Booze had been the reason why Noel laid in one of the bigger flowerpots in the Crocus Gardens. He'd fallen asleep in one from the night before, having crawled up into one of the pots, hugged by its dying flowers. Noel punished these plants more than the harsh winter ever could.

A duplicate of this specific pot could be found scattered across the garden. They led up from the path and more specifically near a set of ivory colored benches. Any fool would know that the benches weren't made out of ivory, but wood instead--that's just how fake this city was. The pot Noel laid in particular was close enough to overhear some of the words muttered by the Rune Knights. The words "I work for the Rune Knight" awakened the Lamia Scale wizard.

A thick layer of snow had covered Noel, and properly insulated him from the heat--protecting him through the night from the harsh cold. The pots themselves had some heat emitting from their core, which resulted in an almost perfect non-visible iglo. Noel figured he'd get some sleep here--as nobody wants to see a flower garden in the midst of winter, or so he thought. Instead of reacting right away, bursting out of the snow with his gat drawn. He instead decided to give this approach more thought. What was his purpose? To mess with the Rune Knights. In the males mind, there wasn't anyway of doing this better than to masterfully craft a troll. One powerful enough to bewitch the Rune Knights and keep them busy.

The male put on his acting face and, punched a hole through the snow using his arm. One big enough he could crawl through. His resurfacing was quite violent--like a fat man leaving a two door car from the backseat. The effects of his hangover were still present, but he'd struggle on nonetheless.

A confident look dominated his face, as he stepped up to the two females sitting on the bench who he overheard talking. Different chunks of snow shedding from his physique while he moved to stand in front of the two women. Presumably, they were both Rune Knights. Raion is a tall male, capable of towering them easily, save for the woman to his right--she was a bit closer to his height. He'd scrape his neck and begun talking with a stern expression.

"My name is Henny Portwine, I'm the new Captain that just arrived."

In his mind, Noel thought he should give off a more relaxed atmosphere, showing them he could be someone they could trust. So he extended his hand to them, in order to shake their hand.

"Could you two tell me where I can find the kingsguard? I have an urgent message for them."

This elaborate test set up on the spot by Noel was a true test as to how competent the Rune Knights were. At this point, he was guilty of nothing--impersonating an officer wouldn't count, as he didn't declare himself to be a member of the Rune Knights--but simply a " captain ". Knowing the location of the Kingsguard will hint the location of the King, maybe Noel could social engineer himself into having a conversation with the King? Noel expects the two women not to doubt his facade, as long as there isn't a secret handshake they do when meeting each other, there wasn't a reason why they shouldn't believe him, right? His facade had multiple layers, like a lasagna. This wasn't the mans first snafu.

The shorter Rune Knight begun casting spells, while Noel was talking. Some sort of campfire was spawned a few meters away from Noel, who watched it happen. His eyes were quite peeled at the spell she had cast, the mage used some kind of symbolic writing made inside a blue book to make physical objects appear--how interesting! She was not only able to harness symmetry with physical objects, but was also capable of wielding elemental magic. The other taller female initially didn't respond to Noel. The Rune knights intention was to warm him up, he'd put his hands together and bow his head lightly to the knight. Noel was convinced that the book-mage was convinced that Noel was one of them.

"Thank you, might I just say that I'm fascinated by your magic?"

Although chaos begun to rise inside his mind when the other female got up and asked for his pendant. Pendant? She got up and flashed a very specific symbol, and was most likely eagerly awaiting to see his own. Excuses and ways out of this situation had already been formulating inside of his mind, from the moment he made up being a captain of the Rune Knights. There were a few ways out he could think off right away; pretending he lost it, or try to pull their pendant by using telekinesis, or become a bird and fly away, or lie and pretend to be a pirate.

"When I became captain, I had my pendant imbued into one of my weapons. I haven't learned to utilize it yet, but I can show you, yarr."

Noel chose to opt for a strategy that technically didn't implicate him criminally, as he still hasn't pretended to be a Rune Knight captain, but a 'captain'. The question was though, would the taller Rune Knight member call his bluff? If so, he'd try to anticipate other cover-ups he could throw up. He'd extend his right arm towards the taller Rune Knight, flexing his new gauntlet weapon. In its color scheme, it matched the color of the pendant. After a second or so, he'd put his arm next to his body again and he'd hope they'd believe it.

For now, a trick he'd try to apply was quickly changing the subject to something else, not giving them room to question him as he showed his 'pendant'. If they pressed the issue about how his pendant didn't light up, he'd have a few other tricks up his sleeve.

"What are your names if you don't mind me asking?"

Noel sadly couldn't capture a real response by the women, after having shown his gauntlet they simply just oddly eyeballed him. It made him feel uncomfortable. There was no real ill intent in his body other than a general desire to just mess with Rune Knights. Based off of their expressions, he'd guess that his mission was a success.

"Well, bye then."

Noel turned around and began wandering off. He'd stumble across the sidewalk a little. The snow made it a bit difficult for him to walk properly. The male questioned himself, what part of his act had failed him? Where did he make the mistake? He'd blame his lack of research, not having properly investigated what they were really like before pretending to be one of them. He'd have left alone, and headed to the streets of Crocus. He went to the grocery store to buy a new satchel full of tobacco and some rolling paper. Along with an coffee and a bagel. That was going to be his breakfast. He'd want to find other Rune Knights to mess with, put paint buckets above doors and the like. Nothing currently that interested him more than just plainly messing with the Rune Knights.

--exit