Getsemiel, part 2

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Alberich
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Re: Getsemiel, part 2

Post by Alberich »

Udo was one of the first to recover. His magic was nowhere near as strong as Argus' or Maduin's, or even Eli's. His arm wasn't half as strong as Bryce's. But his stomach - that could beat 'em all, or so he liked to think. He was out in front 'til Tamina caught him easily, she being the better huntress, and in better running trim.

They were coming up on a warehouse of some kind, in a seedy part of town that might've been alluring under other circ's. Now he truly wished for the Frontier Blaster - a nice big hole in the wall would make just the right entrance. But he had no hole-maker and had no desire to demonstrate his awesome bare-foot combat skills on that solid-looking door. Someone else would have to make the hole.
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Jack Rothwell
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Re: Getsemiel, part 2

Post by Jack Rothwell »

Tamina skidded to a halt at the warehouse door just as the rest of the group caught up with them. She turned and waved.

"In there!" And, without further elaboration, the kobold channeled.

The spell was a straightforward one, but powerful in its effect. A flash ran over Tamina's body that seemed to stall in her closed fist. A fist which the southern continent native drew back and then drove forward into the closed door, which split down the middle in a wince-inducing crack. The side which wasn't on a hinge teetered backwards and fell.

"S'open!"

Eli ran past her without comment.
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Graybeard
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Re: Getsemiel, part 2

Post by Graybeard »

Sister Rose cringed as the door blew open under Tamina's unexpected spell and Eli shot by, looking like rage incarnate. This wasn't going to end well ... but she had an idea.

"Argus? Can you do anything to tangle up the people in there with things coming out of the floor, until we can sort this all out?"

---------

They weren't going to have much time to plan an attack, though, as the woman and non-maimed man inside the warehouse were recovering from the surprise of the door blowing in, and both were searching for pistols.
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Drannin
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Re: Getsemiel, part 2

Post by Drannin »

"Easily." Argus strode forward calmly, yet with surprising speed. He saw several people inside of the warehouse: a man and a woman, both reaching for guns, another man rolling on the floor in agony, and the aforementioned sack, with someone struggling inside of it. Udo and Tamina were shifting into combat stances. With a shrug, Argus raised a hand, palm up. In response, the stone of the floor flowed up, over the unknown man and woman's legs, and seizing their arms, restraining them. With an additional thought, the man on the ground was restrained as well.

Leaving the unknown thugs to his new companions, Argus walked over to the sack, pulling it open, revealing a familiar half-elf. "Hello, Desiree," Argus said gently, reaching out to unbind her.
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Jack Rothwell
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Re: Getsemiel, part 2

Post by Jack Rothwell »

Eli was beyond articulation at that moment. He could feel the amulet he'd pulled over his head after leaving Telan's warehouse beating against his chest in unison with his heart. He didn't care that the people with guns were restrained, even Desiree turning up relatively safe and sound was a secondary consideration, all he cared about at that moment was taking revenge on the bastards who had the big brass balls to kidnap someone he cared about.

"No! Wait! Don't!"

The half-elf was beyond pleas for mercy. He drew his hands up, angling them at the restrained people, and thrust them downwards in an arcing gesture.

A moment later screams of agony and the smell of burning flesh filled the air.
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Graybeard
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Re: Getsemiel, part 2

Post by Graybeard »

"ELI! NO!!!" Sister Rose practically screamed, but of course, it was too late. Her voice was still echoing in the empty warehouse when it was joined by the KRAAK of lethal magic -- incredibly lethal magic.

As the sound died away, leaving Rose's ears ringing, she paused to survey the scene, wondering just what had got into Eli. To be sure, her sympathies weren't particularly with the two dead men and dead woman; they'd made their own (death) beds, and the grisly paraphernalia in the warehouse left little doubt that Desiree hadn't been the first woman they'd kidnapped into sex slavery. Just like that one place in Albigenish... She hastened to push that thought out of her mind.

But what was going on with this soldier? It wasn't just that this pre-emptive attack, against foes who had been neutralized and might have been useful information sources, was ill-conceived and hot-headed. It was more the ferocity of the thing, the sheer destructive power of the magic. There would be barely enough left of these three to bury (not that it was their job to do so), and Eli was barely even breathing hard, from the looks of him. And was he fingering that amulet that he'd picked up in Getsemiel? What was the story there?

I need a minute to clear my head here, she thought. Desiree was being extracted from her bonds and seemed more or less intact, so her attention could be elsewhere for the moment. She motioned to Tim. "Here, help me give these three last rites," she said. "Evil-doers or not, they are -- were -- humans, and they're entitled to that." She knelt by what was left of one of the bodies.
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Drusia
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Re: Getsemiel, part 2

Post by Drusia »

"What happened to Lucky?"
"I -- I dunno, Belle," the male voice said. "I din't see it."
"This damned three-foot-tall beaver come along and bit off my --"
"Too much information, Lucky," the female voice said. Then: "A three-foot-tall what?"


Beaver? Harker! Then... then the others would know where she was soon. Right?

More noises. Something breaking. And then someone's hands are on me. I hold still, afraid, but then someone is pulling off my blindfold.

"Hello, Desiree," Argus said gently, reaching out to unbind her.

He pulls the gag from my mouth. I try to thank him, but just end up coughing. Ugh. That gag was unpleasant.

And... I'm naked in front of everyone again. Meh, nothing they haven't - who the hell are those other people? Talk about a less than ideal first impression. I should -

"No! Wait! Don't!"
"ELI! NO!!!"


I turn around and watch as Eli murders three helpless people. My captors, I assume.

I pull away from Argus, who is trying to untie my hands, and throw up on the floor. Argus kindly holds my hair back. There isn't much in me, and I end up dry-heaving. I keep my eyes averted from the... remains. Rose says something about last rites. Argus finishes untying my hands. He moves down to untie my legs, but I stop him with a touch on his arm.

"...water?" I ask feebly. Throwing up didn't help my throat any.

-- Desiree
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Graybeard
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Re: Getsemiel, part 2

Post by Graybeard »

"... Enter into Luminosita's Presence," Sister Rose finished over the pile of bones and scorched flesh that had been a woman. (At least she thought it had been the woman. It was hard to tell now, and did it really matter?) Somehow she didn't think that Luminosita would want much to do with this trio ... but that wasn't her call to make.

Tim seemed to be managing to keep up with the rite for one of the others, despite a pronounced green tone to his face that probably wasn't because of the light seeping through the dingy windows of the warehouse. It would be kind, she thought, to conduct the third rite herself, and spare the poor man the discomfort. However, "kind" had to give way to "urgent" here. There were things that had to be learned ... several things. She winced and turned away from the third body, promising herself that she'd apologize to Tim later.

Desiree seemed to be coming around, and Rose heard her call for water. Not too surprisingly, water seemed in shorter supply here than beer. For a moment she considered suggesting to Argus that he set up the beer-golem trick that he'd said he'd made pocket change with on his last visit to Lorrel; getting some electrolytes into the young woman might help her more than plain water would. On the other hand, Luminosita alone knew how the beer might have been tampered with, given the "business" that this ghastly place had conducted. No, water would have to do. She found a flask that appeared potable, cast a quick Purification on it just in case (it might be neither necessary nor sufficient, but it couldn't hurt), and handed it to the priestess. "Here, this will help you."

Then she turned to Eli ... taking a moment first to put as neutral an expression in her voice, and on her face, as she could manage. "Now could you tell me, please, how this happened? Just what happened at your uncle's -- operation?"
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Alberich
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Re: Getsemiel, part 2

Post by Alberich »

Who were these people?

One of the strangers Desiree saw was a beefy Tsuirakuan, light-haired and short-bearded, mid-thirties maybe, a little plump but not obese, a little strong and a little sweaty. He was wearing what looked like a Tsuirkuan battlemage uniform, a bit worn and without the insignia, with a knife and truncheon stuck into the sash. And if she could smell lust on humans, she'd catch a good whiff for sure.

Whoosh - boom! - the fight was over before he'd had a chance to estimate the strength of the enemy. He'd thought Tamina was furry death incarnate, but this other guy, wow! While he didn't articulate it in his own mind, some of his unconscious safety circuits kicked in to ensure he'd dial down the whole "elite heliomancer" bit in talking to these people. (Besides, some very personal paperwork had gone missing back in Ester, and if someone got hold of it, well, they might not understand how that squared with his amazing and classified past.)

It was so quick he didn't even have time for a "woo-hoo!" - the enemy was down! And there was the bag - but this older mage got there first and oh fuckin' weave it really is a naked sex slave and she's an elf! He remembered one of his friends' pop-up edition of An Elf Princess in Farrel, and being disappointed in learning (from Pomikiru's epic Elf Empires) that "having no nudity taboo does not work that way." Maybe the older work was right after all? (This issue had been the subject of long, heated debates in fan circles.)

His hand had gone to his sash for a knife to cut her bonds, but the old guy beat him to it. She asked for water and he went for his flask, but look, the old guy beat him to it again! She threw up, but well, that was done, and none of his awesome combat lifesaving skills would help with that. Wasn't there anything he could do for her? His outer robe, if she wanted it. He stepped closer and spoke what he thought was reassuringly. "Um, 'evening, miss, would you like something to cover yourself?" Say no! Say no! Saynosaynosaynosayno...

* * *

Tim was of the opinion that they ought to be off chasing Blaise instead of doing rites over the dead - in times of emergency the Church granted dispensation, every real Orthodox priest knew that, and there'd be plenty of time for that later. For that matter, he thought it was a bad time to investigate Eli's little side trip - there was no way it had anything to do with Blaise, and time was wasting. Plenty of time for that, later, too. But Rose was in charge so he played his part.
Last edited by Alberich on April 8th, 2012, 10:10 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Jack Rothwell
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Re: Getsemiel, part 2

Post by Jack Rothwell »

"Now could you tell me, please, how this happened? Just what happened at your uncle's -- operation?"

For a moment it seemed Eli didn't quite know where he was. He stared fixedly at the ashes of the people he'd murdered with a dazed expression. His mouth worked mechanically to produce an answer to Rose's question.

"He- had a meeting. A negociation about trade prices with a group of men. They..." He pointed a shaking finger at the remains. "...weren't them, but..." Suddenly the half-elf threw a hand up and slapped himself on the forehead. "Telan must be in on it! No wonder they were talking in generalities! It was about price... 'foreign imports' they said! And no sooner was I done being a bodyguard then Desiree goes missing? It can't be a coincidence."

He made his way on unsteady legs to Desiree and dropped to her side. He was unable to keep the tremble out of his voice.

"I thought I'd lost you." He said huskily. "When I thought about what might have happened to you I..." He cringed, but the anger was rising again. "Dead slavers... bad men dead. They won't be hurting anyone again."

Maybe it was best at that moment that no-one was looking at the kobold. Tamina had been frozen in horror since Eli's violent display, and a suspicion was dawning in her mind.
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