Rinkaiel: Kidnappers

For in-universe game play. Journey through both familiar and foreign settings, explore lost ruins and forgotten cities, and try to bring light to the darkness of the world... or, you know, blow stuff up. Either way.
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Graybeard
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Re: Rinkaiel: Kidnappers

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"Mainly, we're just picking up my son," Layla replied. "He's been on, I guess I'd say a playdate, and I need to feed him." Her face got a sly smile. "Besides, he's useful cover. What could look more innocent than a mother and child out with her friends, showing the kiddo a wonder of the ancient world?" She didn't bother pointing out that the frame of the backpack that she used to carry Zachary also carried a small, well-concealed pistol ... and it wasn't always Zachary that she carried in the pack, but sometimes something considerably more lethal.

She went into the laboratory, and emerged a couple of minutes later, carrying not only her son but also a small parcel. "A loan from my friend who runs this place," she explained. "If we get in trouble up there, it can help get us out. We won't want to use it for our actual ... transaction, for several reasons, but it's nice insurance on this trip. Let's get going." She slipped into the rear seat of the carriage and started to unsnap her blouse; it was Zachary's lunch time, after all.
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Jack Rothwell
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Re: Rinkaiel: Kidnappers

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Jade eyed the bundle with professional curiosity; she was a sucker for technology after all. While she speculated on what the mystery bundle could contain she found herself regretting that she hadn't had an excuse to bring one of her 'babies' along. After a few moments of struggling and failing, she caved in and asked.

"What's in the bag?" Her eyes were gleaming.
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Re: Rinkaiel: Kidnappers

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The bundle emitted a curious, high-pitched peeping sound. Layla smiled impishly. "Hush, you," she said softly, and stroked the bundle as one might a small pet animal. The peeping stopped.

"A loaner from Galina," she explained as she set to the business of feeding Zachary. "Before she came to Rinkaiel, she was head of security for this batty Tsuirakuan woman named Saiko Mesuinu." She grimaced wryly. I'll pay for the inadvertent pun later. "The Mesuinu family are incredibly powerful mages, incredibly eccentric, and they're also filthy freaking rich, with business enterprises in all sorts of strange places. Happily, Rinkaiel isn't one of them, but they own this amusement park in the northwestern corner of Farrel, which is where Galina and I first met. Their security system there is based on -- I guess I'd say thaumatically modified animals." She patted the bundle again. "Galina loaned me a sample, with the expectation that we'd only use it in emergencies. Believe me, that's for the best. You do not want to go poking around in Mesuinu stuff if you don't have to..."
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Re: Rinkaiel: Kidnappers

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Jade began laughing again. She couldn't help it. At the revelation of magically augmented animals a host of ideas started cartwheeling through the blacksmith's brain. She had images of exploding budgies, dogs attacking people with sharpened sticks and deepstriking moles burrowing under floorboards to deploy mines in enemy territory.

"Reminds me of that time your mother, Jasmine and I hit that weapons depot through the warpgate near your vineyard." She began. "We were in the middle of firefight, chasing after that girl Jaime, bullets zipping by us. And bizarrely the only thing that hit me was a chicken. A fucking chicken!" She recalled the memory to her mind in more detail. "A tough situation. More than that, bloody dangerous. I sure was glad that I had those tough older women... with..."

Jade saw the look on Layla's face change at the mention of her mother. A tighter set to the jaw, emotions bubbling under the surface for a family member in danger.

"...we'll get her back Layla. I promise you." She said quietly.
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Re: Rinkaiel: Kidnappers

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"Damn right we will," Layla growled; she'd been holding in a lot more tension than she realized. She turned suddenly toward Jade, almost causing Zachary to lose the nipple. "If they've hurt her, they will hurt. And if they kill her ... the sky's the limit." She went back to nursing her son, apologizing softly to him for the near interruption in his meal ...

... And as she did, her own phrase triggered a memory.

"We -- may have some other business at those ruins, too," she said. "A few weeks ago we had an airship go down that we were on. It was my boyfriend's, he was flying it." Needless to say, the ... complications of ownership between Peter and Ace weren't a subject for the moment. "No fatalities, thank Luminosita if you believe in him, but mom and Ace were banged up for a while, and our employer wasn't happy about the crash." She took a moment to compose what was coming next. "We found out that it was sabotage, a magical bomb planted on board, and -- this'll sound crazy, but we're pretty sure it was put there by an elf. And we're also pretty sure the elf was hanging around the ruins. Same principle applies: that bastard tried to kill my son. So if we can figure a way to do it, he dies. I started looking for him once, but didn't get very far. It's a big ruin, major temple to some elven god, they say. The people I was with talked me out of going after him ... but let's just say that if the opportunity arises, it will definitely be taken."

[OOC: JR, if you want to get background on what Layla is talking about, start here.]
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Re: Rinkaiel: Kidnappers

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Jade let out an exasperated sound and slapped a hand to her forehead at Layla's mention.

"An ELF?" She echoed. "Holy Gods and all the orphans! Now I wish I'd have taken the mana-rifle!"

She became acutely aware of the revolver tucked under her shirt. The knife in her boot. 'Woefully unprepared' didn't begin to describe it.

"What in the seven hells are we going to do if we run into him?" She asked. "Fire bullets at his magic barrier while he turns us into human torches?"
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Re: Rinkaiel: Kidnappers

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Layla snorted. "Don't be ridiculous. What are we going to do if we run into him? Ignore him for the moment, that's what, and he'll do the same with us. We weren't the target of that bomb. There was a half elf on our airship, and the elves have this big vendetta against half elves -- I don't know why, I think Mom knows more about it than I do. We were just 'collateral damage,' as they say."

Her eyes narrowed. "But having my son become collateral damage is still thoroughly damned unacceptable. No, if the elf is there, we just note it, and see if we can figure out where he hangs his hat and what he's doing, all very low-key. Our mission right now is to set up the exchange of prisoners. But once that's done, if he's still there ... the bastard has to die." She chuckled humorlessly. "I'll let you bring your mana rifle for that part of things, don't worry."
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Re: Rinkaiel: Kidnappers

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"I'd like that. Gods know I haven't had enough chances to use it since I put it together." She considered the mess the gun could make, and added. "I was never that good as subtlety in warfare away. Militia don't tend to treat it as a high priority."
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Re: Rinkaiel: Kidnappers

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"I was never that good as subtlety in warfare away. Militia don't tend to treat it as a high priority."

Layla raised an eyebrow at that. One concern she'd had in dealing with the Silver Hands was the possibility that they might be setting themselves up eventually as rivals to the Gewehr. Well, a guild that split its activities between legitimate cover operations and ... less legitimate contracts involving assassinations wasn't going to feel much rivalry with a "militia" that eschewed subtlety. If Jade's perspective was typical, the Silver Hands were definitely going after a different "customer base" than the Gewehr. That was good to know; it should be possible for the two guilds to remain allies, at least for the time being.

Back to business. "There are two things we need to look for here," she said. "One is a good out-of-the-way place for the actual exchange to occur. The other is surveillance points so that we can keep an eye on what's going on. Of course, the Tsuirakuans will be trying to set up their own surveillance too. I think I know how to block the magical surveillance, but they'll have a physical stake-out, in all likelihood. So our own spots need to be able to keep track of theirs ... and they'll have watchers watching those spots, so we'll have watchers watching their watchers ..." She smiled almost playfully. "Luminosita's Nethers, we could have half of Rinkaiel watching or being watched by the time we're done here. So let's look around."

[OOC: Consider this an invitation to start describing what elven ruins might look like. This is something we can work collaboratively!]
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Re: Rinkaiel: Kidnappers

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Beaten by down by the centuries or not, the ruins took the blacksmith's breath away. Jade was of a practical mind, but even a no-nonsense, straight talker like her felt moved to snatches of cheesy poetry by the sloping, ornate architecture.

Delicate-limbed figures in various states of undress ran the outside of the temple's inner wall at regular intervals; a definite indication that the practices engaged within the building at its peak had been somewhat uninhibited (a fact that Jade filed away in her mind for further examination). Crumbled stone and broken archways patterned the outside wall that marked the boundary of the place of worship. It's most stark feature being the shattered spire that had fallen from the roof and smashed a hole a dozen feet across it. Jade saw the fallen tip make a rough slope which someone with enough agility and a decent running speed could have used to clamber onto the roof, if they were so inclined.

A vague sense of uneasiness was settling over the mercenary. Despite the sensuality of the place there was a taste in the air. Something that grew stronger as they approached the double doors that marked the entrance (tall, white things, that seemed to hold an inner glow). Something she couldn't place... like it was...

"You know your way around magic, right?" She heard herself ask Layla. "Feel anything weird here?"
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