At the same time, in a simple wooden building tucked into a most unremarkable alleyway:
"I'm surprised to see you lot here, candlelight meetings seemed more your thing."
"They are."
"I see," Otto said, casting a cautious eye at the three masked strangers that now stood inside of his humble place of business. "Then to what do I owe this pleasure, surely you haven't come just to break bread with old Otto?
"We hear that you have some information, Otto," one of the three offered, a young man, his voice was silky smooth, almost musical, but an air of threat lay hidden beneath pleasantry of his manners.
"Depends. What sort of information."
"A bird told us that you have information about Councilor Waters, information that would be very useful to people of our particular talents."
Otto smiled, exposing a mouth of missing and battered teeth, courtesy of the city guard. "For the right price, I may indeed have such information."
The masked woman that had stood quiet in a corner of the dark room, approached the table, tossing a small bag that clinked in a distinctly metallic fashion as it bounced across the uneven tabletop. Opening the bag, Otto took a close look at a beautiful gold ring and several coins of gold. House Rall, the old thief thought, remembering the recent and very tragic death of one of its younger sons.
"Now, how is that you've managed to get your hands on a signet ring belonging to House Rall? They're a minor house for sure, but no house is fond of losing a son, least of all an officer in the city gaurd."
The woman in white shrugged, taking a seat across from him."Dead men have little interest in trinkets and rings of gold. They should have trained him better if they wanted him to live."
Otto laughed and turned to look at the masked woman in white. "You know...I heard you took some more of the Captain's men, they say he's none too happy about, heard he raised the bounty on the head of the so-called Winter Sword. Don't worry, it's still not enough to risk a blade between the ribs."
The bard sighed, clearly losing interest.
Taking a long drink from the tankard of ale that he held in his hand, Otto continued with an amused grin,"Of course, the smallfolk keep on blabbering about some Ice Demon, say that it's been murdering people left and right, freezing them into solid blocks and leaving notes, warnings of grim deeds to come. They say it's the revenge of some ancient Karsetheen lich."
The woman replied, the pleasure clear in her cold voice, "Perhaps, the Valorians should heed the warnings, it would be such a shame if more of them had to perish before they learned their lesson."
Otto shuddered, he was a scoundrel, a rogue, an occasional killer, when neccesary, but coldblooded murder had never been his thing. Before Otto had a chance to reply with some witty quip, a young girl burst into the room. Breathing heavily, it was clear she'd come at a full sprint, and she leaned in to whisper excitedly into the ear of the old man.
Patting here on the head affectionately, he turned to address the three masked strangers, "My sparrow here, has informed me that there's some sort of commotion occurring at the docks. Wouldn't be your doing now would it?"
"No, there'd be more than a few dead Valorians if we'd been involved," The woman answered, a hand idly moving to the sharp blade on her hip.
"What do you want to do? We could send help, it might be a chance to-"
"No. You may do as you wish, but we don't work with amateurs," a third, hitherto silent figure offered, the irritation clear in his voice."
"We could use this disturbance to our advantage though," the masked woman replied with a small chuckle, rising to her feet. "After all, the city guard can't be everywhere at once."
The third speaker nodded and the woman in white strode out from the room.
"Good hunting, Winter."
