Rehtul paused from looking at the strange ice sculpture long enough to look Shin in the eyes as he made his queries. The Telgradian was one of the only people in the world outside of the Colors Guild that knew of the mage's true occupation, a connecting that Rehtul had made between the two of them at great risk. It was hard to trust anyone in the assassin's game, even one's own guildmates. The only two in the guild who knew of Rehtul's true identity were the two highest ranking members of the guild.

"It's... certainly interesting, I'll give you that. Both the girl trapped in the ice and these interlopers, I mean," he said while attempting to be careful with his words. Shin knew that Rehtul's information network was one of the best in all of Corone, mostly due to it being made of the scattered remnants of the Ixian Knights information network from years before.

He sat down and took the small porcelain cup and wafted the scent before he took a sip. He let the slightly sweet taste of the bergamot hang on his tongue for a few moments before swallowing.

"I have heard of a foreign group trying to muscle in where our most recent quarry had a stake. As they say, a power vacuum will inevitably invite someone to step in and fill it. Looks like these Dheathan thugs are the first to try. I believe they contacted a few of our lower level members for some muscle to help protect their investments. They were denied, of course. Our group isn't exactly well versed in protecting others, and we would never align ourselves with a group whom we had not investigated thoroughly."

He took another sip of his tea and set it down on the table between himself and Shin with a light clicking of porcelain.

"As if we don't have enough problems right now, these clowns are making the sergeants and town guards all across Corone tense. Even the ones who are normally lax and easy to bribe have been on edge lately. Local thieves guilds have been having a rough time keeping their boys out of chains lately due to this increased surveillance. It's honestly a pain for everyone involved. Far too expensive."

Another sip and Rehtul continued, "Even the Guild's operations have been impacted, and we're among the best at remaining under the radar. With guards on double duty and taking to even the most dangerous back alleys, we haven't been able to use our normal means of discussing contracts. The smuggling we could deal with, but the slave trafficking is another matter entirely."

White mist began to billow from Rehtul's form as his anger chilled the air even further than the statue had.

"They deserve no quarter. Even if this wasn't affecting the Guild, I'd gladly wipe them all off the face of Althanas myself."