About Forced Sales (Sil, Steel, Dubs)

[Silvern Gleam]

Year 4, November 12, After Sewing the Seeds

The meeting came to an end and the group of newly declared rebels slowly dissipated, most of them probably leaving for home. Sil would make her way soon as well, but before this she still had some talking to do. She had already accepted defeat, that she would have no way to get out of the deals with Ida, but now... Now she could get help. She walked up to the two rebellion leaders before they had a chance to leave. Steel Strike, Double Edge, I have a matter I need to discuss with you in private, she said calmly, but with slight urgency in her voice.

[Steel Strike]

Steel was setting up some papers when the pony walked up to him and Double. She asked politely to talk to the two in private. "I see no problem with it. After this room clears out we can talk." He said, noting the bit of urgency in her voice. She also appeared to be blind, however she had little trouble navigating it seemed. He supposed the horn had something to do with that. However he didn't wish to pry, so he simply waited for the room ti clear.

[Silvern Gleam]

After the last pair of unwanted ears had left, Sil made sure that the door was closed and began explaining her case. To sum it up: I'm being blackmailed by a griffon, she quickly brought the problem to the point, in a surprisingly sober voice for the trouble she had just indicated. As I told you earlier - eyes pointed at Steel Strike - I'm dealing with artifacts, an activity the griffons shouldn't know about. Not too long ago, a griffon named Ida Fjölnir has found out. Luckily she has a need for artifacts herself, which is why she has kept it a secret from other griffons so far, but I fear that it won't stay this way if I refuse to sell her something regularly.
Sil made a short pause to let this sink in, but continued before the other two unicorns could say something. She wasn't finished with the basic explanation yet, but her straight-to-the-point attitude she currently displayed at least made it quite compact.
She has a slave she always sends to make the deals with me and as far as I can tell thinks I don't know of her, which at least gives me the freedom to act as if Stellar, her slave, was a normal customer and I so I have control about what I even offer, but for my and Stellar's safety I have to give her something. As you can imagine, I'm not really interested in letting it stay this way. Unfortunately I don't know what to do about it, not on my own. I understand there hardly is any organization yet, but I'm hoping this rebellion might be able to help.

[Steel Strike]

Steel thought it over for a moment. Her situation seemed precarious. "Well, we could just capture this Stellar." He said, thoughtfully. However he waved a hoof. "That won't make the griffon too happy. Maybe we can endear this Stellar to us. See if that could bring the griffon reluctantly to our side. Celestia knows we need a spy." He said, slightly exhausted. "For now, youshould just sell her some low tier stuff. While trying to get her to our side. Sound good?" He asked.

[Double Edge]

Double Edge thought this whole situation over, if they could get a griffon...well the main issue about that was most in Undermarket weren't all that pro griffon mentality, though just for Stellar, she could easily be used as the courier of information between the griffon and the rebels, yeah that would definitely work. Though how could they get Ida on there side? "So, Silvern, do you have an idea on how much this Ida has in the way of artifacts? Also do you know how much loyalty the griffon holds towards their kingdom? Cause thats another factor that is important. Also if you know anything about where they live I could easily watch them get us a little bit more of a bargaining chip for our side." the unicorn theorized, trying to get a grasp on what they could do about all this.

[Silvern Gleam]

Disapproval shortly showed up in Sil's expression when Steel mentioned capturing Stellar, but since he didn't follow this thought, she decided to ignore it. The spy option perked her interest, making her wonder for a moment why she hadn't thought of this herself yet, but quickly answered it: She hadn't had any use for a spy on her own. The rebellion was a new thing she hadn't have the time to consider all that much yet. Stellar was quite cooperative so far, I believe it could be possible to use her as spy, she said noddingly. She even sells artifacts they don't need to me, but it's not worth much and of limited use. Ida probably has better items, but I don't know. As for Ida's loyalty... I have no clue. She appears to be strangely polite, for griffon standards, and Stellar certainly doesn't seem to suffer any abuse. I suppose there might be is a chance to pull her over. And regarding the observation...
Silvern's horn was aglow while she talked, though the target of her magic was hidden in her saddlebags: One of the gems she used to take notes, which was now beginning to contain possible questions for Stellar. She thought about what to tell Dubs, not the easiest of decisions. Sil didn't want to endanger Stellar, and somepony keeping an eye on Ida's home would mean exactly that if he was discovered. Of course Sil had the possibility of watching while staying undetected, but she didn't usually give out much information about her ability to ponies she only just met. She needed a second to remind herself of her decision from earlier: If she couldn't trust those two, the whole rebellion thing would fail anyway. I don't want to risk Ida finding out, but I might have an idea. That diamond dog - Onyx - if he could make a tunnel underneath their house to get me close enough, I could observe them easily, my means of perception don't care much about objects or walls in the way. The magic training will take up a bit of time, but there's still time for some surveillance.

[Steel Strike]

Steel thinks this over for a minute or two. If she could observe through walls a tunnel close to the home. This would be invaluable to the rebels who needed the spy skills. However, it would mean diverting his be one tunnel digging resource, to a single home. Of course, there were always artifacts to be had, and those would always be useful. "That sounds like the best option. I'll talk to Onyx about the tunnel. It might take a few days as he's working on another project for us." he said, as he looked to Silvy. "Get us an adress in that amount of Time, I'll show him where to dig, and you can begin observations." he said, nodding his head.

[Sponsored content]