Assistance

Some inn, somewhere in the tower.

Probably Tolbana.

Shenmi is sitting at the counter, a pint-sized vessel of beer in front of him. He's quietly observing the surface of the liquid; no matter how optimistic one were to be, they would have an uphill battle describing that glass as 'half full'. In other words, either a refill or giving up the drinking session are in order, and Shenmi seems to be considering his options by piling coins on top of each other.

The way things are looking, giving up the session seems to be winning.

Sometimes it is difficult to decide whether Robert is generous, mercenary, or just a complete troll. For just as Shenmi's internal scale seem to be tipping in one direction, Robert strides up and, catching the barkeep's eye as he plunks a coin down on the counter, promptly puts his entire fist on one side of that scale. "Refill for the gentlemen, please," he instructs, neatly hopping up onto a nearby stool. "And the usual for me."

Aside from a few discreet glances, Robert does not outright look at Shenmi. The man seems pensive. "Sampling the tower?" he queries.

Shenmi casts a discrete glance at Robert, and when he's sure the Spriggan is looking into his own direction, he makes sure to widen his smile a little and nod his head a little in gratitude. He'd probably reach for the rim of his hat to underline the gesture, were it not that his hat is not on his head, but rather standing next to the glass, upside down.

"Sampling the tower and all one can find within it," Shenmi replies, affable, as he collects the small pile of coins with nonchalance. "both good and bad." After a short silence, he offers, "Robert, right?"

SpritesHero inclines his head to indicate the affirmative. The barkeep returns, refills Shenmi's mug, and places a glass of amber liquid in front of Robert. Oddly, there's an undertone of sweetness to any odors wafting off his own beverage. "Our tower is very...diverse," he agrees, flashing a half-smile in Shenmi's direction. "So long as you are willing to venture about, you are almost guaranteed to never be bored. But." His fingers drum on the table, and his mouth twists.

"I've run into an acquaintence of yours a few times, and was hoping you might be able to help me get a better feel for things. She goes by the name of Daiyu. Miffed about Bao, by the by."

Shenmi does not seem to have a particular reaction at the mention of Daiyu, but he bursts out laughing at the mention of Bao. A regular, rhythmic laughter, more 'oh!-oh!-oh!' than 'bmwhahaha HA HA mha-ha!'

"Oh my, oh my," he says, with reined in amusement. "...I would not have expected things to be that bad."

He exhales, and his smile fades down to a much smaller smile, as he reaches for the rim of his glass. Thumb on one side, index on the other, he taps on the transparent walls of the vessel, disturbing the cheerful stream of bubbles. "Poor Daiyu." He sighs.

He sighs. "That is fair. I suppose you can reciprocate later by telling me what is in 'the usual'. It does strike me as a most intriguing concoction." The Conjurer spins on his stool, and rests one elbow on the counter, to face Robert more directly. "Anything specific you would like to know about my lovely assistant emerita?"

SpritesHero does not laugh, but there's clear amusement as he lifts his glass to his lips and sips from it. No hint of a grimace. Either he can school his expression, or there's not much alcohol content. "Deal."

His glass is set aside, his fingers interlace, and his brow furrows in thought. There is silence for the space of some five seconds before he continues.

"What would you say was her claim to fame back in your home kingdom? And why do you say 'Poor Daiyu'?"

Shenmi stands still.

He lifts the glass to his lips, turning to face briefly towards the counter, perhaps thinking, perhaps explicitly refusing to think as he enjoys the beer, or tries to, and after he is done with his sip, he lifts the glass in Robert's direction, as in the world's smallest toast. "Can a spy have a claim to fame, and if so, is her cover you are really interested in?", he asks back. "Sure, she got more poster real estate than I did when our number was advertised, but she was like an iceberg: what you saw was nothing compared to what she could do, especially when you weren't looking, and perfectly capable of sinking unsinkable transatlantics without even trying if she really wanted to. Also, amazing for spinning a story."

Another sip of beer is taken, much longer, this time, and Shenmi slumps a little in his seat. He tugs at his collar loosening it, and begins again. "But she wasn't what you'd call -evil-. She was rational, but caring. She's the one who pushed me to pursue my career as a stage magician in Elder Tale Online instead of being a random monster basher for gold and XP. She would set up the equipments for the numbers with her Enchanting and Dark elemental magic, of which, would you believe it, I have not a drop in myself." Another sip.

Shenmi looks down, shoulders slumped, elbows on his legs, glass held there as his focus, before he lifts his head again. "I say Poor Daiyu because I have had the opportunity to speak with her. Even recently. And I believe the Real Daiyu is still there, trapped within the monster she's been twisted into, aware of what is going on but unable to do anything about it."

SpritesHero's expression gives the impression of a sideways slide. A wilt. His hand lifts to rub at his forehead, massaging it, though his gaze remains fixed on Shenmi. "She gives the credit to you, you know," he suggests once the other man has finished, hand dropping back to the table. He too pivots on his stool, this time to face Shenmi. "To hear her say it, it was all your idea. The show. The magic without magic. She was merely the accessory, someone who enchanted trick-cards for you and the like." Another flash of amusement. "Needless to say she never mentioned anything about being a spy. Top ranker in arena, sure. Chess master, sure. I understand she has quite the reputation as an author. But spy? Well, I suppose being a spy is not something one readily admits to. Why do you believe the real Daiyu is trapped within, instead of twisted?"

"Well, I am not saying she -literally- is a spy. It's a metaphor. The poster showed a pretty foxy lady. The audience looked at the surface. The real work was hidden," Shenmi gestures. "Might as well have said 'ninja'. Where the whole point of the real work was keeping it a secret. Don't reveal the tricks."

"I guess the -idea- was mine," he concedes, "but I'd never have gone anywhere without her. Her work. Her encouragement." He tilts and turns the glass, watching the liquid seemingly dance in the opposite direction, gaze cast low again. "I cannot exclude it is both. But my gut feeling is... she -is- there, still, using that clever steel mind and wordsmithing skills of hers to claw her way through whatever puppet strings she had forced on her when she was crowned, cheating whatever power grasps her to slip undertones and nuances into her statements, still fighting to speak her true mind through." A sip. "Messages in a battle."

What Robert gets at the end of this speech is a forlorn look. "For full disclosure, I am familiar with how people act once Crowned, but I do not know for sure what being Crowned is like, or feels like. So it's just my gut feelings there."

SpritesHero's gaze has long since narrowed, but it is a searching, analytical regard rather than hinting at any sort of skepticism. Again there is a lengthy silence, a twisting of his features. But no, there's really no way around the question, so he simply comes out and says the thing. "You've said she's a metaphorical spy. An iceberg. What do you think the probability is that she is permitting those glimmers simply to suck you, and other uncrowned, into a risky operation? That she sets herself out as bait? How -did- she end up crowned? And if her crowning was unwilling, why does she appear to wish you had stayed behind with her, for the sake of your home nation?"

"I cannot exclude that it is all a ruse," Shenmi admits. His calm, collected, self again. Spin on the stool, both elbows on the counter, he looks in the distance and takes another sip. "The gray cells have a bad tendency of overanalyzing in these matters. They want order, control, predictability, while life is chaos. Oh, and are so, so easily swayed." Head tilted slightly forward, "Just like Daiyu. She want to protect Kallamore. Keep it stable. And, well," A pause. "You are probably aware of the glass ceiling in Kallamore, right? Landers have options and opportunities that are completely denied to Adventurers. Like owning real estate." Big swig. Exhale. "Well," Shenmi begins again, raising his glass. "Turns out they added a glass floor. If you wanted to keep Adventurer privileges like 'not being watched closely everywhere you go' or 'anything that isn't just being a consumer that pumps money into Kallamore's business without any real hope of getting anything of substance done', you had to go and get Crowned. Of course, at the beginning, nobody would know what -exactly- they were signing up for..."

Another big swig, another exhale. "Anyway. Gray cells. You can just ignore all their bumf in these matters. Trusting your guts is where it's at." Another small glass raise is offered at Bob, with the words "And guts are not good at maths," before chugging down more beer.

The glass is, if not slammed, at least set down loud enough to emit an audible 'clunk', at the same time as Shenmi exhales. "And the guts say she's there. But she has no control over herself."

SpritesHero's smile thins, then, his expression going momentarily distant. With a faint shrug he yanks himself back to the present. "Regretfully my gut has steered me wrong, with severe consequence, many times before," he admits. "I appreciate that analysis can paralyze. But personally I am not willing to discard it." One eye flickers, the briefest of brief winks.

"And what about you?" he wonders. "It seems she signed up quickly. You did not. Why? Gut?"

"Dumb luck," Shenmi smirks. "Lack of ambition also helped." Swig. "As said, lots of restrictions applied in Kallamore, the most notable of which was exclusion from the Arena, the most exclusive fighting circuit. But, and here is the thing, as long as you kept making the Landers rich, didn't make a fuss, looked harmless enough, the more addicted to the hedonistic lifestyle of Lumina Cloth the better, and didn't mind being closely watched for suspicious activity, people wouldn't go out of their way to force crowns on you." He lowers his voice, "Unlike in other Kingdoms."

"As for me? By the time we got stuck, I cared only about prestidigitation." He begins counting on his fingers, "I did not fight, my performances brought casino owners money, and what they would pay me would pretty much get back to them through my dumping my earnings into the hedonistic lifestyle of Lumina Cloth. I was clearly uninterested in anything but my job, crowns included, and in return, they seemed to have zero interested in me."

Shenmi attempts to take another swig, but he has to blink in surprise as he, after shaking the glass twice, realizes there's no more beer to be extracted from the vessel. Another clonk, as the glass is set down on the table, and he continues, looking in the distance. "It was one of those situations that... everyone kind of let be and forgot about. Except me. Thanksfully, as I eventurally realized what was going on, my deception skills allowed me to pretend to be as harmless as before, while I was looking for a way to do anything about this whole situation." He smirks. "The rest, as you will understand, is... confidential."

"I must admit I'm surprised the leverage was as formal as that," Robert opines, summoning the barkeep with a crook of his finger. A few more coins, an inclination of Robert's head, and Shenmi gets his refill. "Given my understanding of what happened, I would have expected that any uncrowned individuals would be viewed as fundamentally unsafe. But, as you say, profit seems to be a potent factor."

Robert rises from his chair, drains his beverage, and appears to be about to leave. But he pauses. "One last question," he states. "You have not tried to retrieve Miss Daiyu?"

"It is a possibility," Shenmi concedes. "As said, it seems that other kingdoms -did- massive hunting-killing-and-crowning campaigns. I don't know whay people in Kallamore didn't just massively crown everyone. The Landers certainly won't tell us, and your guess is probably as good as mine. As you say, given how rampant unbridled capitalism is over there, perhaps they were just doing a cost/benefit analysis and decided that they could save money by not crowning people who didn't need to?" After a shrug, Shenmi smiles and nods his head again at Robert in gratitude for the refill. "I owe you a couple of beers, my friend," he says, as he sips more from his refill.

The silence is long this time, at the last question. "I dared not," he eventually answers. "I do not believe that I, alone, can do anything yet. Remember, Daiyu is Crowned, and the Crowned have access to all sorts of resources, backing from the official Palace Land alliances, and are effectively trained to be the most Elite fighters on the server, if not in the world. Me? I wasn't really allowed to train, gain XP... and I was certainly -not- keen on finding out what would happen at the Church if I died and respawned there. Under these circumstances? I wouldn't have stood a chance." He looks around, leans over, and with a lower, conspirational voice, he continues, "We need to do this together. Uncrowned and Yamato. It is something -big- we are up against, and we need to do this as a group."

SpritesHero waves away the obligation, a smile lurking around his lips as he indicates his glass with an amused downward glance. "It's apple juice," he divulges. No doubt this is a profound disappointment.

His departure arrested, his amusement fades towards something more somber. "And how would you do it then, Shenmi," he wonders. "How would you extract Daiyu if you had access to Yamato's resources? And how would you convince those who hold our resources to invest?"

Shenmi lets out an amusedly defeated laughter at the admission that 'the usual' is just apple juice. "Don't ask me, ask Tian," is what he replies to Bob. "If I had the kind of cunning, strategic thinking to pull such things off, Daiyu would have had me at the top of people to crown right away. Remember, it was important that I was -known- to be unremarkable at advanced tactics to be left alone."

He seems to suddenly catch on a thought, and chew on it. He even strokes his goatee, and signals the end of his ruminations by snapping his fingers. "But I think I have a further argument in favor of the real Daiyu still being in there."

He lowers his head, and points at Bob. "Her being peeved at Bao. Humour is not a thing Evil tends to be good at. And this whole thing is just too ridiculous. It's too much of a ridiculous mess to be the product of someone trying to fake reality."

"How often does evil think it is evil?" Robert points out with an arching of his eyebrows. "I would expect that many of the most evil were so for heavenly reasons. Or simply did not think things through and acted on instinct. I don't think I've ever met a horrendous individual who actively thought of themselves as horrible." He gives the counter-top a quick smack with his palm. "Nonetheless, it's a good thought. And I think perhaps willing to take a risk on, though I do wonder if she mightn't simply become a more effective adversary without her crown. I appreciate your time, Shenmi."

"Fare thee well, o Provider of the Juice of Life," Shenmi smirks while lifting his glass of beer, that even the most pessimistic individual would have a hard time to disprove as being 'almost full.' "It was nice chatting with you, hope we will repeat this experience again soon."

He doesn't specify what part he is referring to, especially not if he's specifically referring to the part where Bob paid for his drinks.