Goriel and beyond, part 4

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Alberich
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Re: Goriel and beyond, part 4

Post by Alberich »

"No I wasn't at the inn - it burned down? Not surprising if the elves chased him there."

Rose asked about items of Eli's. Tim thought for a moment. "Yes, there is one thing," he said. Getting over to his blanket, and a couple of his possessions that were there, he fetched back a charcoal stick. "This is the kind of thing he used to draw the diagrams, to summon the things. He handled this one I know." He gave it to Rose.

"If that doesn't work - there is one other thing. He may try to get back in touch with me, to get me to join him. I pretended I was tending that way - that's how I learned what little I did. If it happens and we play it right, that may give us an opportunity." And if you use this to betray him to death, your soul will answer it.
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Graybeard
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Re: Goriel and beyond, part 4

Post by Graybeard »

Sister Rose blinked, blinked again. "You didn't know?" But of course he didn't know ... and several things clicked into place.

"Yes, that was the inn that burned down. And yes, the elves were there, and he was there, although whether anyone was 'chasing' anyone else is probably a question best left until all the facts are in. And yes, there were fatalities. I ... have a bad feeling as to how they happened, but same thing, let's get the facts."

She looked at the charcoal. "One thing's for sure. We need to find him, now. And we may need to be as careful in -- may as well be blunt, capturing and subduing him -- as we will with Blaise. It may be even harder, too, because he may be the more powerful of the two." She laughed humorlessly. "There's another thing. The Patriarch says we can take Blaise dead or alive. With Eli ... well, I think we have a pretty strong preference, at least all of us but maybe Drusia."

She stood to go. "This charcoal may be very helpful. Tim, please get cleaned up and ready to go, and then, if you can think of anything that may give a hint of where he might be running to, tell Drusia and Argus and Brad. We're going to be busy for a little while." She turned to Lillith. "As for the two of us, stepdaughter, I am going to need your help in securing the assistance, harmless and temporary, of a small bird." And I just hope I can remember the spell.
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Alberich
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Re: Goriel and beyond, part 4

Post by Alberich »

"Right," said Tim. As Rose and Lillith began their magic, he shaved himself, then walked to the other room, where Argus, Brad, and Drusia were. There were a couple of points that had to be made and this was the time for them.

"Rose and Lillith are starting a divination spell," he said. "To try to find him. Don't know how long it will take." He spoke directly to Drusia. "Rose has promised me that you also want to get him out of this alive - and away from that stuff he's working with. And that I should work with you for that. Eli was with us, traveling and sleeping with us, where we could catch him safely when we wanted" -- that is to say, when Rose decided, but Tim wasn't going to lay blame on Rose in front of Drusia -- "But when he saw your other elf hiding outside, to ambush him, that's when he fled. You drove him away. So you want to help to recover him. Good. You owe us that. Work with us. I'll work with you.

"But...'work with' means 'work with.' It does not mean ambush, attack, point weapons, push, bully, and demand. We humans, and we Veracians in particular, are not your servants and are not your slaves. Get used to it! That's why you send ambassadors instead of overseers to Emerylon. And another thing..."

Tim whirled suddenly to Argus and slapped him in the face. Hard. Very hard. This was anger, not medicine, and he didn't care how old the mage was just now. And he shouted much louder than he was intending. "I will NOT TAKE THAT FROM YOU AGAIN!" You heathen. "And one more thing." He jabbed a finger in the old man's face.

"I know you think my vows are a joke. You think they're funny. I do not. If you ever drug me again for your sport, and you manage to get me to break them...I will stab you in the back. I will stab you in your sleep. Your animal said it was better to all be on the same side. Well, then, let's be on the same side. And no more of that crap!"

He whirled back, breathing hard, to face Drusia. "Now, was there something you were wanting to know?"
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Re: Goriel and beyond, part 4

Post by Drannin »

Argus found himself smirking slightly. Well, well, Tim had grown a backbone, had he? And all while being paranoid as all hell, and coming to the wrong conclusion on just about everything. Well, whatever got him going.

"For the record," Argus said mildly, "Harker was just trying to get me and Rose hooked up, and felt you were getting in the way, so he used the most expedient means to get you out of the way. A sort of prank, if you will. Wherein the worst that happened was you got a hangover. But I take your point regardless. And Tim?"

Argus smiled a friendly, terrifying smile. "If you ever slap me again young man, I'll drive a spike up your backside so fast you won't have time to squeak. But yes, enough crap from all of us." He yielded the floor to Drusia.
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Re: Goriel and beyond, part 4

Post by Alberich »

Tim just nodded at that - there was going to be no more arguing or nagging from him about it, or even bringing it up ever again! He also waited for Drusia to speak.
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Re: Goriel and beyond, part 4

Post by Drusia »

"Rose has promised me that you also want to get him out of this alive - and away from that stuff he's working with. And that I should work with you for that. Eli was with us, traveling and sleeping with us, where we could catch him safely when we wanted" -- that is to say, when Rose decided, but Tim wasn't going to lay blame on Rose in front of Drusia -- "But when he saw your other elf hiding outside, to ambush him, that's when he fled. You drove him away. So you want to help to recover him. Good. You owe us that. Work with us. I'll work with you."

"But...'work with' means 'work with.' It does not mean ambush, attack, point weapons, push, bully, and demand. We humans, and we Veracians in particular, are not your servants and are not your slaves. Get used to it! That's why you send ambassadors instead of overseers to Emerylon. And another thing..."

"Now, was there something you were wanting to know?"


Huh. Well fine then.

"Actually, there's something I wanted to say to you," I tell Tim. I kneel before him. "I apologize. My treatment of you last night was uncalled for. I was upset - only moments before, after Lillith's reaction to my arrival, I'd feared that Eli had done something to my daughter. I was afraid. When you arrived, I let my fear make me act. I tried to break you rather than simply talk with you because I was afraid - for Eli and for my daughter. However, while my fear was justified, by actions concerning you were not. I treated you poorly, and my choice to do so may have made the situation with Eli worse. Please forgive me."

There. That's a start. We'll address the bit about ambassadors and overseers after we get through this.

-- Drusia
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Re: Goriel and beyond, part 4

Post by Graybeard »

Her dubious "artwork" in hand, Therese continued on to the gate to the Chepilesky compound.

The sentry she'd started to cultivate was on duty. After the usual exchange of courtesies, such as they were, she got to the point. "I understand that your illustrious clan has a dancer of most exceptional virtuosity. It would please my own chief no end if I could arrange a meeting with her to discuss a ... special performance. This small token of our esteem might serve to expedite the process." She let the wrapping of the woodwork slip an inch or so.

The sentry gave her a look she didn't like. "That will not be possible." Well, that answer wasn't completely unexpected; the forms had to be obeyed, after all. Therese persisted.

"Many things that appear impossible become possible between men of good will, when commerce is involved," she smiled. The wrapping dropped another inch, and there couldn't be much doubt any more what the subject of the art work was. "Her name is Almira." Now why is he looking at me like that?

"No, I mean it is not possible at all," the guard said, disgust on his face. "Almira is dead. Those bastards visiting Clan Yurkashev killed her."

Now that wasn't an answer Therese was expecting, not at all.
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Alberich
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Re: Goriel and beyond, part 4

Post by Alberich »

To Drusia's quite unexpected apology, Tim couldn't think of words - so he responded with a bow. Not a deep or deferential one, but an inarticulate way of saying - "Apology accepted; let's move on."

"Rose told me the Valahiri Inn burned down, and that's the only place I knew he might be. Rose's divination might find him, and if it doesn't, he might try to get back in touch with me. He wanted me to join him before and I acted interested, to learn more. But I didn't learn much.

"He talked like someone who wanted to throw this country down completely - like crusade against it and end its system - and we think he stole, or helped to steal, some kind of magic item from the Gibazovs' mining museum - a stone with strange colors that held your attention when you looked at it. And he apparently had help when he did that - they said lots of armed men, though they may have been exaggerating. So he might still be here to carry out his ideas. But he seemed deathly afraid to have you elves after him. So he might have fled, and I think if he sees you or the other elf around he won't get close.

"Do you know more, or is there more I can tell?"
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Drusia
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Re: Goriel and beyond, part 4

Post by Drusia »

"Do you know more, or is there more I can tell?"

"I don't know much," I sigh. "He mentioned that the group he was working with were called the Ralkin, but aside from that it was mostly angry ranting. I tried taking the necklace from, but it didn't seem to help his mindset any. My current hope is that, if we can find these Ralkin, that perhaps they will have a way to set him right. If not, killing them and taking Eli captive for... some sort of treatment outside my skill set." I sigh.

And pause. "One other thing. A few other things you should be aware of, Tim." He looks at me wairly, but nods.

"Rose's first husband was my great great grandson - a half-elf, like Eli," I tell him. "He died, but Rose is still my great-grand-daughter-in-law. If you see me giving her orders, it's because I'm a matriarch giving speaking with authority to a member of my family. Eli is part of my family, albeit only by marriage and not blood. Desiree, of course, is the youngest of my thirty seven half-elven children - she has three living siblings, one nearly 100 years old, and another in his late 60s. My other children have long since died, mostly of old age, but I guard their children, and their children's children, and so forth. My family is the most important thing to me, and I will do whatever it takes to protect them."

I let him process that for a moment.

"I have heard, vaguely, that one of Rose's superiors is trying to get along diplomatically with my people and may have given her some standing orders about elves. About that, I do not give a single shit. I don't associate with other elves unless it is absoutely necessary, as they are a danger to my true family. If Rose wants to use that as an official excuse to her superiors, then I don't mind, but that's her business. As far as I'm concerned, she's family. I don't know enough of your personal history to know what your family life was like, but that means I may yell at her, bark orders at her, or do other things that you might find inapproprate. I want you to understand, I do these things not because I think of her as a slave, but because we sometimes treat our family harshly. Particularly when we're annoyed with them."

I pause. "Oh, and I can be a bit ascerbic. That's just me - you'll just have to get used to that part."

-- Drusia
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Re: Goriel and beyond, part 4

Post by Graybeard »

"My ears are burning," Sister Rose commented dryly to Lillith as they walked. No great magical sensitivity was required to sense that she was the subject of conversations going on in her and Argus' chambers in her absence; of course she was.

The escape from the Yurkashev compound, toward the small park where she'd seen Therese (and where a cooperative bird could presumably be found), had been almost surreal, she thought. She rather suspected that she and Lillith would have been required to show notes from their husbands giving them permission to go out on their own ... if the sentries had been able to read. Fortunately, the women's considerable persuasive skills had won out.

Before they could find a bird, however, Rose noted the approach of a tall, slender, red-headed man wearing a broad-rimmed hat. She was on her guard at first, but after a moment, she recognized the intruder as Therese in disguise ... and she was agitated about something.

Indeed she was. "Mrs. Cleiviein, there is something we need to discuss." [OOC: OK, so the various in-town parties, other than Desiree and the fugitive Eli, are more or less together now. Shall we get on with it? Any thoughts on how to "rescue" Desiree and Anfisa?]
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