Pierre listened carefully as Constantine spoke, slowly forming a plan in his mind as he recieved more information and more questions were asked. "Perhaps I enter the tournament melee while the gruff man with the crossbow enters the marksmanship competition?". It made sense to Pierre, as a male knight of Bretonnia would be a welcome sight at any tournament and they only seemed to have one ranged combatant in the entire group. "As for our larger and less human friends, they could pose as some kind of circus troop and simply be our reinforcments if things go to hell. Everybody else seems perfectly capable of infiltrating the manor in there own stealthy way". Looking to Constantine for some kind of confirmation that his plan would work, Pierre simply stood silent with a stoic expression on his face.

<Briefing> @DeranVendar @Jorimel @Maleth @Grall_Stonefist @TuskatheDaemonKilla @Skarboy @matt23 @BuriasDempsey @Keidivh @DeezNuts

@Jorimel "Well, it is the contract given to us by the guildmaster from Altdorf. As far as I understood from reading the letter, a third party in form of some sort of an Elven noble has given us this task. I don't know his exact name or house but the Elf said something along the lines of getting back the gem for safekeeping, the gem being an heirloom of sorts to him. I hope that won't be an issue?"

@TuskatheDaemonKilla @BuriasDempsey @DeezNuts "Like you guessed my Saurian friend, I didn't even plan on forcing you to join this tournament. Sir Pierre over here and Mariah for instance could do it, or even Harold if he fancies it, but the rest of us? Hardly. That is why I would count on you to do the diversion we need - we can finalize the plan when we get there but you can start thinking about it now. To my knowledge, there are couple of things where you could put your talents to use. Perhaps sabotaging the gun factory or capturing one of the ships, maybe one belonging to the Baron himself, or even setting fire to the granaries although that would not be something I'd personally approve. Or whatever else you might think of, just as long as it takes away the attention of the Baron and his men from the real threat in their midst. Also, I must warn you, the men in Baron's service are not some lowly Imperial guardsmen but cutthroats and mercenaries of worst kind, most of them had been fighting alongside Von Beringer for many years during his "adventures" so we can expect heavy resistance from them which means you should not take this contract lightly."

Tuska smiled at the thought of watching some pretty umie buildings burning in the night while fighting loads of tough umies who know how to fight. "Yeah Iz get ya now when can wez get on da move Iz been practicin some marches." He said as he was clearly quite eager to get into the violence that awaited them. He had been bored just siting around in the castle having nothing he can get into a proper fight with and now that the opportunity presented itself he wanted to get to it imidiatly.

@Colapse
Great knightly things. A bunch of pampered dandies fondling themselves and talking about how great they are as they feast. Pointless, wasteful. The money would be better spent building defenses, funding the army. Typical nobles. But the melee was interesting, and would give him a chance to beat the bloody hell out of a few knights, and not get in trouble. Including Pierre apparently.

"If ya don't mind Constantine, think I'd like to take a shot in this melee, if they don't mind a "savage" Teuton giving them a wallop."

This would be an interesting excursion. Kristoff was many things. Brutal, deadly in close combat, hardy, and could handle his drink like a dwarf. But he was not stealthy. Oh well, first time for everything.

"With them being nothing more than low life killers, we at least know were are not harming guards that are simply doing their duty." The Saurian noted what Constantine wanted to make sure they knew. "I rather avoid burning the towns food as well, and your empire seems rather reliant on these 'cannons'. The baron's ship on the other hand seems the most suitable target. Nothing more than a ship and it will still be personal enough to draw all the guards." Xiuhcoalt suggested to Constantine and the rest of the group that would probably be the diversion team for this contract.
@Keidivh
"You just want a chance to humble some knights don't you wolfman?" The lizardman asked him with a grin. It wasn't hard to figure that out, most knights besides Mariah seem a little too...egotistical seemed the right word here. He wished now he could watch the games just to see it happen, though it didn't like the idea of being part of a 'circus' troupe like Pierre mentioned.

Tugg was pretty much utterly disinterested in who and what they fought and did, as long as there was food, fighting and fun, so he was pretty much just standing empty minded until he heard the word feast, and great feast, witch started his brain back up again, if there was a feast things would be good, he did Want to experiance how all the small ones feasted.
"Was da part about da feast again? Ill do that easy job, dont care where" he said, relishing in the thought of getting something more varied, there had been food in This castle, but it was alot of the same, and never a Big lot, he had honestly started eying the halflings a fair lot, they look Like good eating, and if they haddent been good cooks, he might have decided earlier.

Khelandria shook her head.

"No. I see no need for it to be a concern," she said, smiling. "If one of my ... cousins ... wants to spend such time and energy over an heirloom then who am I to protest? I shall not raise a protest. Though I cannot predict what said cousin will say." She took a sip of her wine. A good everyday vintage this, none of the vinegar water she'd sampled in some of the more unfortunate inns.

"As for where I should fit in, well, that would be a little difficult unless I have some kind of ... disguise. I may need some kind of gown or dress. There is still one thing that stands out, but perhaps I won't have to talk very much." She gestured discretely to her delicately pointed teeth.

Hearing that they had a new mission, Alozia paid attention during the briefing to see what they would be nabbing and from whom they were taking the requested item from. All in all, it was quite the interesting situation they had before them, as she had noticed that Constantine had certainly cleaned up his appearance which she presumed was likely for the social manuvouring needed to set up for stealing... After all, an Ogre, a Witch-Elf, two Knights, a Lizardman, a priest, the wanderer who'd flubbed up insulting the former Grandmaster, an Orc and a Human vampire hunter were not the sort of people she would expect to do well in talking to people.

Needless to say, the Druchii already had an idea about what she'd be doing to help this mission go as planned so she said "I think I would be better off not hanging around the festivities, given that I'd have the issue of appropriate attire... And frankly, I would like to think that a Sorceress grabbing one of the Baron's ships would be a bit more of a distraction for the Baron and a more useful use of my time than just standing around and looking pretty for a tournament."

<Briefing - final thoughts> @DeranVendar @Jorimel @Maleth @Grall_Stonefist @TuskatheDaemonKilla @Skarboy @matt23 @BuriasDempsey @Keidivh @DeezNuts

"I think all of you are correct in your view of the situation. Therefore, I'm thinking...to divide our team in three groups," Constantine said as he presented them with his plan.

@DeezNuts @Keidivh "Once we arrive in town, Kristoff and Pierre shall join this tournament and do their best to win it, or at least make a notable impression so this Baron and his men remember you and hopefully invite you to join the main celebrations after the tournament ends."

@Jorimel @Grall_Stonefist @Skarboy @matt23 "On the other hand, Khelandria, Mariah, Tugg, Fulke and me shall go directly to the feast and I'll try to talk my way into this. I'll say I'm a wealthy merchant from Marienburg and that you three are my servants, associates or even guard if needed be, so we won't raise much of a suspicion while we join the festivities and overall enjoy ourselves until the moment comes and we spring into action. We can also try to convince these people to let us join the main celebration later on, I'll take some of the gold and maybe try to bribe our way in, we shall see when we get there. And Khelandria, I'm not really sure where to find you a dress, so perhaps a simple cloak might suffice?"

@Maleth @TuskatheDaemonKilla @BuriasDempsey @DeranVendar "While all of us take part of this wedding, the third team led by...Xiuhcoatl, shall also enter the town or its vicinity but try to lay low until the tournament ends and the sun sets behind the horizon. When the time is right, they shall create the necessary diversion by attacking and hopefully seizing the Baron's ship and perhaps doing something fun with it which will force the guards to try and stop you."

"In the following commotion, the rest of us will either sneak in or force our way into the vaults or wherever the artifact is located, recover it and get the hell out of there. Hopefully by that time the team dealing with the ship will retreat and we shall all meet each other on the outskirts of the city. If you get into a trouble you can't get out of, I trust that Aloiza can conjure some sort of a message spell which will alert my part of the team to come and help you out."

"What do you think about this? And if everything's alright, pack your things - we are leaving in an hour."

OOC It's my take on the teams but it's not set in stone If you want a different disposition, feel free to speak up! After\if I make the necessary adjustment, I'll push us out with my next post

Harold had been spacing out for a great deal of the meeting. One could practically see the reflection of his thoughts in each eye, gleaming with the promise of nobles' food and pleasant looking women who didn't have knives for ears and tongues. Smiling for a moment his reverie was broken when Constantine laid out the plan.

"Scusin but I would like to tag along for the feast. If that could be arranged I'd be most appreciative. I've got quite the silver tongue myself and with a bit of cleaning up I could more than certainly make a fine guard as well! " Cleaning up would certainly be a task... it would help if he had a shirt too. Harold had yet to replace his old one and was mainly kicking around in the warmth of the castle with his scarf gathering dust around his shoulders... and dandruff. Probably lice too.