Saus

[Graybeard]

Also, I'm getting mixed up to where everything is. The sisters are in Emerylon, the military base and Egbert's sister are on the way... what about the Millenarian temple? Thanks.

[OOC: Right, the Codoin sisters were last seen on their way to Emerylon, although it's "negotiable" whether they've made it there. The base and Egbert's sister are on the way. As for the Millenarian temple, stay tuned... /OOC]

Argus was still fiddling with his privacy runes when Brother Miguel returned from his afternoon's activities.

"All told, not a bad afternoon's work," Miguel announced once they'd gone to the library and established that the coast was clear. "Sister Margaret has been in touch. She says the lid's about to blow off of Kiyoka over that murder of the battlemage, but they're not any closer to knowing just what happened there. As you've probably gathered, I'm happy to be far, far away from all of that. Nothing new related to our inquiries. They're pretty sure this Ravanel is out of the country, probably in Farrel, but he seems to have dropped off the map. They didn't say anything about Father Egbert's past, but then again, we didn't really ask before. This time, I sent them back a message asking about it, so maybe we'll have something from them tomorrow. One possibly relevant item: there was a fire at a farm house somewhere south of town that the Kiyokans are calling 'suspicious,' maybe arson. In the wreckage, the firefighters found the charred, fragmentary remains of what they think is a troll hide."

The play of emotions across Argus' face at the mention of the troll hide defied interpretation, so Miguel plunged forward. "Back in this country, I ran by the Millenarian temple on the far side of town and talked to the archivist, fellow named Brother Roeland, about checking their genealogical records. He says he has to talk to his higher-ups, but he thinks something can be done. We should go over there tomorrow morning."

"Any news of Gordon Grumiel?" Argus asked, as he continued tweaking one of his runes.

"Nothing notable," Miguel said. "I mentioned our suspicions of the man to the nun who looks after the guest suites, but she hadn't noticed anything odd about him. She says that Grumiel checked out this morning, well before we saw him, saying that he was going to come by here before he caught an airship back to Rinkael. That's consistent with the business card he gave us earlier. Incidentally, I didn't see his alleged nephew and niece when I came back over here. It looks like they've abandoned their surveillance of you -- either that, or got a lot more sneaky about it. I wanted to go check out the address that Grumiel gave for them, but I ran out of time -- since the temple is extending their hospitality to us, I felt like I had to get back here in time for the Rite of Luminosita's Tears. Sister Hortense told me that they needed a tenor, and hoo boy, was that an understatement..." He shuddered at the memory. "Anyway, if you're ready for dinner, she's given us the OK to eat at a little place down the street rather than at the communal table. It supposedly serves Anuban cuisine, and she says it's pretty good. That okay with you?"

[Drannin]

Argus finished up with his runes. Not bad, overall... "Works for me. I'm da...rn near starved." He carefully checked his language. Argus doubted that Brother Miguel was the type to get worked up over profanity, but it didn't hurt to be a little considerate.

"Still, sounds like as of tomorrow, we'll have a lot on our plate. We'll also need to start planning a trip overland, to boot." Argus stood up. "Do you know if the roads are safe in this part of Veracia?"

[Graybeard]

"They're usually pretty safe between here and Emerylon," Brother Miguel replied. "We shouldn't have any trouble with bandits or such. The main problem is that it's a couple days' journey unless we want to try to hire a wagon. Let's head over to the restaurant and see if they know where we could find one." They gathered up and started walking down the street, checking again to see whether "Leo" and "Leilani" were watching -- no sign of them.

As soon as they were on the move, Miguel picked up where he'd left off. "There's usually not much trouble on the roads up north, either, at least until you get close to the border with the Northern Confederacy. That's reputed to be rather lawless territory, although I've never had any problems there." Of course, we were armed to the teeth when we were up that way, but let's not get into that. "There are also reports of weird things happening over to the east, but I don't know any details, it's all second-hand -- hey, look at that," he interrupted himself, pointing skyward.

A high-speed airship was coming in from the southwest. It circled, showing most un-airship-like maneuverability, and headed for the mooring tower near the center of town, not far from the main temple.

"That's interesting," Miguel said. "I didn't know they ran the high-speed jobs in here. And you know what? I have the feeling that I've seen that thing before ... in Kiyoka."

[Drannin]

Argus nodded, impressed. "Excellent design. I like how they configured the levitation runes. Brilliant work on the restabilization fins. I wonder if it's a new power source..." Argus trailed off when he saw Brother Miguel staring at him. "Ah, sorry. Just admiring the manufacture. So you saw it in Kiyoka?"

"I'm pretty sure... it's a very distinctive airship," was Miguel's reply.

"Hmmm. And they don't normally do high-speed jobs between here and Kiyoka? Interesting... Now who would have the money to hire such a high-quality airship like that in Kiyoka-"

The name Mesuinu and a mental image of Kureji flashed through Argus' mind. The infusion of pure horror into his system was not coincidental.

"Dr. Cleiviein?! What's wrong? You're pale as a sheet!" Brother Miguel looked at Argus with sudden concern. Argus was more concerned with Saus being leveled. By the Daughter of Saiko.

Argus looked at Miguel. "Change of plans. There is a non-zero chance that the Mesuinu girl just came to town. I think we need to get out of town very, very quickly. Before the inevitable chaos starts." But the fact remained that they still needed to get information from the Millenarian temple... Argus took a deep breath. "Look, let's just stay alert, alright? And be ready to leave at the first opportunity."

If only now was a viable option.

[Graybeard]

Brother Miguel had never met Kureji, or for that matter, even heard the Mesuinu name until three days earlier, but he got the point. "Let me talk to the manager and try to arrange a wagon," he said as they arrived at the restaurant. They were seated, and Miguel wandered off while Argus checked out the wine list (full of exotic labels that he didn't recognize) and menu (even more exotic). It was only a few minutes later that Miguel returned, a smile on his face. "We're in luck. The manager's brother is here, and he says he can give us a ride as far as the Sleeping Sexton tomorrow. That'll reduce the trip to Emerylon to a single overnight on the road, and we might be able to talk to Mildred Hamael tomorrow night. If we meet him here by 9:30, we should even have time to swing by the Millenarian temple on the way out. It'll cost, of course, but I'm authorized to use Church funds to pay for things like this."

The manager returned and took their orders, reappearing shortly with a bottle of Anuban wine he'd recommended. Argus couldn't remember ever tasting anything quite like it; it had a rich, smoky taste that evoked a mental image of huge men brandishing flaming torches against even huger, charging beasts with long tusks. (Well, the Anuban Colonies weren't that wild and exotic any more, but the mental imagery persisted.) The conversation digressed into a discussion of Anuban cuisine until the main course appeared.

"Let's get back to planning for the road," Miguel said around a mouthful of roast swamp beast (excellent, if ... unusual). "To answer your earlier question about road safety, I don't think it's a problem anywhere that we're likely to be going. The eastern part of the country has a number of areas where travel is risky, for various reasons. There is a district over there that is set off as troll homelands, and there are occasional unpleasant incidents, but if you'll excuse my saying so, most of them are because of Veracians trying to expand into troll territory rather than the other way around. Also, some of the towns of the mountains are a bit ... xenophobic." That's as good a euphemism for the Ensigerum as any, I think. "I don't see any reason why we should need to be going to any of those places, though."

They concentrated on their dinner for a moment, then Miguel returned to the road-safety theme. "If there's one place where we might need to go that poses safety issues, it's around Lorenzel. There was some big archaeological project there some years ago that ended messily, and some of the countryfolk in the area don't like having outsiders come in and maybe stir up whatever it was that caused trouble at the dig. If we have to head in that direction, we'll probably want to find a guide, possibly an armed one."

Argus was just about to ask what "ended messily" was a euphemism for, when the sound of sirens could be heard in the distance. They grew louder for a moment, then diminished again, heading south. "Hm -- I'm getting a funny feeling about that," Miguel said. "Mind interrupting the feast here for just a minute to see what's going on?" The two men joined a small crowd of passersby in front of the cafe, from which a narrow but dark column of smoke could be seen on the southern horizon, illuminated in the gathering twilight by flames at the bottom. Argus thought, Well, it didn't take Kureji long to do what she does, did it?

But Miguel's thought was quite different. Uh, oh ... that's coming from just the right direction for it to be the Millenarian temple. Maybe just coincidence ... but I wonder.

[LordofNightmares]

"What is going on here?" Tsubasa whispered in to Kurije's ear "we just got here and something happens, now the level of difficulty of this job just went up."
Looking around for a bit then again whispering in to Kurije's ear "looks like we will be keeping a low profile for a while, and yes I have done something like this, I really dont have the time now to tell you about it."

[Drannin]

Argus stared at the blaze in the distance. Stared long and hard. Slowly placed his hand over his face.

"Oh, please tell me that lunatic didn't just start blowing up this town, too."

Argus really hated trolls. But a close second on Argus' List of Dislikes was the Mesuinu family in general. Perhaps his worst nightmare was a Mesuinu that had magically been transmogrified into a troll. It made the mind quake. Though it would be doubly satisfying to annihilate.

At the moment, Argus was praying that he was wrong, and that Kureji Mesuinu was, in fact, very far away.

[Graybeard]

[OOC: Viking, hope you don't mind me borrowing Kureji for just a minute... /OOC:]

"Aha!" Kureji said. "I can see we're not a moment too soon. I can put that fire out."

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

A strong south wind had arisen from somewhere and was blowing the column of smoke in the direction of the place where Argus and Brother Miguel were eating. The fire was far enough away that the smoke itself didn't come anywhere close to the restaurant, but it did block the view, so that Argus and Miguel didn't see what was happening out on the horizon at first. All became clear soon enough, though, as a cloud began to form over the burning structures, whatever they were.

"Hmmmm ... That cloud doesn't look natural to me," Miguel said, as it grew with extraordinary speed. "It looks like someone is trying to put that fire out via cloudburst. You don't suppose...?"

"We'll know soon enough," Argus replied grimly. "If the Mesuinu girl is behind that cloud, something will go wrong, I'd bet my life on it."

At first this looked like a bet that Argus might lose, as the first flicker of lightning played within the cloud itself, and hints of rain began to form beneath it. It was hard to tell, but there might even have been a decrease in the visible flames on the horizon. But then ...

"Um, is it just my imagination, or is that thing getting closer to us?" Miguel asked.

No imagination. The cloud wasn't over the fire any more, but was being carried on the south wind -- straight at them. It was continuing to grow at a dizzying speed. Miguel gasped as a lightning bolt struck the airship mooring tower in the middle of town, and by its flash, the men could see the beginnings of a funnel cloud dangling from the storm's base.

[Drannin]

Argus was silent for a moment, observing the quickly developing funnel cloud. He looked at it, considering the rate of appraoch. He looked around, contemplating the crowd, at their likely rate of movement. Considered the cloud again.

"I think we're toast. Want me to throw up a shelter?"

Argus really didn't like the Mesuinu family. And he had no doubt just who was present.

[Graybeard]

"Yeah, you better," Brother Miguel said. "That thing is too far away for me to tell whether it's an actual stormcloud or something involving an elemental. Something that works against either would be best. But hurry, 'cause it's coming this way."

As Argus started on his spellcasting, Miguel looked about him. Tornadoes weren't common in this part of Veracia, but they were well enough known (or was there still a memory of elemental battles during the Mage/Priest Wars?) for a full-blown panic to be breaking out, so to speak. Most of the other diners had piled back into the restaurant and were hiding under tables -- better than being in the open, for sure, but this building wasn't going to withstand a direct hit from a tornado. People had apparently materialized from nowhere and were running to and fro in the street. Worst of all, some of them had recognized that he was wearing priest's robes, and he was attracting a panic-stricken entourage...

"Holy Father! Save us!" "Summon our Lord Luminosita, Padre!" "HEEELLLP!!"

And he didn't have a clue what magic he might use on that storm.

Make this good, Argus, he thought, as he started casting Iron Skin on anyone within reach, to at least protect them from the debris that would be flying in a few minutes -- the best he could do at the moment.