Nine Swords

Lyric, content with his victory, returned to the table room. Having discovered that there was nothing left of the establishment to access but a large library, the exit of which was guarded by ferocious espresso maker and a disgruntled exit sign.

Still displeased with his predicament, he submitted to his new group of companions and sat his ass the hell down.

"Alright. I'm in."

Corenna watched the scene with mild amusement. It was so much like the way her family handled things that she began to feel a little more comfortable.

Conlan grins smugly, soon to be twenty richer. He glances back to Jack. "this really isn't your day huh?"

Lowering her eyes as a smile appeared across her face, Maxime laughed softly, almost imperceptibly. She sighed, still smiling, and looked around at the seated people.

"Right... When we're done here, how about heading to the Horned God and have a beer? I don't care if you end up breaking bottles on each other's head, but not the ones from *my* round, mmkay?"

Turning toward the monitor, she spoke again.

"So... Where were we?..."

The speaker had been watching the room amused though slightly impatiently.

"You need to find another. Maybe two more. "

Maxime flatly stared at the screen.

"Huh... Right. So, does this mean we have to stay in here until they're found or can we move around a bit? I don't mean to sneak out on you, but I'll need to go to the bathroom and grab a bite at some point, not to fight evil on an empty stomach. But food is not the emergency."

The speaker raised an eyebrow and smirked

"You are dismissed - but remember, find another.. perhaps you should take a break and then continue discussing things without me. "

One set of the double doors to the room were opened, the group stood up and walked into the main library area.

Katelin walked to the dark leather chair with its back to the fire, sat down and crossed her right leg over her left... slowly turning to take her surroundings in. Uragon sat in a chair to her right - nudging the purple cushion aside.

"What do you think to all this? I really was surprised to see you sat there, had you no idea what I was doing today? I am glad we are in this together, whatever it is... "

More of the group walked closer..

From eight to ten.

Over the coming weeks, the group of eight grew closer and quite quickly started building the preliminary foundations for the cabal. However, the parting words of the speaker stayed at the forefront of their discussions… find another. Soon a month had passed and the problem turned from “find another” to, “why only one more”? The eight decided at that point, that they wanted to become ten and that these ten people would form the founding group for Nine Swords.