Farrel: Ladies' Day Out

[Graybeard]

[OOC:

[OOC Arriving at The Red Rose on my next post. Is Alec Fredriel a character you just made up Grey? If he is, I'm picturing him as Don Cornello from a little known game called Final Fantasy VII./OOC]

He's brand new, and I have no idea who he is. Invent something. He's important enough in Lorrel that the Eisenfaust likes to keep him happy ... and he obviously likes catgirls. The rest is up to you. /OOC:]

Elke looked at Jamie, wishing she could remember the script. Well, in any event, it wouldn't apply until the others were rounded up, and that was starting to look less than imminent. She decided to wing it.

"I still can't go into all the details," she said, "but we are recruiting for a small expedition to the Far North, to activate a thing that, once activated, promises that expedition riches beyond imagining." The ones that survive, anyway. "The skills needed for that expedition are -- unusual. You have them. We still need to find two or three other party members. Your friend with the skeleton is another candidate, but we've lost track of him. Come on inside, I can tell you more there." She motioned toward the warehouse.

[Jack Rothwell]

The Red Rose rolled into view as the cart meandered it's way down the paved street. The rest of the journey had gone without incident much to the merchant's relief. As they pulled outside the gaudy looking building a man stepped out to greet them.

Alec Fredriel was a large, middle-aged individual with a penchant for flashy clothes better suited someone less spherical in shape. His nature was no less extroverted, he threw his arms open theatrically at the sight of them.

"Well if it isn't my favourite associates! Mr Loklier! What have you brought for me today?"

Robin fought to keep the annoyance from his face as the flamboyant man approached. Reminding himself of how prominent a businessman Alec was and how much revenue the Eisenfaust received in protection payments and trade from him. It wouldn't do to rock the boat, especially considering the man's fondness for the nature of their cargo.

"Good day to you, Mr Fredriel. We just got an acquisition from our seafaring friends we knew you'd be interested in. Boys? The cage?"

The underlings hefted the busted container onto the street and pulled back the cloth, the businessman waddled his way over and took a measure of the cargo. His mouth went dry. Robin's skin crawled.

"Oh my, Mr Loklier." He breathed. "I believe you've outdone yourself, although the wrapping seems to be somewhat damaged."

"Well, you know, wood... damp weather... tends to crack when rocking on a wagon."

"I fell." Came a small voice from inside the cage.

"She's vocal." Said Robin hurredly. "But who knows what the kobolds understanding of our language is?"

"Speak yooman jus' fine." Came the reply. Robin tensed, but the other laughed delightedly and clapped his hands.

"Marvelous! Well that cuts down on training time by months! I'll take her Mr Loklier, speak to my secretary to work out the details. Now lets get her settled in, shall we?"

[Sareth]

"Yeah, sure," Jamie responded. "Sounds good. We can hash out the details inside." Internally, her thoughts were spinning. Big cash pay out, sponsorship from a group that seems inclined to keep her ass from being perforated, respect... Yeah, this certainly sounded like a good thing. She'd negotiate a decent deal, get the straight dope on things, then wander off for a beer. And maybe a little more. She'd just have to get direction to that 'Rose' place. "Just no more Mickey Finns, alright?"

[Graybeard]

"Sounds good. We can hash out the details inside. ... Just no more Mickey Finns, alright?"

Elke smiled; the tracking potion had been a success. "Deal. The negotiations will have to wait a while, though. There are a couple other people who'll want to meet you before we finalize things, and it'll take some time to get them here. For now, just go enjoy the city ... and don't do anything so stupid that we can't rescue you."

[Jack Rothwell]

To call The Red Rose a seedy place would be to overlook the money that Alec Fredriel had sunk into it since its founding. It was a 'high-class' establishment for ladies and gentlemen with a particular itch to scratch. As Alec led the Eisenfaust inside an observer would've taken in the huge size of the bar area. It was an open space with the bar itself running almost the entire length of the wall. There were brightly coloured banners, statues and chandeliers decorating the place in splashes of colour.

However, even decor as flashy and tasteless as the type Alec liked wouldn't have held the attention of an observer for long in face of the 'merchandise' on display. There were women, there were men, and there even a couple of of humanoids that resembled the kobold, all of whom were scantily clad and doing a brisk trade with the increasingly drunk clientelle. Some were flirting their way around the main area, some were hanging overhead in fancily embroidered cages ('the special offers' as Alec called them), a few were making their way up the flight of stairs that led to the balcony area and the rooms that lined it with grinning customers in tow. Somewhere in a corner a band played some old dance number just about hearable over the hustle and bustle taking place.

Robin broke off from the convoy to speak with the pretty lady at the entrance, who passed for Alec's secretary, about turning a profit from his latest acquisition while Alec directed the man's underlings to lead the downcast kobold through a room at the back of the bar. She was hobbling slightly, as if she'd landed awkwardly on the fall she'd taken earlier. The goons held her arms tightly as she limped behind the owner.

"Be careful with the little darling!" He called, pulling a set of keys out of his pocket as they entered what looked like a storage area bedecked with crates and bottles of alcoholic content. Alec strode (as a far as a man as fat as him could stride) to the back wall and unlocked a more sturdy looking door. The room it led to was surprisingly plain. In fact it was devoid of anything except a single bed and a bucket in the corner. It might've passed for a low-rent room in any given tavern until an onlooker saw the window. Iron bars ran across the length of it from the inside; Alec didn't want anyone passing by the exterior to know someone might've been there against their will. The eisen-goons pushed the kobold onto the bed while Alec continued his carefree dialogue.

"Don't be distressed, my love. I'll bet you're hungry, yes? Was it a long trip? Can you tell me your name?"

The kobold didn't reply to any of the questions. She pulled her legs under her chin and wrapped her arms around them. Alec rolled his eyes in an exaggerated gesture of disapointment.

"I'm sure you'll be feeling more relaxed soon enough. Come on boys. We're intruding in the lady's boudwa."

Alec announced his exit with the heavy noise of the key locking the door behind him. A minute passed in silence. The kobold reached down and felt her ankle with a wince. She closed her eyes and wrapped an extremity somewhere between a hand and a paw around the injured area.

"Heal." She whispered. A faint green glow emanated from her palm.

[Sareth]

"Trust me," Jamie replied. "Would I do something that stupid?"

Ignoring the sudden expression of extreme concern to cross Elke's face, Jamie turned and headed further into town. "This is going to be fun," she quipped to Nera, who giggled back at her. "I could use a good beer."

At the first crossroad she snagged a passing traveler and asked for directions to "that Rose place." After being given a rather peculiar look, she was given the directions she desired, and soon she found herself walking through the heavy but well appointed doors. As soon as her eyes adjusted, she whistled.

"Wooo. This is a swank place. Maybe I should have taken a bath first."

"Yeah, would have been nice," the doorman replied. "And left the kid home, too."

"I just got into town. No place to get a baby sitter. Maybe you'd like the job?"

"Uh... No thanks."

Jamie grinned and walked in settling herself at the table. She took in the sites and gave a nod. "Yep. This'll do..."

[OOC]How are we wanting to NPC the place? Greybeard? Jack? Or should I just run with things?[/OOC]

[Jack Rothwell]

OOC I think the Rose is a good place to go nuts in with NPC's, so if you've got ideas go ahead and indulge them. There's gonna be at least 3 barmen/barmaids to cover the business at the bar, plus a couple of serving girls/guys for high-rollers/glass collection/emptying ashtrays and so on. Plus the **ahem** 'working people' which includes tarted up men, women and cat girls (a couple, which is a lot fewer than Alec would like) a dozen or more workers in total probably. Alec himself will be mincing around somewhere if you wanna interact with him (profiles in the npc gallery) along with a few dozen customers who are likely to be wealthy and inhebriated. Theres a tonne of mischeif for a character like Jaime to get up to certainly. Speaking of which.../OOC


Business in The Red Rose was picking up as the sun dipped towards the horizon. Certainly a few of the clientelle, not to mention Alec's 'employee's' took notice of the teenager with the infant when she came strolling into the room. Although Alec himself at that point had fixed his attention on one of his 'canaries' hanging from a cage some fifteen feet above with a leering expression.

A particulary handsome looking man, wearing an outfit so far from conservative it was a dot on the horizon, sauntered his way over to the young woman with a dazzling smile on his face.

"Pretty lady with a baby." He crooned. "You brightened up the place the moment you stepped inside. It's criminal that you don't have a drink in your hand. How about we adjourn to the bar for a chat?" [OOC I'm just pitching this random guy like a baseball, do whatever you like with him /OOC]

........

Two doors away the unfortunate kobold had managed to work herself up from self-pity to rising anger. She'd gotten off the bed and was trying the handle to no avail. She pulled the the rigid potral in time with her words.

"Want- to get- out! Don't- like it- here! Want- to get- out!"

[Graybeard]

Elke watched Jamie go, shaking her head all the time -- and yet with a wry smile on her face. I was like that once ...

She turned back to the warehouse, where two errands needed to be done. First, she needed to talk to her thaumato-techie, to get him back monitoring the locator that Jamie had imbibed. If she understood correctly, it would still work for another week or so -- and keeping tabs on the girl's location and activities during that week promised to be ... entertaining.

Second, there was a conference call to be made.

[OOC: And with that, Elke is going to fade into the background noise for now. I'm not sure how much more I'm going to be doing in this scenario for a while, but you two have things well in hand, so go for it! Let's also see if we can get some more people involved; Jack's right, the Rose seems like it's tailor made for introducing curious characters. And if there's anything you need from me, say the word...]

[ComradeHavok]

Outside of the Red Rose, there was a rather unusual sight. A medium sized covered wagon approached along the dusty road. However, this wagon wasn't hauled by any sort of draft beast, instead it appeared to be hauled by a seven foot tall humanoid figure made out of basalt. A cloaked figure sat at the driver's seat, with what appeared to be a fish floating around its head. Clearly this was a wizard, and all signs pointed towards Tsuirakuan.

"Ugh. This place is a dump." A young woman's voice came from under the hood. The fish's expression seemed to get more serious, but it didn't say anything. "This one had better be the right one..". The wagon came to a stop outside of the tavern, and the young lady hopped down from her perch and pulled down her hood. She was rather pretty, though not strikingly so, and obviously of tsuirakuan descent. "Alright, Ozy, guard the wagon, Don't let anyone touch anything, okay?" She said to the large basalt figure, which snapped a sharp salute. Himiko proceeded to rummage through the back of the wagon for a few minutes before stepped out again holding a book and some rolls of paper. Koibert floated lazily overhead, apparently deep in thought.

Himiko took a deep breath of (relatively) fresh air outside of the bar before stepping through the threshold..

[Jack Rothwell]

The band revived from its lackluster efforts and struck up a louder, more upbeat number as the newcomer arrived in the bar. Alec made a whooping noise and hijacked one of his 'cat girls' for a waltz around the room. Many of the drunker clientelle, not needing much of an excuse anyway, made their way over and joined in with varying degrees and grace and precision.

One of the barmen, polishing a surprisingly clean glass, rolled his eyes theatrically and tipped a nod to the young woman.

"They get worse every time the sun goes down." He commented. "Drink, ma'am?"


OOC Planning on things picking up in a post or two. Use the array of npc's in any you like Comrade./OOC