[b]“You should not speak into an empty corner, people might think you are mad. Nor should you speak to a stranger in the shadows so carelessly, it is not a safe thing where I am from, human.”[/b]

"Funny, where I come from, shadows are the only things you can talk to that would tell you the truth," Leon muttered just loud enough for her to hear, his hand having flow to his mask the moment she disappeared. For a long moment he was tempted to call upon Mask's favor, but there was little need and such things would simply draw undue attention.

"It has been a long time since I played Tag, Does this mean I'm 'it'?," he cast a look over his shoulder at her, his voice empty of fear and a wolfish grin on his face. Regardless of how she seemed to be ignoring him now, he tucked away the interaction into the corner of his mind and simply contented himself with listening to Lord Hastlon finish his speech.

Maskarran contacts within the city had reported much of the same as what Hastlon spoke of. Power abhors a void, and so what had once been a town split by hundreds of smaller gangs, cults, and individuals was now becoming more consolidated. Some did so in the natural way, outwitting, outfighting, and outstealing their competitors until the remnants had only two choices, death or submission. Others were new faces in the city, but had arrived with their own backers and powers beyond what any person should be capable of wielding. 

[i]Loosing a volley of arrows into the dark, just to see which ones stick[/i], Leon thought,[i] not a bad plan, but there are better ways of investigating a city. Why send so many of us? And from the way he stiffens up when someone leaves, he doesn't think he can afford to lose many of us either.[/i]

Whereas before, he used his talents for speechcraft to weaken the resolve of those around him, now when he spoke it was with the voice of a professional. Someone who could connect the dots for those less intelligent in the crowd and still sound natural along the way.

"So... you get the glory of returning the city under the banner of the government," Leon called out, "and we get a fair price for having returned it to you. Hells below, how much does a city go for these days?"

He could almost hear the clink of gold coins radiating from the minds of those who were motivated by such things. No matter how you cut it, that was retirement in Waterdeep levels of cash flow.

"Or perhaps you might be willing to negotiate a place in your cabinet when the time comes? After all, with the effort we might be expending, it would be a shame if we weren't there to ensure it did not fall once more into the dark afterwards." An appeal to those of higher moral standing, and a test to see how much power Lord Halston was willing to offer those without morality. He would be a fool to deny it out of hand, after all, no one in this room knew who was going to live long enough to see Scardale returned. The fewer words he used though, the more he meant to keep his little arrows from ever becoming associated with him. Which meant they were all screwed when the job was done.

[i]Show me, Lord Halston. How good is your mask?[/i], Leon thought to himself.