Goriel and beyond, part 4

As we play, occasionally we'll close a thread and open a new one to keep the size of threads (and relative complexity) down to a dull roar. Here's where we store the closed posts from the history of Errant Road.
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Drusia
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Re: Goriel and beyond, part 4

Post by Drusia »

Tim's face hardened a little and his heart hardened more.
"Oh, about those symbols. I asked him once what would happen if you rubbed out the symbol before dismissing the demon...things. He only said it was a bad idea, not what would happen, and I'm not sure even he knew. So it might mean they go out of control and kill everyone around. Or it might mean they disappear. Or it might mean they get twice as large, summon ten of their friends, and go out of control. Not a wise thing to try."


Okay, the body language is just too much. Really, this kid needs to learn some self control. Fine - he's provided an opening, so what the hell.

"That's a very good thing to know," I tell him, honestly, concerning the bad idea it is to disrupt the symbols. "Now, for another concern - what exactly is your problem with me? I thought we'd worked out our issues from last night to your satisfaction. If not, then perhaps you should tell me what it will take. I - and more importantly Eli - don't have time for guessing games. Spit it out and we'll address it. I can't defend or change behavior that I haven't been told is offensive."

Passive aggressive little shit. If he'd been direct with me last night, maybe I could have captured Eli before his backup arrived. Maybe I could have stopped him before he got all those summons ready. Maybe the inn wouldn't have burned and those people wouldn't have died. I will not let this little prima dona throw any more lives on the pyre of his pride!

... and if he doesn't spit it out in a moment, I'm going to stop being considerate of his feelings and tell him as much.

-- Drusia
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Jack Rothwell
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Re: Goriel and beyond, part 4

Post by Jack Rothwell »

"<Oooo-kay... the gate is open. They can get around that way... right? Now I'll just back out of the hut and creep back and everything'll...>"

"Hey!" Called a voice behind her. Tamina turned and saw a lone man, hastily tucking his shirt in and making his way over. The kobold saw the rifle slung over his back. "What are you doing here?"

"Don't point at me!" Tamina cried, staring at the man's extended hand. "Know where that's been!"

The man blushed furiously and took his eyes off the intruder to unsling his gun.

The kobold channeled and blurred her way to the target with stars of fatigue exploding in her eyes. She connected with an awkward elbow and dropped the guard in his tracks, then made a revolted noise and pawed hastily at the spot his clutching hands had brushed. Grimacing further at the mess of monster goo and human blood which was now drying and sticking on her skin and fur. She dragged the unconscious man back inside his hut, panting heavily as she did, then took off back towards the mine, muttering breathlessly as she went.

"<If I ever... get out of here, I'm... taking a bath that'll... last til next summer. I have... never been... so uncomfortable in my own skin... as I am... right now.>"

Shuddering, gasping and pawing at herself, the kobold disappeared into darkness once more.
Alberich
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Re: Goriel and beyond, part 4

Post by Alberich »

With a low scramble Tamina got under the front skull, into the darkness where they'd originally entered the mine. This was towards the east side of the mountain (with the other exit on the north side); now it was afternoon, the sun was away from here, and it was much darker. Which is to say, better for the kobold. She could take the long path or scramble down the cliff again. And looking down that cliff - her sharp, night-seeing, kobold eyes spotted something --

Udo's staff, caught on a ledge, right where he'd lost it.

It was easy enough to scramble down, recover the staff, and enter the open gate...the short passage, then the higher, stinky room, where the four-headed monster had died. And just in time - someone up above apparently set the mechanism off again --

ClankclankclankclankclankclankCLANK!!!!

...and she was trapped again. But now the way back past the copper-goblin's shaft and to where her friends were waiting, it was clear.

Below, Jamie and Udo heard a distant echo of a Boom! but didn't know what it meant.

* * *

"Now, for another concern - what exactly is your problem with me? I thought we'd worked out our issues from last night to your satisfaction. If not, then perhaps you should tell me what it will take. I - and more importantly Eli - don't have time for guessing games. Spit it out and we'll address it. I can't defend or change behavior that I haven't been told is offensive."

Fat chance! She wanted lessons in how to hide her true nature to manipulate him better? Surely elves were masters at that already?

"Eli doesn't have time for us to go over the whole history of humans and elves." And I'm not going to do it with you anyway. He was chary even of discussing theology with a Reformist - they were so proud of their knowledge of the Scriptures, and their ability to interpret it...they could trip you up on a detail you didn't know. Far better to have the Church, as an institution, handle the doctrinal side, with Cardinals and Church Advocates for those parts. Let a junior priest like himself concentrate on what really mattered - caring for souls, not preparing for debates. "Your words and your actions show your true nature, and your true attitudes. As they should. I'm working with you to save Eli. Let that suffice."

There was no way a few words from him would teach her to treat humans as anything like her equals - only threats would do that, and he wasn't going to make threats. The only threat he could make required him to survive long enough to make it back to Veracia, and he didn't want to threaten anyway.
Last edited by Alberich on July 12th, 2012, 3:14 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Drannin
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Re: Goriel and beyond, part 4

Post by Drannin »

Argus nodded solemnly. "As it happens, I fear we must take our leave of you regardless. There is important business we must attend to, and thus our departure must by needs be imminent. I pray that your clan takes no offense at this sudden departure; rest assured that your hospitality has been beyond the call of duty, and we shall remember and speak of you fondly for all time." Argus threw in some more nice-sounding words, but the meaning was clear: Clan Cleiviein was politely taking its leave to deal with pressing matters.
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Re: Goriel and beyond, part 4

Post by Alberich »

His extreme verbosity and protestations of grief notwithstanding, it wasn't too hard to see that Sevastien was not at all put out by this latest development. Hardly surprising - this clan had a lot on its "mind" right now. (Even now, Lord Shashenka was entertaining emissaries from Clan Chepilesky...on an errand most irritating to the Second Clan.) Leave was easily if slowly taken - but taken it was.
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Jack Rothwell
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Re: Goriel and beyond, part 4

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After a long scream of anger, colorfully punctuated with every curse the kobold knew (in both the languages she knew), Tamina ran down the mine and eventually caught back up with Udo and Jaime, on the same side this time. She approached without her usual 'hi-hi-hi' and instead thrust the (now sticky) staff into it's owner's surprised arms, she leaned past and glared at the blob which was still occupying the chamber beyond.

"Fucking gate closed 'gain!" She exclaimed and then, pointing at the blob monster. "Shoot the thing? With the thing? Then go dis-emb... disemdow... ahh... do really bad things to the man who shut the gate, k?"
Alberich
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Re: Goriel and beyond, part 4

Post by Alberich »

Udo's grin mixed predatory fierceness with pure joy - an end to their boredom at last! The staff blazed with life, and he turned to the tan monster -- and in honor of Tamina's adoption of some good ol' human military vocabulary, he yelled out Killikah Drit! and opened fire.

BOOM!!! BOOM!!! BOOM!!!! -- and what his staff didn't do, kobold fury did. "HURT! HURT! HURT! OW! OW! OW! HEAL! HEAL! HEAL!" They had a path through its middle in moments - and were on the other side, though their boots could use a little cleaning, it was true.

With Udo to light the way, even the humans could make it back up to the other entrance now. But the light drew a new horror -- a set of spider-like creatures, scrambling up a passage to the side. Each had five legs, stretching out from its globbly little body, and used them to run along several walls at once. The problem was, these creatures' nasty little mouths didn't give them a lot of attack reach. Anyone with a sword or even a long knife -- like the ones Udo was carrying, for example -- could dispatch them easily. Udo and Jamie did it with glee, keeping from the louder weapons as they were closer to the entrance now.

Soon enough, they were at the unguarded north entrance to the mine, and Tamina showed them how to exit under the skull to avoid the alarm. That brought them out into sweet, blessed open air, and rough, sneak-alongable ground. Besides which, by now the sun was starting to sink - and with just a little more waiting, the enemy's camp was their playground and escape route.

Tamina was their guide, readily enough. And there was really only one building their target might be in - the toughest building of them all, part wood and part stone. There'd been no loopholes for Tamina to spy through. As they crept up the back, an older fellow opened the window and poked his head out. Whack! went the butt of Jamie's pistol -- and he was out. From a closer look, he was not the target, so she made it in through the window easily.

The room was very secure, and there were guards out front. Marks in the dust showed that some heavy boxes had been moved out of here recently. Perhaps they'd contained money and gemstones - there were no such things here now, anyway. The one thing that was left was a safe -- a very dramatic-looking safe -- the kind of safe used to keep Very Important Papers Containing Useful Information. It would take lots of gunpowder or acid or even artillery, or a combination, or the combination, to get it open.

But as the thing was cracked open already, Jamie had an easy enough time looking inside. It contained only papers. On top was a letter from someone named "Kiril Vanyevich," urgently requesting someone named "Nikolai Borisovich" to send all the funds possible by fast wagon with heavy guards. It was dated today. Underneath were lots of other papers, letters, and account books -- things that someone with more time, and a lot more patience, than Jamie might tease meaning out of. Maybe they'd contain a clue about the target they were seeking - but this might not be the time or place to study them. Between Tamina's thorough scouting of the afternoon, and their adventure in the mines, one thing was pretty clear - there was no Very Important Evil Wizard Target Dude to be found around here.

So - what would Jamie do?

[OOC: If the other group's heading north, they'll meet first the Gibazov wagon heading urgently south - then Rip and Shorty - and then, if these folks head south, these folks.]
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Jack Rothwell
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Re: Goriel and beyond, part 4

Post by Jack Rothwell »

Whatever thinking the humans were doing at that moment was secondary to the kobold's primary concern. She cast around in a circle, looking for the thing she craved.

"<There's got to be one around here somewhere...>" She meandered around the camp while the pair continued their discussion, turned a corner and found it. She grinned, crouched and took a running jump.

The loud splash brought Udo and Jaime running. They found the kobold seconds later, bathing in a horse trough, fully clothed and scrubbing furiously in water that was rapidly turning a sickly-looking pink colour.

"Wet's bad, flithy's worse." She said, as an explanation.
Alberich
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Re: Goriel and beyond, part 4

Post by Alberich »

The noise of course drew attention and pursuit - leaving them fleeing pell-mell, with due and appropriate slapstick and whatever papers Jamie cared to steal, through the evening gloom. At the cliff they'd climbed up, Tamina's claws and agility got her down easily. There was no time for a rope. Udo tried something else.

Pulling Jamie to him tightly, he grunted, "grab me!" (Why was part of him expecting a kiss for luck?) He lifted his staff high - and it sprouted a pair of little magic-force wings - no good for flying, but at least they could glide. Leaping off the cliff, and shedding a few papers in the process, they glided to the ground outside the Gibazov mine area, whence they made good their escape.
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Drusia
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Re: Goriel and beyond, part 4

Post by Drusia »

"Eli doesn't have time for us to go over the whole history of humans and elves." He was chary even of discussing theology with a Reformist - they were so proud of their knowledge of the Scriptures, and their ability to interpret it...they could trip you up on a detail you didn't know. Far better to have the Church, as an institution, handle the doctrinal side, with Cardinals and Church Advocates for those parts. Let a junior priest like himself concentrate on what really mattered - caring for souls, not preparing for debates. "Your words and your actions show your true nature, and your true attitudes. As they should. I'm working with you to save Eli. Let that suffice."

"So it's just racism?" I ask, tilting my head. "You hate me because I'm an elf and that's... it? Wow. Okay, that... I can work with. Part of the job description and all."

It's rather sad, really. The only person who was nice to Eli is so close minded that he can't even open up to the possibility that an individual from a race might be different than the rest. One wonders how he managed to open up to Eli in the first place.

It seems I'm being sent off with Argus to pick up Desiree. Not quite how I planned to handle this, but it seems like they're leaving town now. I hope Desiree isn't too disapointed.

To Argus (out of earshot of Tim or Rose) I say "I honestly didn't expect to find that sort of attitude here." I tilt my head back, indicating Tim. "He kind of reminds me of a Cimmerii. How can an enlightened individual such as yourself stand to be around mindless hatred like that?"

-- Drusia

OOC: That worked out halariously well. Drusia totally missed the "you enslaved my people" subtext, but has actually got Tim nailed as the human version of a Cimmerii (or close enough).
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