Tsuiraku-town, part 3

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Jack Rothwell
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Re: Tsuiraku-town, part 3

Post by Jack Rothwell »

Martin yanked his ride to a halt a few dozen feet from the store as the echo from the force bolt roared across the nearby street. Apparently it seemed that diplomacy had decided to take the day off. He dismounted, tore off his hat and jacket to free himself up and drew the six-shooter. He took a deep breath, then scurried quietly over and planted himself at the edge of the doorway.

As he waited for the other two men to catch up (mentally chiding himself for being the first one to head over) he stole a quick glance into the building to see what they were dealing with. The men in masks had unveiled their peculier bundles to reveal a couple of yukki staffs, and were using them to hold the people inside at spellpoint. Martin felt an odd sense of nostalgia as he thumbed back the hammer of his weapon. He looked over to the approaching men and silently mouthed two words.

"What now?"
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Re: Tsuiraku-town, part 3

Post by Hours »

Thinking back on it, Gault could quite likely guess what Ace had been about to say. He'd worked with and against the Gewehr on seperate occasions, but in the end he could have believed both of the things Ace was thinking and saying.

'Stay in back with baron von peacock then. I don't want your death putting a damper on my plans for your girlfriend.'

Gault hopped down from the cart, clearing the distance back to the liquor store and didn't even look down at Martin as he asked what was next. If ever there was an answer as to how Gault could survive in a gunslinger's world without any sort of precision weapon that was so common these days, it was here. First few steps in the door Gault untied the sling on his supposedly severely burnt arm and slunk into the liquor store with a silent speed that would make any Gewehr proud enough to call themself Wraith proud.

There was a little clack as Gault raised his extending truncheon, the two mages turning to face the noise letting him bring it down hard across one's face, causing him to stagger back into a rack of bottles, his kerchief rapidly turning red with blood, Gault in a pinch dropping onto a forward evasive dive-and-roll to avoid the retaliatory shot from the second mage. He didn't bother to use any of his better tricks, had he done so it would have been disastrous for a number of reasons, but he'd been in more than enough scuffles with mages and men with long rifles to know how to handle himself up close.

'Fancy Pants! Cover fire!'
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Re: Tsuiraku-town, part 3

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Later, after the survivors were patched up (and the one non-survivor's corpse had also been dealt with), Ace would speculate as to whether what happened next might have been prevented with a more ... cautious ... approach. He would conclude, however, that it probably couldn't have been, old buildings, Yuuki staffs and Force Bolts being what they were.

Even standing outside the building, he could hear Stevo's drunken curse as he regained consciousness. Stevo wasn't nearly as imposing a figure as Oskar (few were), but he was still a large-economy-sized side of beef, and when he threw himself out of bed to search for a shotgun and deal with whatever was happening downstairs, the impact on the floor was just too much for beams broken and charred by the Force Bolt to withstand.

The curse turned into a more generic "GAAAAA!!" as Stevo crashed through the floor ... followed by his bunk ... followed by another large piece of furniture ... followed by much of the floor itself, and so on ...

... And landed below, partly on the two hoods, partly on Gault, partly on Oskar, but largely on the inventory of libations lining the shelves -- which, of course, toppled over themselves and joined the fun.

After a few shocked seconds, silence descended on the scene, apart from a drip-drip-drip as a ruptured beer barrel continued to disgorge its contents into the debris. Then a huge figure emerged from the carnage, shrugged away a massive severed beam, and dusted itself off.

"Damn," Oskar said, rather unnecessarily. "I coulda told 'em there ain't no money in the till ... Layla's gonna be pissed..."
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Re: Tsuiraku-town, part 3

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At the conclusion of the short battle the only definable expression Martin could muster was astonishment. He'd been raising his arm to put holes in the second yukki staff wielder as the ceiling decided to quit being a ceiling and did his job for him. A sizeable chuck of falling wood had collided with the man's skull with a hollow thud that made the whites of his eyes show and his legs turn elastic. After that, it had been a simple case of ducking out of the doorway as the rest of the first floor became the ground floor and blew a dust cloud out onto the street.

He stood inside now surveying the carnage. He turned a mistrustful eye to the supposedly injured man who had undergone a miraculous 'recovery' to deal with the liquor store's would-be robbers.

"Was that a magic sling or was your arm just tired?" He set his cane down to one side and picked up one of the weapons the troublemakers had brought with them.

"You probably shouldn't mess with that, sir." The mountainous (and still slightly dazed) man said. The 'fop' ignored him, gently turning the weapon over in his hands and whistling faintly under his breath.

"Quite an arsenal for a pair of stick-up kids." He concluded, straightening and keeping the tip of the staff pointed firmly towards the hole it had made earlier. "Perhaps we should ask the surviving gentleman where he and his comrade got these wonderful toys from."
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Re: Tsuiraku-town, part 3

Post by Hours »

As the dust had started to clear, Gault was rather stunned. There was a good chance that he could have dodged it, but he really didn't really see much need to. He just sat there with a few chunks of bed and cieling on top of him, and he was laughing with an inordinate amount of enthusiasm for the circimstances.

'I tell you, the one time I try being badass...' Gault chuckled, 'And I get outshone by a falling bed.'

He was limping now, but otherwise wasn't too worse for wear. He didn't precisely bother to answer Martin's question about his sling, just letting his still bandaged arm hang limp under his coat after he checked for broken pieces of himself. It wasn't as though there was no such thing as pain tolerance. Looking around the carnage he came to a pretty simple conclusion.

'You'll be needing a cleanup service, I hope you have insurance.'

Meanwhile, across the street a scruffy looking tsuirakuan was standing and watching the unfolding carnage and eating a toffee apple. Seishi couldn't believe that this was his target...
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Re: Tsuiraku-town, part 3

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Martin strolled over to the unfortunate, unconscious robber and used the 'safe' end of the yukki staff to prod the man in the ribs. His eyes fluttered as he came swimming back to reality. He coughed the grit out of his teeth and moaned.

"What's-" He began, and froze as his gaze focused on the staff that was now pointed tip-first three inches from his nose.

"A merry morning to you." Martin greeted. "Sorry to wake you up my lad. I was just overcome with curiousity and had to ask you a question. This magic stick of yours..." He placed his hands on the grips that ran up the length of the staff. "Is the firing mechanism triggered just by squeezing these bits here or is there a button I haven't tried yet?"

The failed criminal's mouth opened but nothing but a collection of stuttering syllables fell out.

"Never mind, I can see you're a little indisposed right now. Could you point us in the direction on the gentleman you acquired it from?" He indicated the scary looking men behind him. "My associates and I would look favourably upon you for assistance in that matter."
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Re: Tsuiraku-town, part 3

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"Never mind, I can see you're a little indisposed right now. Could you point us in the direction on the gentleman you acquired it from? My associates and I would look favourably upon you for assistance in that matter."

The hood looked around, didn't like what he saw. Martin could all but see the wheels turning inside his head, such as they were, as his mouth worked, opening and shutting as that of a fish out of water. Eventually the man reached a decision and gulped.

"He's dead, guv. Th' Oshimas offed the toff after we nicked the goods from 'im. He ain't around to take questions no more, just like me mate over there." He nodded toward the remains of the other robber, and "remains" they were; he was lying in the rubble with his neck bent at an impossible angle, and a large piece of glass had sliced messily through arteries and veins and windpipe; the man had been killed at least twice, possibly three times.

A thought occurred to the surviving hood, and he cringed and gulped again. "Guv, please tell me you and your mates ain't Oshimas too ... be yez?"

By this time, Joe, who'd been off running errands somewhere, had arrived at the scene, and Ace spent a quiet minute filling him in on what had happened, as best he could remember it. "Oskar's right, Layla's not going to like this," he concluded. "I'd better go get her." He set off in the carriage ... but not without noticing the other low-life casing the joint, for Luminosita alone knew what reason.

----------

Layla, for her part, was just finishing one of the better souffles she'd ever had, and was enjoying the little coffee shop's view of the park that it abutted. The service had been superb. The proprietors had even found a little oatmeal for Zachary and Galina's slightly older daughter, and the babies were beaming cheerfully at their mothers. Between the meals, the ambience, and the good company, Layla was feeling about as comfortable and relaxed as she'd felt since she arrived in Rinkaiel. Of course, it wouldn't last; Ace was coming with the news of what had happened at the liquor store ... but she also noticed one other thing that interfered with the mood even before he got there.

The shop also offered a "view" of the plain rear of the Temple of the Divine Dwarf. Coincidence? Layla wondered. Or had Galina picked this spot for its surveillance possibilities? She was in the security business too, after all. Either way, the choice of the restaurant was rewarded, as Layla noticed a concealed door opening on the building's wall ... and through it passed the archmage that Galina was going to be meeting.

Even more interesting, before the man gestured and changed his appearance completely (an Illusion spell, no doubt), Layla could see that he'd been talking to someone inside the door who could have been his twin.
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Re: Tsuiraku-town, part 3

Post by Jack Rothwell »

OOC Making an assumption that this geezer won't know where the main Oshima's are since it seems pretty unlikely that he would. Let me know if anyone wants this retconned. Would it be worth asking who the dead guy was the low-lives nicked the staffs off?/OOC


It didn't take a mind scan to see the truth in the robber's words. Martin nodded a 'much obliged'' and carefully levelled the staff away from the man's face.

"No Oshima's in here lad. But it does seem that him and his are really getting around town, aren't they? Would you be able to furnish us with the home location of these men who pull so many strings?"

"No guv. They're secretive types, don't know anyone who knows where they live."

Another truth. Martin gave an exagerated shrug and planted himself in a wooden chair that was missing its back thanks to the recent explosion. For all the excitement it seemed they were staring at a dead end. He scanned the room to see if anyone of the others had any malcontent they wanted to relieve on the vagabond. He waved the weapon at the open doorway.

"Well... bugger off then. Leave valuables on the table for the damage and don't come back, etcetera, etcetera."


edit-bad grammar
Last edited by Jack Rothwell on September 16th, 2010, 12:34 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Tsuiraku-town, part 3

Post by Hours »

Gault settled in to a position against one of the standing shelves that could support his weight. His knee was still throbbing a bit, so he figured he'd patch himself up later after excusing himself to the outhouse, or really maybe the faking wounds thing was a bit much after this long. But there was a niggling detail there that he picked up on. He took out the note from his inner pocket to be sure.

'Hey kid.' Gault called out to the captured hood, 'The guy you took them from: Dasuke Kinabalu, right? The teacher?'
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Re: Tsuiraku-town, part 3

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'The guy you took them from: Dasuke Kinabalu, right? The teacher?'

The young punk was smart enough (barely) to realize that this wasn't the time for a smart-ass comment, but his glare made it clear that he didn't really want to answer Gault's question. There wasn't much choice under the circumstances, though, so ...

"Yeah, that was the toff, guv. Name don't mean nothin' to me except that he had somethin' he shouldn't a' had." He did not add and that my fellow hoodlum and I wanted, but he didn't really need to.
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