The search for Brother Dalton, part 2

[Graybeard]

The businessman blinked at Desiree in momentary surprise, then his features became flat again. (They might have had just a bit of approval to them that hadn't been there previously. They might not have. It was hard to say.) <"Ah, you are capable of mind-speech,"> the words sounded in Desiree's head. <"That is good, very good. It may simplify certain proceedings. One moment, please."> He turned toward where the other four principals were beginning to have a set-to.

The two battlemages blinked in considerably greater surprise than the businessman had shown, one after the other. Then the Binding around Tamina simply disappeared. However, she and Tim weren't out of the magical woods yet, not entirely. As they tried to walk back to the ticket counter (where the agent had broken into a cold sweat), they found that they were moving slowly and clumsily, as though walking through a flood of molasses. The businessman nodded calmly at this observation.

He turned his attention back to Desiree. "Your suggestion of a quiet lunch is satisfactory," he said. "Let us proceed. I hasten to emphasize, however: this must be a private conversation." He didn't have to nod back toward Tim and Tamina for his meaning to be clear.

[Alberich]

Tim didn't keep fighting the magic - and walking over to the ticket counter would be pointless anyway. While he thought that he himself had released Tamina, it was obvious this this new magic was coming from that wizard...who seemed to have a hold of Desiree and Anfisa. The girls weren't running away the way they should have been, but they seemed to be facing that villain while he mesmerized them into going off alone with him. And was Tim going to stand by and watch while the sparrow gazed into the serpent's eye? No!

The wizard might be a countryman of these guards, but he wasn't in uniform, and if he'd been an official here he wouldn't have used mind magic on the ticket clerk. Tim had him pegged for a slaver who hung around here looking for excuses to get attractive young ladies to go off alone with him for help with their "travel passes." And end up the way Desiree had on their previous sojourn. That couldn't be allowed. He couldn't do it by brute force, but why should he need to? He was a priest of a friendly power, the Tsuirakuans had some concept of law and order, and this man was a menace to it.

So Tim pointed right at the business-suited wizard and made a loud accusation to the two battlemages - "That wizard over there, in the suit! He did mind magic on your ticket clerk and you and he's trying to abduct our companions!"

Listing those two pretty, sweet, but unchaste girls as his "companions" played right into certain Tsuirakuan prejudices about the Church. Especially since the "our" encompassed a bipedal feline female type. But Tim wasn't thinking about that. He went on,

"Call for backup! Stop him! Guards!"

Tim figured the wizard couldn't do his damnable mind magic on everyone who'd seen and heard. But then, Tim was an optimist by faith.

[Graybeard]

Quick mind-speech flashed between the two battlemages, and they restored, and tightened, their grips on Tim's arm. "That will do, sir," the man of the two instructed him firmly; by now they'd figured out that he was a priest of that barbarian cult, maybe he'd be less inclined to do something stupid if a man was giving the orders.

The growing ruckus had attracted the attention of another battlemage who didn't carry a Yuuki staff, but who had insignia on his uniform suggesting someone a notch or two up the food chain. Accompanying this individual was a man in the uniform of the usually nominal Farrel police force. It might be "usual" for that force to function in name only, but here at the warp gate was an exception. This particular cadre of cops had successfully resisted infiltration by the Eisenfaust and Gewehr and Ralkin and the other mobs. (The closer relationship between Tsuiraku and security at the airport may have had something to do with that.) They also worked closely with the Tsuirakuan Homeland Security people. (That too.) Finally, they were at least generally competent. (That too.)

The uniformed cop hadn't drawn his gun yet, but his hand was on his night stick ([OOC: that night stick...[OOC]) and his demeanor suspicious as he approached. The higher-ranking Tsuirakuan frowned and his face went momentarily blank as he spoke mind-to-mind with the battlemage who was having the lesser difficulty in controlling Tim and Tamina. He nodded and turned to the cop. "Disturbing the peace..." The cop nodded back and drew the night stick.

----------

None of this was known (apparently) to the businessman, now politely holding the door for Desiree and Anfisa as they headed for Geno's. (An observer might have noticed that the movement of the door was accomplished entirely by magic that had flowed almost unseen from the man's hand, but what would an observer know?)

"I must apologize for my brusqueness," the man said conversationally (if still blandly). "The circumstances of our encounter here do not permit me to be in uniform. However, if I were, you would recognize me from your most informative debriefing session at the barbarian temple headquarters a few days ago." He let that sink in as he waved the women forward.

As they stepped through the door, a quick mind-speech registered in Desiree's head.

<"That young priest of the barbarian false god who was trying to protect you in the gate, or do something ... he is a bit -- unstable, is he not?">

----------

[OOC: Gonna put one short line in Argus' mouth here; feel free to add more, D.]

"What's taking them so long?" Sister Rose fretted to Argus at the airship. The Tsuirakuan warp gates functioned with a smoothness and efficiency rarely seen in Veracian society; she knew that from her own travels to and from Kiyoka. By now Desiree and Anfisa should at least be in the comfortable waiting lounge at the gate, if not already transferred to their new lives. Tim and Tamina should be back here at the airship, and they should all be getting ready to lift off and search for Therese, wherever she was.

Argus sighed deeply. (Rose realized she'd become quite attached to that sigh.) "Don't expect anything involving those four to go as quickly and smoothly as it would for, say, everyone else in the known universe."

Rose chuckled. "Point." She brushed the man she loved with a quick, chaste kiss -- Father Amalric seemed too busy with pre-flight to notice, but she still didn't want to be too provocative. "We'll give them another half hour, then see what we can do."

Out from under a control panel, Harker peered at the couple, rolling his eyes.

[Alberich]

"That will do, sir,"

"Oh no it will NOT!!!" shouted Tim. "Unhand me at once! That wizard just abducted two young women out from under your noses while you were dancing on his puppet strings! If you get after them you might still save them!" If they refused he was going to demand they contact the Temple at once, and also to speak with their commander.

It was pretty obvious the mystery wizard been using his magic to control these mages as well as the ticket clerk, and given the large and overt magic he'd done to slow down Tim and Tamina, surely any mage here could've seen what was going on. Tim could not fathom why they were so sanguine about that while they were doing their damnedest to create a diplomatic incident with the Veracian Temple. It didn't occur to Tim that this wizard could have wiped everyone's memories of what had just happened, leaving Tim and Tamina alone to remember it.

...meantime, no doubt Tamina had her own reaction, at speed (maybe going after the girls?).

[OOC: And I should probably stop moving Tim 'til there's more of a chance for other people to act. 'course, if the boys get to work with that nightstick, he might stop moving all by himself...]

[OOC2: Tim is not going along quietly when he thinks there's a slave abduction going on. He didn't hear the mind speech between Desiree and the wizard before the wizard's reply out loud - which makes that reply sound like the "Jedi mind trick" from Tim's POV...so, anyway, Tim's firmly and wrongly convinced that she's under the wizard's domination.]

[Graybeard]

The fracas with Tim was beginning to attract the attention of the few other travelers in the warp-gate terminal. The two battlemages were finding themselves torn: they'd just been informed, by a very superior officer, that they should stand down. Yet the person who'd caused the uproar to begin with (from their point of view, anyway) was getting more and more belligerent. They responded with a half measure: their grips on Tim's arm tightened, but they both left their Yuuki staffs holstered.

The higher-ranking battlemage glared at the scene, thinking, just what you expect when one of those barbarian priests gets a bug up his ass from his mass hallucination. He growled to the Farrelian cop, "Get someone from the Veracian temple over here on the double." Then he got in Tim's face. "Sir, I'm only going to say this one more time. Settle down. Now."

The cop shrugged his shoulders and headed for the exit. "Where's an elf when you need one?" he muttered to himself. [OOC: Wouldn't it be entertaining if Tamina heard that?...]

---------------

Geno's was in a mid-afternoon lull and all but unoccupied as the unlikely trio entered. The businessman nodded approvingly; that would make things easier. He motioned to the waitress. "If you would be so kind, please bring tea for three." (Of course, he could have summoned a full tea service out of thin air, but appearances had to be maintained.) As she went off to get a teapot, a puzzled look on her face (it had probably been weeks if not months since she'd had a request like that), the businessman snapped his fingers. The air around the trio got that greasy feel that suggested that a Damping spell had been cast. In fact, there was more to it than that: not only sound, but also light, emerging from the vicinity of the table would be garbled beyond the point of intelligibility to an observer.

"There," the man said, directing his words primarily to Desiree, whom he'd deduced was slightly the senior of the pair of women. "Now we can have a proper conversation in privacy. As I said, I believe I can offer some small assistance in meeting your needs ..."

Magic flared momentarily again, and the man's appearance changed as a particularly powerful Illusion spell was dismissed.

"...Priestess," Captain Kitaura, now in his uniform, completed his sentence.

[Jack Rothwell]

OOC Did the businessman use some kind of teleport to whisk Desiree and Anfisa away? Because atm it reads like they got to Geno's in the time it took Tamina to stand up. Can we make some kind of retro-edit to make that look like the case? Because if Tamina chased after them she'd have caught them in about 5 seconds flat. I can't make a reply that makes sense until then. If that edit's ok, and someone wants to push this forward before I'm on again (got a long stretch of hours coming up), feel free to say Tamina ran out, saw the flash, then doubled back to tell Tim the women were gone./OOC

[Graybeard]

OOC:

OOC Did the businessman use some kind of teleport to whisk Desiree and Anfisa away? Because atm it reads like they got to Geno's in the time it took Tamina to stand up. Can we make some kind of retro-edit to make that look like the case? Because if Tamina chased after them she'd have caught them in about 5 seconds flat. I can't make a reply that makes sense until then. If that edit's ok, and someone wants to push this forward before I'm on again (got a long stretch of hours coming up), feel free to say Tamina ran out, saw the flash, then doubled back to tell Tim the women were gone./OOC

As so often when the action gets fast and furious, sequencing is a problem here because of the differing rates at which different people are available to post. However, I don't think a retcon is needed here. Part of the idea behind the Tanglefoot spell (I had this in mind when Kitaura cast it) was to create an excuse to slow the action inside the terminal down by some indeterminate amount -- a slight, short-lived slowdown if people would be available to respond immediately with posts, a longer-lasting effect that would bog Tim and Tamina down for a while if slower-paced postings were necessary.

In any event, Kitaura is very adept at covering his tracks, and it would be entirely reasonable to assume that the Tanglefoot lasted a minute or two or three; Tamina rushed outside, spitting fire and venom, as soon as it expired; and by then, Desiree, Anfisa and Kitaura had simply vanished. The details of how that happened are left as an exercise for the reader.

[Alberich]

[OOC: Regardless, I'm going to hold off on moving any more forward in that terminal 'til Jack and Drusia have had a chance to write their responses so please do not make any assumptions about what Tim is doing or not doing 'til then. Unless someone whacks him on the head and knocks him unconscious, in which case you can assume he is lying unconscious.

Given the nature of this scene, I do think we both wrote a little too fast past Tamina and Desiree and am going to try not to do that in the future, and will be glad to go along with any retconning or edits that may be needed.]

[Jack Rothwell]

Tamina, for her part during the tanglefoot shenanigans, had tried to get up, fallen, tried again, fallen, then finally given up and half-limped, half-crawled after the departing trio, making it to the entrance a minute and change after they'd disappeared through it. She'd pulled to her feet on legs which were finally cooperating and stepped out into the sunshine.

And found them gone without a trace.

"Well... cabra*."

As the Tim was discussing the subject of church representatives with the unrepentantly blockheaded gate security he heard the kobold running back, calling in human speak more broken than usual in her excitement.

"Tim! Lost 'em! Bad man took 'em 'way! Need the tracking magics or somethin'!"

*-shit.

OOC Sorted ./OOC

[Drusia]

"I must apologize for my brusqueness," the man said conversationally (if still blandly). "The circumstances of our encounter here do not permit me to be in uniform. However, if I were, you would recognize me from your most informative debriefing session at the barbarian temple headquarters a few days ago." He let that sink in as he waved the women forward.
As they stepped through the door, a quick mind-speech registered in Desiree's head.
<"That young priest of the barbarian false god who was trying to protect you in the gate, or do something ... he is a bit -- unstable, is he not?">
Geno's was in a mid-afternoon lull and all but unoccupied as the unlikely trio entered. The businessman nodded approvingly; that would make things easier. He motioned to the waitress. "If you would be so kind, please bring tea for three."
"There," the man said, directing his words primarily to Desiree, whom he'd deduced was slightly the senior of the pair of women. "Now we can have a proper conversation in privacy. As I said, I believe I can offer some small assistance in meeting your needs ..."
Magic flared momentarily again, and the man's appearance changed as a particularly powerful Illusion spell was dismissed.
"...Priestess," Captain Kitaura, now in his uniform, completed his sentence.

<"A bit, yes,"> I agree. <"That probably would have gone better if I'd had a chance to make it clear that I was leaving according to my own will. I'm not really sure what Tamina was even doing there."> I'll have to send them a note to let them know I'm okay.

Once we're situated, I continue verbally.

"Priestess Desiree," I say, offering him my hand. "And your name, officer...?"

-- Desiree

OOC: I doubt Desiree would recognize his uniform. I think proper introductions are in order.