"I can have my men either bring three children for you to do with as you like, or hell, we can take you down to the tenderloin here in town and I'll let you pick out your little beasts so fresh you would think they were still alive."

Aaron is a large proud man and not afraid to show is disdain for the suffering orphans in the city. He deals with them stealing and whoring themselves out so often that a few less for his men to have to arrest, or worry about contracting diseases from would make his day.

"I will take you when ever you are ready. Just remember the sensitivity of the task at hand, and be sure to do any and all your scheming either here or out side the city walls, alone, under the cover of night."

"Well, the wise always say that the best plan gets thrown in the trash bin once it hits the enemy. So, I say we just go out there knowing we want to get the runts, and bring 'em back here. Let's go. I'm tired of sitting around. I lust for blood."

Sornek turns on his heel and slips out of the room. "I say we go about our separate ways to find information, then meet tonight when the cock crows 1. Then we shall have a simple idea about how to go, then we shall go. Any objections?"

"I've been to the fortress Korban now calls home, and it is no short distance from here. For you, it would almost be a full day's travel just to get there." explained the tall man. "I agree that we should split up once we arrive at the house to observe the guard patrols and search for points of entry and potential exits separately, so as not to arouse unneeded attention.

"When we know what time the guards are least likely to notice our intrusion and what the best point of entry is, then we go in as a group. We kill a few guards on the way in and hide the bodies, take the children, and pull the bodies out of hiding on the way out. If everything goes as planned, we get the whelps out of the walls without drawing any attention at all.

"Then we go back with our street urchin doubles. If possible, we should smuggle them all the way into the bedrooms of the real children, and then cause a ruckus. Make it look like an assault gone wrong; Set fires, shout commands to imaginary accomplices, kill more guards..."

He pauses and looks to the Loviatar cultist as he continues, "Basically mutilate everything between where you are and the outside wall."

Finished explaining his idea to the rest, he turns to Banyon's remaining envoy for some more details about Korban's defenses. "Commander," he used Aaron's formal title to avoid insulting the warrior by assuming a too-familiar air, "Are you aware of any magical defenses Korban might have utilized to protect his seized home? Does he have access to any powerful clerics that might discover our ruse in replacing the real children with street urchins?"

"I say we go about our separate ways to find information, then meet tonight when the cock crows 1. Then we shall have a simple idea about how to go, then we shall go. Any objections?" Sornek turns on his heel and slips out of the room.
But finds that the way is blocked by two very large masked guards. "You must be escorted from this place by the commander so that no other guards see that you have been here in conference," Says the man to the left of the door. The guard's voice had a chilling echo resonating deep within it. Looking closer at the guard Sornek realizes that their eyes are pinpoints of orange light peering out from behind their masks.

"I've been to the fortress Korban now calls home, and it is no short distance from here....

..."Commander," he used Aaron's formal title to avoid insulting the warrior by assuming a too-familiar air, "Are you aware of any magical defenses Korban might have utilized to protect his seized home? Does he have access to any powerful clerics that might discover our ruse in replacing the real children with street urchins?"
Aaron smiles at the dark man and responds. "Good question spy. Our sources tell us nothing has changed from when last you where within the Mingan family walls. Korbin has a cleric but she does not live in the house and is more like an on-call doctor then anything else. He is far too old-fashion and narrow minded, relying on brute force alone to protect his home." The word home was spat more then said as Aaron's distaste for the man seemed to rival Banyan's.

"I would only beware the smart guard that took the time to spend his own wages on magic deflection enchantments on their armor or weapons. But I doubt that Korbin pays his city guard enough in a life time to afford that kind of luxury. Not to mention most all the smart ones left when Banyan did. I can provide you with horses even a cart if you like that can help with returning the brats to the fortress here. I happen to have a small unassuming little thing just right for the task. I had it enchanted to leave no tracks, and I have found it very useful. If the three of you feel you need nothing more from me then I will appoint two of my men to meet you a mile outside of town with the cart and horses. They will await your return and aid you in getting back within the city walls unnoticed just in case Korbin has any spies set here in our midst."

Aaron walks over to the door and motioned to the guards to stand down. They do with formality, and Aaron leads the three men from the room and down a side tunnel that brings them up in a cellar of another building within the city. It is a store room for one of the lesser used barracks and there is no one in the building when they emerge from the cellar door.

"Let's be off boys. I'm ready to slink around. Especially when there's blood involved..."

Sornek stretched out, contorting his body into various odd angles. His bones creak and crack as he moves them around.

"Well, we'll probably have to steal a couple horses to make this journey... I say we take off now though. The sooner the job is done, the better."

"I say we keep a tally. How many can you kill? Teehee!"

Balaar allowed himself a small smile. The infantile behavior of his new "partner"amused him to no end. In the same way that a baby would amuse a dragon before the beast decided to eat it. Taking up his staff, the half-orc began to follow.

"Steal some horses, eh?" asks the dark-skinned spy with a slight hint of laughter in his voice. "Really, Sornek, you're trying to make this more difficult than it has to be. I bet I can get us four very fine horses in less time than it would take you to steal one rundown old nag." The man seems barely able to contain his little joke and a grin spreads across his face before he can complete his proposition. Then, turning to Aaron, he finishes, letting the rest in on this bit of humor, "Commander Aaron, may we, in addition to the cart, have four horses to pull said cart and provide quick means of transport if things go wrong while we're on the mission?"

"Also, will your men be willing to watch the street rats while we go in to... collect... our targets, or do you want their duties to be to the cart and nothing else? I ask to determine how much involvement they will have in this outing."

"Merc and Richard answer directly to me. If you can convince them to aid you without compromising their identities in this mission, then by all means."

Aaron is slowly losing his temper as he answers the other question. "As for horses, I have told you already they will be waiting for you with the cart a mile outside of town. The street rats where not a known factor when I dispatched my men earlier today. I do not like having to repeat myself, so consider my offer of aid expired. You will need to leave town through the Southeast gate and follow the road that leads towards the foothills. There is a watering hole at the first outcrop of trees with two men and four horses waiting for you till sundown. If you do not arrive before that time they have been instructed to return to their barracks." Aaron then walks to the door and steps outside. His head reappears in the doorway and in parting says, "The sun is past its zenith so I suggest you hurry." Then he disappears from the doorway mumbling curses under his breath.

The three kidnappers are left alone in the storage room surrounded mostly by broken tackle and practice gear. Piles of neglected materials litter the floor including a large stack of grain sacks partly molded along the wall. The burlap sacks still hold true even though the contents smell foul.

"You know..." said the dark man after Aaron left them in the room, "I've never liked that about him. He's entirely too impatient for his own good. And, well, since he's not helping us with the children anymore, I hope he doesn't mind a bit of a mess in here."

Drawing a dagger, he closes on the pile of grain-filled sacks. "I don't believe we can take the time to find children before we head out of town, but these sacks could come in handy later on when we are moving the brats around."

"It's about to stink of rotting vegetation in here. Could one of you open the door?" The tall man takes a deep breath and holds it in, then, squinting to protect his eyes from any dust he might kick up, cuts open one end of the top bag and dumps the contents out onto the floor.

He repeats the process two more times before heading outside for cleaner air, shaking out three empty sacks.

"Shall we go?" he asks of his new co-workers.

"I am ready to go whenever you are. We'll get these brats and bring them back here, so that our... employer... can have his way with them."

"I'll take one of those sacks. It would make it easier for us all to go after one child... not only would we be more difficult to see, but we'll get everything done quicker."

"Oh, and my proposition is still up for a tally of kills."

The ebony-skinned man makes his way through town toward the southeast gate carrying two burlap sacks. He moves quickly, fearing that he may miss the chance to link up with the soldiers waiting outside the city.

He asks his blood-thirsty companion, "Will this proposed tallying be weighted? What if you kill five civilians and one guard, while I drop only the captain of the guard. In that instance, which of us would have won?"