The first few days in the Baron's encampment, the quartet of undercover cadets spent their time ingratiating themselves in among the other children. They shared food, sad stories of abandonment or mistreatment that landed them here, provided blankets and clothing they'd "stolen" from the market.  Nothing was ever actually stolen, Izco always paid for their goods in secret.  They provided dozens of little kindnesses both to improve the waifs' living conditions and to win their acceptance and approval. It warmed the hearts of the cadets to see all the children go to bed happy, with bellies full and new, warm blankets to sleep in.  But that was just the beginning.

Izco made it a point to spend a lot of time with Maple. The quiet cat-man kept her company and played games with her, and as it often happened with young girls, she became enamored of him.  All of the children were attention-starved, really.  Atlan had at least half a dozen of them trailing after him, giggling and playing, wherever the tonawawta went.  Xochitl had several hangers-on who shadowed her, or they'd even chat with her about how strong she was and what beasts she'd fought. The only one the children seemed to shy away from was Pixie and that was because the hare-maiden gave them a wide berth and tended to snap at them if they came too close. There was a story there, but one Xochitl would have to dig for later.

Even "Bob", the young shetona thief they'd followed here originally, had begun to warm up to them. They learned his actual name was Alvaro and that he'd come here from Yyasulani, intending to apprentice at one of the crafters in the Wachumeqimeqi, the large crafters mercantile down by the harbor of Tuliyollal.  Yet, none of them took the boy on because he confessed to being something of a kleptomaniac, which is what eventually led to him becoming a thief and falling in with the Baron.

It was sad stories all around and it made the four budding Landsguard all the more determined to uproot this evil and get these children somewhere that they could be loved, appreciated, and taken care of. So, Phase Two of their plan began in earnest.  With Maple now completely trusting of Iczo, he began to wheedle out the baustrophedon cipher from her and began to copy her writing style. Once he was sure he had it down, he wrote a note:  There are newcomers here. They request an audience. When Maple went out on her next delivery to the chute to deliver the letters to the Baron, Iczo dutifully accompanied her.

It took another two suns before a reply was returned:  Have Alvaro bring them to me.

The bait was set.  All they had to do was comply.

The following day after the reply came back, Alvaro came to collect them, but the boy seemed more high-strung and nervous than usual. He glanced around himself often, like someone who suspected he was being followed and he spoke to them in low tones, as if afraid of being overheard. "Come, you come with me now. You've been called to see the Baron, though I don't know what for. I hope you haven't done anything.  I hope you haven't gotten ME in trouble." His hands shook as he wrung them together, his floppy ears almost plastered to the back of his head as he laid them as flat as possible. He almost seemed to shrink into himself.  It was a far cry from the cocky, self-assured young man they'd encountered on their first trip here.

Xochitl pat Alvaro on the shoulder. "It'll be all right. There's nothing he can dish out that we can't take." Rising to her feet, she nodded to her comrades and they rose almost in unison to fall in behind her. She gestured with a hand toward the back of the encampment. "Lead the way, Alvaro."

Bobbing his head, the young jack led the way ahead of them. He didn't look at the other children as he went, but the other children stared at the lot of them as they marched toward the hovel that would take them down to the Baron proper.  Many of the children looked apprehensive, some of the younger ones hugging up against the older ones. Going to see the Baron didn't seem like a good thing to any of them. That alone spoke volumes to Xochitl and her squadron. Children learn fear and apprehension, they aren't born with it. For them to be so young and so instilled with such trepidation, there had to be an underlying cause.  And that cause was squarely in the Baron's hands.

As they walked, Xochitl spoke in hushed tones to her fellows. "Keep your emotions under tight control. I know we all hate what's going on here, but we can't show up before this Baron with a bunch of anger in our eyes and clenched jaws.  So, put all of that out of your minds for now and focus on the mission. We need to figure out how far this Baron's reach goes."  Atlan, Izco, and Pixie all nodded grimly, each of them schooling their features into those of frightened or apprehensive children, borrowing from those they passed.

Alvaro opened the door to the hovel and hesitated on the threshold.  If his ears could have gone back any farther, they might have. Instead, they just twitched spasmodically as if something were perpetually tickling them. "Th-this way..." He muttered, leading the way down one step at a time. "W-watch your st-step..."

At first, it seemed like they were going down some non-descript stairwell, but as they descended lower and lower into the darkness, the coarse dirt walls shored up by rough-hewn lumber supports gave way to actual stone walls with carpenter planed support beams.  Upon reaching the bottom, their feet landed not on cold stone, but upon luxurious, brightly-colored carpet.  Every ilm of the room, save for a fulm-wide perimeter near the walls was covered in woven, expensive-looking rugs.

The rest of the interior looked like... well, it looked like a home, really.  One quarter of the room off to their left looked like some kind of library, bookshelves lined the walls going into the corner and nestled within the V-shape that the bookshelves made there was a comfortable-looking sofa adorned with several colorful pillows.  A nightstand with a small lamp stood to one side and a coffee table sat in front of it with the remnants of a tea service.  On the opposite quarter of the room, directly across from the library was a goodly-sized kitchen, complete with an oven and a cold larder. However, none of this compared to what stood at the far end of the room.

It was a throne on a raised dais. All around that dais were treasures of all kinds; coins, gems, jewelry, chests filled with the same. There were small trinket and token boxes festooned here and there and more rugs rolled up and leaning against the wall.  A rack along the right side wall held all manner of clothing from fine, tailored suits to sumptuous ballgowns. There was enough here to account for a small fortune.

And on the throne sat the Baron.

"Well, well, well..." The Baron said, his voice slightly high-pitched and nasal, but gravelly as if the man smoked too much.  His beady blue eyes settled on Alvaro before flicking to each of the Landsguard cadets in turn. "It seems as if you've been making friends, Alvaro.  Have you forgotten already the last upbraiding you received from me, hm?  We do not make friends. Oh, no, no, no... friends are a liability.  Friends make us weak.  Yes, yes they do.  Come here and I will show you how weak friends make us."

Alvaro whimpered and threw himself down on the floor, covering his head with his hands. "I'm not friends with them! I'm not!" He cried. "They're Landsguard pups, I saw 'em snooping around here the other day!" 

The Baron turned his gaze upon the quartet. "Landsguard, hm?  Well, well, well..."

The gleam in his eye did not bode well for any of them.