Kiyoka

[Graybeard]

"Youch."

"Well phrased," Father Egbert said dryly. "Fortunately, no one was killed or seriously injured, at least that we know of. Even the skeptical can probably give Luminosita's aid some credit for that." They were looking at a large pile of rubble from where a thick, 20-foot-high stone wall had crumbled, taking the back wall of the fellowship hall with it. Tsuirakuan light globes and assorted religious fixtures were strewn through the debris, which included a flamboyantly posed, headless statue that Argus guessed might be a representation of Luminosita. The choir loft was still standing, although nobody would want to sing there, open in the rear as it was ...

"I wasn't in the hall when it happened," Egbert continued. "The service that was in progress at the time was not one of our regularly scheduled events, but rather a sing-along that we were holding for a number of out-of-town visitors." He shuddered at the memory of the "singing;" there was a reasonably credible report that a container ship down at the docks had had its entire cargo of fresh milk curdled to cottage cheese when the caterwauling started. "To be quite honest, the large majority of the worshippers here are either Veracian expatriates, curiosity seekers, or tour groups coming from the mainland. We have made exactly an even dozen Kiyokan converts since the mission was established -- not what you'd call a great evangelical success. Ten of those twelve, by the way, were brought into the flock by Sister Marilyn; she's unconventional, but effective ... at least relatively speaking.

"Anyway, this was a large group from a temple in Saus, a sort of church auxiliary that was visiting and seeing the tourist sights of town, such as they are, as well as offering 'help' to our mission. Brother Jerald is in charge of the music ministry, such as it is, and was trying to get them organized -- no small feat when you're dealing with over eighty church sopranos, all of a certain age and possessed of voices that literally could curdle milk, not to mention complete faith in their own musical skills." He could see Argus cringe at the thought. "There was some manner of disturbance in the hall right before the wall went down, and a most surprising thunderclap that I heard in my own office. If you've spent some time in town, you know that thunderstorms at this time of year are nonexistent. So it is fair to say that that caused some ... consternation ... but I'll return to that later."

He paused in his story as a tall, gangling monk emerged from the hallway, arms and legs flapping in all directions at once, and with a pinched expression on a broad, bug-eyed face. The impression was as if the three were being approached by an oversized, robed, enraged praying mantis. "Ah, here comes Brother Jerald himself," Egbert said; "perhaps he can answer your questions ... if you can keep him calmed down."

[LordofNightmares]

He paused in his story as a tall, gangling monk emerged from the hallway, arms and legs flapping in all directions at once, and with a pinched expression on a broad, bug-eyed face. The impression was as if the three were being approached by an oversized, robed, enraged praying mantis. "Ah, here comes Brother Jerald himself," Egbert said; "perhaps he can answer your questions ... if you can keep him calmed down."

"Shit" she did not notice the monk walking past her as she seamed to become one with the shadows around the mission.
She moved around the room, moving in the space where the shadows meet close enough to the Three men with the Monk rushing up to them to over hear what they are talking about. If things got to harry just smoke (aka a smoke bomb) the room and rush out and come back latter at night to do some interrogation.

[Drannin]

Brother Jerald made for one of the more bizarre sights Argus had seen in Kiyoka. And this was saying something. Honestly, the man needed a tranquilizer like a fish needed water, but he supposed prescribing drugs to a priest wouldn't go over too well. That was was usually Argus' plan A for calming someone someone down.

Plan B was punching them in the face. It seemed undiplomatic at the moment.

Well, politeness, then, thought Argus. He started to greet the man, when he thought he sensed something... a hidden presence? Almost that odd ethereal tang he had come to associate with stealth magics. Then it was gone. My imagination. I've been too hard on my body lately. Best to focus.

Putting on his warmest smile, Argus held out his hand. "Brother Jerald, I understand?" he asked politely.

[Graybeard]

"Brother Jerald, I understand?"

"Father Egbert, this is an outrage!" the angular man spluttered as he joined the others. "I detected a street urchin burning one of our holy hymnals to roast a dead rat over, and he was using an offering plate as a skillet! And you wouldn't believe what he was doing with the smiting branches! I never ... huh?" He finally subsided as he realized that Father Egbert and Sister Margaret had company.

After introductions were made, Brother Jerald settled down -- slightly -- and tried to describe what he'd seen. "It was blasphemy, I tell you, blasphemy! Someone in the room thought it would be ... clever ... to play a prank on us as we prepared to sing the praises of Our Lord Luminosita, and created a great, terrible image of Our Lord Himself, saying the most horrible things to our flock. Three of my best sopranos nearly expired of fright right then and there!"

Father Egbert had been positioning himself, as the tirade poured forth, so that Argus could see his face but Brother Jerald and Sister Margaret couldn't, and he took advantage to give Argus a rolling of the eyes, half-smile, and a subtle wink. He couldn't resist: "And Brother Jerald, you are sure that it was a magical illusion rather than Our Lord's commentary on the quality of the singing?"

Slightly abashed and not sure whether to take his superior seriously, Jerald hemmed and hawed for a moment, then conceded, "Well, I admit that it was not the most ... harmonious ... music that has been made in this sacred place. But really, Father! No, I'm quite sure that what I saw was an illusion. A few seconds later, there were sounds of thunder and gunfire, and I simply couldn't keep control of our visitors any more. And then, one of them, glowing blue, simply crashed through the wall! I ... I ..." And he sputtered into an agitated silence.

"Well, thank you for that ... careful ... testimony, Brother Jerald," Egbert said, trying to keep a straight face. "Dr. Cleivien, do you have any more questions for our music master?"

[Drannin]

Argus considered carefully. It would probably be bad form to ask the Brother if he had ever considered switching to decaf. However, he did have a few real questions.

"The thunder was probably due to the battlemage accidentally self-destructing," said Argus thoughtfully, "And the gunfire was likely due to a so-called gang war I've heard about." He considered. "First of all, why would someone want to disrupt your hymns? Did anyone see who was casting this illusion? And you're sure about this individual glowing blue...?" Argus slowly trailed off.

"Wait," he said slowly. "You're saying that this all happened at more or less the same time?"

[Graybeard]

"I think so," the robed mantis said. "I must be honest, however, and say that I didn't see the glowing blue person myself, but the soprano section leader -- marvelous voice, and just the tiniest intonation problem -- told me about it later, and she's very reliable. My attention was focused on the safety of my flock, you see," he added self-righteously, if lamely.

"Perhaps I can help as regards the timing," Sister Margaret interjected. "Sister Eva and I had heard a disturbance in the alley, near the door where you came in, shortly after the service started. We investigated and found a dead body in the alley, horribly mutilated. I think it was part of that gang war, although I can't imagine how gangsters could have inflicted the horrible wounds we saw. When we saw we could do nothing for the poor wretch, we went back inside to notify the authorities." This was only a slight fib; the "authority" they'd notified was Father Egbert, but this man didn't need to know that. "We were still trying to decide what to do when the singing in the fellowship hall became confused -- you'd have to admit that, wouldn't you, Brother Jerald? -- and the thunderbolt and the destruction of the south wall followed almost immediately after that. Isn't that right?"

Jerald was looking daggers at the nun -- how dare she cast aspersions on his ability to lead his congregation? But he had to admit she was right. "Is there anything else? I really must get back to the preparation of music for the weekly smitings," he said officiously.

[LordofNightmares]

"Is there anything else? I really must get back to the preparation of music for the weekly smitings"

"If what I heard is true I might want to get ear plugs so I can sleep"she thought to her self "the nun and the old man might be worth looking in to." softly chanting again to refresh the spell just to test who is more sensitive to magic (IE as can feel if some one is casting a type of spell) and because it was starting to wear off. Plus her free hand is on the smoke bomb.

[Graybeard]

So far, so good, at least relatively speaking, Layla thought as she reached the docks. Phil and Lefti were expecting her; she'd left a message about urgent transportation of a "feather boa," her code name, on their crystal ball last night. The small boat was moored somewhat incongruously in the commercial district, next to a tramp steamer that seemed to be unloading construction materials. That was good; its crew would be too busy making sure things didn't get away from them to notice that the "cargo" that Phil and Lefti were handling had nothing to do with consumer goods, even a feather boa, but rather consisted of a young woman and child.

"Morning, Andrea," Lefti said as she stepped onto the deck, taking more than usual care with balance despite her superb physical conditioning and dexterity; a 6-month-old son in a backpack had some effect, even on her. "We've fixed you up a spot in the main cabin, and we even scrounged a crib from somewhere."

"Thanks, Lefti," she smiled back. She'd taken a little extra time this morning to dress well, and even had just a touch of makeup on; it wasn't something she usually used, and she certainly didn't feel like using it now, but this was a good time to influence people. It had worked, too. That ridiculous priest at the Veracian mission had been falling all over himself to be nice to her, and now Lefti was on his best behavior as well -- something that couldn't always be relied on. She set about getting her son settled in the crib and came back topside. "What's the itinerary, guys?" she asked as she came on deck and stepped onto the dock to help them with the lines.

"Pretty well the usual," Lefti replied. "We'll make our usual leisurely crossing, probably swing north to avoid the main commerce lanes, and then -- LAYLA, LOOK OUT!"

She didn't wait to admonish him not to use her real name, as she detected movement in the air above her. Wraith reflexes took over, and she did a blindingly quick tuck and roll onto the deck as a load of bricks from the tramp steamer crashed down where she'd been standing.

[OOC: This might be a reasonable place to introduce new characters, if people would rather have a bit of excitement rather than the character development at the mission or the weirdness that follows Kureji around -- there's gonna be some action here... Note that there has been an incredibly belated retcon to fix a name issue that might become meaningful soon -- we hope.]

[BloodHenge]

((OOC: Speaking of Kureji... Is she going to do anything now that I've spoken to her? Or can I just wander off?))

[Graybeard]

((OOC: Speaking of Kureji... Is she going to do anything now that I've spoken to her? Or can I just wander off?))

[OOC: Dunno, BH -- Jim has been a bit sketchy here lately, but may get more active when DragonCon is in his rear-view mirror. If you can find something to do by wandering off, I doubt if he'll mind. Back IC:]

With the crash of the bricks still ringing in her ears, Layla tried to get her bearings, but first, she retrieved her travel pistol from the baby carrier, just to be on the safe side. Accident or failed hit? She wasn't sure yet, but no trusting Wraith lived to an old age.

The tramp steamer had been unloading with a new-fangled magic-assisted crane; there were only three or four of them in all of Kiyoka. The operator sat in a raised seat while the crane arm swung onto the ship and then over wagons intended to receive the unloaded cargo ... but it only took her a second to realize that there was no wagon anywhere near the position where the bricks should be unloaded.

Worse, the operator was retrieving and assembling something that looked very much like a rifle.

Well, that answered that question.

She had only two advantages in this fight: one, her piece had a first-rate silencer, was already prepared for use, and was perfectly sighted in, and two, she was a complete badass when it came to using it. She was pretty sure the enemy, whether Eisenfaust or something else, was a second-stringer; no Farrelian outfit but the Gewehr had tried to introduce a top gun (like myself, she thought, quite accurately) into Kiyoka. Otherwise, the advantages were all with the other guy. His piece was surely a repeater, while hers was a single-shot, as she'd "packed" her best repeating rifle. It'd certainly have better range and accuracy. Terrain was in his favor. And above all, he had the advantage of surprise and initiative.

That made it almost an even fight -- but not quite.

She'd only have one shot, she realized, and it would have to be both lucky and good. From a prone position, she quickly cocked the gun, lined up the shot and squeezed the trigger, even as the man was raising the rifle to his shoulder. A muffled pffft hissed across the dock ...

... And the man in the crane seat, or at least all of him but the shattered top of his head, fell backward into the water with a loud splash.

Layla swore quietly under her breath, not because of the close proximity of violent death, but because she realized that a bouncing brick had torn a hole in her very best slacks.

Well, damn.