Sornek made a small sniff as he said this, as though tears were coming from his cheeks, and that there was a deep sadness that plagued Sornek at the thought of not killing or torturing.

"How obvious do you want this abduction to be?"

A deep voice echoed out from one of the shadowed corners of the room. There was quality to the voice that was difficult to place, not gravelly, but not really clear either. It almost sounded like the speaker was on the other side of a ventilation shaft. The lights in the chandelier flared up for one distracting second and in that moment a sixth man stepped up to the side of the table. He was tall, standing at six and a half feet, and was incredibly gaunt. He wore black, fitted robes, that matched the color of his skin and his short, spiked hair was even darker than his clothes. Pale blue eyes looked from Banyan, to the two guests, and back to the host of this clandestine meeting.

"By selecting these two," the newcomer continued, "it would appear that you want a very high profile massacre. Now I'm not saying that shock troops don't have their uses, but you know that I've never had a taste for direct confrontation, so why include me in this endeavor? Unless you'd like some... disinformation... to accompany the assault. If the purpose of the attack is to take his children away, Korbin will immediately try to get them back. But what if his children are still with him after the attack?"

Banyan turned to the black man, an incredulous look on his face, "I'm paying you to take his children away..."

"Hear me out," the newest arrival interrupted. "Your brother won't be as quick to organize a manhunt if he thinks his children were killed in the battle. First he'll grieve. Then he'll look for revenge. And the time that he spends mourning the loss of his children, we can spend ensuring that he has no chance of ever finding them.

"It shouldn't prove difficult to find some gutter-waifs of about the same size and age of his children. We kill them, remove their heads, or partially burn them to make the identification difficult, and plant the bodies as part of the kidnapping. Throw a few flasks of alchemist's fire around during the assault and the switch won't even be noticed."

After presenting his idea he turned to the orc-blood, and the leather-masked man, "What do you think? Feel like playing the part of distractions?"

As the last few details of the dark man's plan fell into place Banyan started to smile. "As I said before, I feel that you are the perfect ones for the job." With that he turned with Iago to leave the room, as Aaron stays with the three men in the room to work out the details of what is needed for their assault.

((OOC assuming that there are no more pertinent questions to be asked of Banyan he will exit the room.))

Balaar watched as Banyan left the room. Turning to Aaron, the half-orc said "Well. Planning then. We'll need to see the drawings of the fortifications and the like. As for the children, leave them to me. I find that... persuasion can often work better than force."

Looking at his two allies, he asked "So gentlemen. What are your particular... skills?"

Looking at his two allies, Balaar asked "So gentlemen. What are your particular... skills?"

"I've found," answered the darkly robed man, "that neither persuasion nor physical force works as well as never being detected in the first place. As I said before, I am not one for straight forward fights, especially when the numbers are not stacked in my favor. Needless to say, my talents lean more toward espionage than brute force."

Balaar nodded, and turned towards Aaron. "Very well. So we have our group. Consider the children in our hands already. But in the meanwhile, lets have a look at those plans of the castle..."

Aaron leaned over the desk and pulled the sketch of the Mingan family home out of the envelope. He unfolded it and left it on the table for all to see. It was simply drawn showing two entry points to the whole building. It was a two story rectangular building with one main entrance to the north and one private entrance to the south east. The north entrance faced the road into the heart of the city and the south east entrance was closest to the stables and the large neighboring vineyard. There were three X's marked on the map indicating were there were stairs to the second level and a circle in the middle of the building indicating the courtyard like set up where Banyan's father used to hold wrestling tournaments.

"There is unfortunately a lack of talented map makers in this town and this is the best that we can give you on such short notice. I am confidant however that the household layout is simple enough and will prove to be easy for you to navigate. The only thing not marked on this map is the location of the children's rooms. We do not know exactly where they are kept, however I believe that they are now living in one of the rooms of Bayan's brothers even Bayan's old room as well. They will be found on the Eastern side of the upstairs portion of the house." Aaron takes a piece of charcoal and marks on the map the location of the boys childhood rooms. "There are balconies that line the inside over looking the arena in the middle. So there is more then one entry and exit point possible. If anything is unclear please ask and I will fill in the holes as much as I am able. Also, as Banyan said before, if there is anything that you believe will aid you in this endeavor please ask and I will do what I can to accommodate you. I will be sure to send my men for three brats of about the same age, gender and size of the ones you are to abduct as your replacements. If that is the path that you so choose to take."

Aaron stands back from the table and allows the three men to gather around and discuss their plan of action.

Sornek let out a small growl from his throat.

"My talents, you ask?" He said in a voice similar to the one who asked him. "My talents are my desire to right that which has happened to me by equalling the pain I give to that which I've received. I specialize in the torture of victims, and the intimidation of those who observe the process. I serve my Lady before my life. And, I think of how to get what I want in the most dangerous and deadly way possible. Those are my skills."

"So, this map... it will be quite useful to us if we could bring it with us. Then we could notice things which aren't on the map, as well as that which is, and plan for both. I say you just give us the bloody thing, and we'll use it as we may."

"So, are we going to kill someone? If not the little brats, then anyone?"

Balaar looked over the plans carefully, taking in what limited detail was present and branding it firmly to his memory. "Taking the map with us cannot hurt." He had to try hard to conceal his disgust and contempt of this albino freak. Sadists were rarely the type who could be trusted, or relied upon to do anything but glut their insatiable desire to hurt others. Just so long as the fool didn't try and hurt Balaar, he just may live through this job.

Turning to Aaron, Balaar smiled a toothy, sickly smile. "My dear sir. I wonder if you happen to have any corpses on hand? Preferably with some modicum of freshness left over?"