Homontel, and beyond

[Templar771]

Cit walked down the corridor at a brisk pace. He could see the others crowded around the outside of his room. He squezed passed them and entered the room. He put the bag of clothes onto the bed and left a bag of food on the desk and turned to the others.

"This is Elaine." He said gesturing towards the half-elf sitting upright in his bed. He continued "I met her last night-." He stopped. Judging by the looks on the others' faces and the grin on Harker's he should probably explain in more detail. "We didn't....you know...do anything...err....physical." Their expressions changed but they didnt seem entirely convinced. "I just helped her out of a problem with some thugs last night and she didnt have a place to stay. As you may have guessed she's a mute I'm not sure why, but she isnt an errant. Either way I just went into town to get her some clothes and breakfast and it would appear we have bigger problems. The elf has attracted a lot of attention in town and there's one hell of a crowd gathering out there. By the way have you seen Sasha? I havent seen her around today which could be a problem. Also what are we staying or going?"

[Graybeard]

Sister Rose listened to Lillith's complaint, thought for a long minute. "Truthfully, I'm not sure how to proceed here," she said. "But check out my reasoning. When I was active-duty military, I commanded what was called a 'deep reconnaissance' unit. We never had enough firepower to take anybody on in a fight, but our job was to blend into the countryside, collect information as quietly as possible, avoid all conflict, and get that information to the big guns. And one thing I learned back then is that often, it is best to hide in plain sight. Look at this."

At this point Brother Miguel, Cit and "Elaine" emerged from the room, and quick introductions were made. Rose raised an eyebrow at the discovery that the unexpected addition to the group was a half elf, and one who could not speak. He's sure she's not an Errant? She's mute, after all. And who knows what less obvious bits of errantcy she might have... but back to the topic at hand:

She gestured to a window in the hallway. They were on the second floor of the oddly converted tower, and the window had a good view of the castle's parade ground below. Through it, the women could see a formation of blond-haired, blue-eyed men doing close-order drill -- an amazingly large formation of them. "There's no way that any of us can blend into that," Rose said. "Even with my polymorph magic, I couldn't come close; they're all male, after all." She'd heard enough of Lillith's opinions on sex roles to expect some acrid response to this observation, but none was immediate except a snort, so she continued, "If we stay here in the castle, we'll stick out beyond any possible concealment. If we hit the road, we'll be a group of travelers dominated by half elves. We might not be noticed by the elf -- but if we are ..." She let her voice trail off.

The town could be seen beyond the castle wall, and she gestured to it. "By contrast, there must be ten thousand people in town. The elf can't check them all out at once. Many will be tall, like Cit. Many will be nervous women looking this way and that, if Carly is any example. We'll fit right in."

And an incredibly whimsical thought struck her. "So what would you think of you, Elaine, Sasha if we find her, and me all being 'married' to Argus for a couple of hours?" she smiled. "Cit and Miguel, Argus could even be checking out your potential as a future son-in-law..."

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

The elf crested the ridge north of town, humming happily to himself. It was a human song, not an elven one, but he'd heard it somewhere on his travels and decided that it sounded good, so he didn't really care where it had come from. It was a cheery little tune, and it matched his mood.

He'd heard on the road that Provatiel was the largest town for some distance around, and that it had some ... odd ... inhabitants. He wasn't quite sure what that meant, but yes, looking down into town, it was certainly bigger than some of the places he'd visited, and generally skirted, up to now. And if "odd" meant what it might, well ...

Hunting was going to be good here.

[Drannin]

Argus stared at Rose for a long moment. "Wait... what?"

Those green eyes were full of mischief, and Argus was too afraid to look anywhere else, for fear of meeting the eyes of one of the other females.

Oh, weave, NOW what have I got in to?!

He'd rather face that elf in one-on-one combat. And yes, he was aware of those odds.

[Graybeard]

"It was just an idea," Sister Rose retreated, feeling slightly hurt ... although it had been worth it to see the look on Argus' face.

"There's probably a more pedestrian solution to getting the things for the jury-rigged comm system," Brother Miguel offered. "A base this big is surely going to have a PX. Maybe we could pick up the things Argus needs there."

Rose looked dubious. "Everything but the crystal ball, maybe, but I don't think they're going to have one of those sitting around. For that, we're going to have to hope there's a second-hand store in town." She paused as a cleaning lady came up the stairs and down the hall. Interesting; she didn't share the lithe, blue-eyed blonde physique that was otherwise almost universal at the castle. On the contrary, she was short, squat, dark (almost as dark as Miguel), and middle-aged. Her demeanor as she walked silently by the group wasn't friendly, and as she headed down the hall and into Miguel's room, she was grumbling under her breath.

"Hang on," Rose said. "There's something I want to try." She mumbled what Argus and Miguel had come to recognize as her Empathy spell and followed the dark woman, leaving the others to plan the morning.

[Sareth]

As Sister Rose walked down the hall toward the newcomer, Lillith, stared at Argus.

"She was serious, wasn't she?" She shook her head. "I... Well, I guess it would have been a good idea but... I have no idea how to act like a wife. I've never had to, and mother never..." She shook that off. "Still, if group marriages are common here, then acting like we are in one would help us blend in."

Then she looked over at... Elaine, was it? "No, I doubt that Elaine or Sasha would be any better at it either. But..." She chewed the inside of her lip. "But if we don't do that, how else will we be able to hide four half-elves?" Most of whom I fear really *are* errants, she did not add.

She heard Harker chortling, and could easily guess what the unnatural beast was thinking. "Gee, boss? You're turning down four nubile women? And I bet at least one of them is a virgin, too!" Reflexively she scowled at the little brute even as she felt her cheeks coloring.

[Graybeard]

Unexpectedly, Brother Miguel felt a slight tug at Lillith's words, as he realized that he hadn't seen Sister Marilyn for too long. She'd been making noises about the two of them getting married, and Miguel recalled that he'd used the line "But I don't know how to act like a husband" in one of their conversations ... Maybe it was time to reconsider that, when he got back to Kiyoka. If he got back to Kiyoka.

As he tried none-too-successfully to put his girlfriend out of his mind, he could hear Rose's soft, calm voice coming from his room, in a conversation with the maid -- if "conversation" was the right term. "Excuse my interrupting," Rose was saying. "I'm wondering whether I may have left a pair of reading glasses in this room. May I look for them?"

Mumblemumblemumble, went the maid.

"Ah, here we are," Rose said. "Thank you."

Mumblemumblemumble, went the maid, as Rose reappeared in the hallway holding a pair of spectacles (Miguel was pretty sure they'd disappear the next time she did a shape change). She padded quietly down the hall to where the rest of the group were standing.

As soon as she was sure the maid was out of earshot, Rose said, "Well, that was interesting. Some people's emotions are so simple, and so easy to read, that using Empathy on them is almost like using ESP. I could read her like a book."

"And what did the book say?" Miguel prompted.

"Mostly, resentment of those, quote, 'damned highfalutin supermen and their damned heathen foreigner guests.' She's not very happy with her lot in life here," Rose sighed. On one level she could understand that resentment; things didn't feel right with all the blue-eyed blond polygamists, in some way that she hadn't fully deciphered yet. But there was more.

"And another thing: she's figured out that there are half elves among us ... and is thinking of how to take advantage of it."

[Sareth]

"Then we have to get out of here," Lillith said quietly, a sad tone to her voice. "The elf will know we're here, if he doesn't already. Even hiding out in the population won't be enough. We need to blend in, and at the same time convince him that we have moved on, convince him to look elsewhere."

[Graybeard]

"I suppose there's no choice," Sister Rose said, still not entirely happy with the proposition. "Let's get ready to move out. Thing is, we still have our original job to do. Miguel, could you check out the PX and get the things Argus needs other than the crystal ball? Argus, I think you and I are just going to have to go into town and get that. It shouldn't take too long, and if everyone else sticks to their rooms for now, we should stay out of trouble." I hope.

Rose and Argus took some of their bags down to the wagon on the way into town -- might as well make the exit easy, and the barn was guarded so that theft wasn't going to be a concern. Surprisingly enough, a parrot was waiting patiently at the wagon when they got to the barn. How long had it been there? There was no way to tell. It didn't look to have a message capsule, so it had another voice-only message. That was odd; the inquiry that Rose had sent back this morning was entirely unclassified, not that the reply should have been ready yet anyway. "Wonder what's going on here?" Rose said as she started the exchange of code words.

(UNCLASSIFIED) There has been a development pertaining to your primary objective that you should know about.

(SECRET) The observers (Brother Farley from the mission in Kiyoka and his Tsuirakuan girlfriend) have returned from Tsuiraku and the inspection of the desk from the mission. A preliminary de-brief has been done, and the observers report that the formal inspection turned up essentially nothing of interest. However, they report one significant anomaly.

(LUMINOSITA'S SECRET) Apparently some professor on the Sashi Mu faculty, a Professor Damyo, was found dead in the laboratory long after the inspection. (I gather that Farley and his girlfriend weren't really supposed to know that; please protect this information carefully.) Nothing is available at this time regarding circumstances or cause of death, but the linkage to the desk, which has already been responsible for one confirmed death, is obvious. Farley reports that this Damyo had, quote, "looked funny" during the inspection itself, which was not supposed to involve him. There had been an incident during the inspection with an exploding crystal ball that inflicted superficial cuts and other injuries on some of the personnel in the laboratory, Damyo included, but the injuries were definitely not viewed as life-threatening and are not believed to be associated with his death.

(SECRET) In view of this development, we strongly suggest you head on down to Ramanzel and resolve this Egbert business once and for all -- but be careful doing it. We are unable to provide any material support when you engage Egbert, and there is a hell of a lot of death surrounding the man.

(LUMINOSITA'S SECRET) Meanwhile, Lieutenant Bindiel thanks you for your debrief regarding Centoriel. Another detachment is on the way there at this time. As before, this needn't concern you, and be glad you're not part of it.

(UNCLASSIFIED) Keep us posted.

Bernie

"Well, that pretty well clinches it," Rose said as the parrot expired. "Let's get your crystal ball, then get out of here..."

[Sareth]

The castle complex was set out in a rather bewildering way. Lillith hadn't really expected that when she set out with Brother Miguel in search of the whatever it was... PX? Given how orderly and somewhat disturbingly efficient all the blond haired blue eyed people here were, she would have expected the castle to have been laid out on a grid with some sort of mathematical precision to it. Instead, the passages and rooms seemed laid out in a fashion meant to be as confusing as possible.

According to the look on the face of Brother Miguel, he was lost as well. He kept muttering things in a language she didn't know that she was guessing was not liturgical in the least. Oddly, that thought caused her to feel a small bit of sympathy with the man. He was out of his depth here too, it seemed.

"Miguel," she spoke quietly. "You said you were from somewhere to the south, right? The southern continent or something?"

Brother Miguel nodded. "Yes."

"How did you come to leave?"

"I was rescued." Something in Brother Miguel's tone told Lillith she'd stumbled into dangerous territory, possibly the issues that bothered Brother Miguel about her presence. She debated with herself whether or not to try and bring it out into the open. Before she came to a decision, however, Brother Miguel stopped short, and she almost walked into his broad shoulder.

"Wha?" she asked, but Brother Miguel immediate shushed her. She peered around his shoulder to see what had stopped him.

The room ahead of them was very large. In fact, calling it a room was, frankly, insulting to the space. It was a very large chamber, quite capable of holding the largest buildings in Santorial inside it's open space. Inside of it, she could see orderly ranks of devices, some sort of long tubes with complex mechanisms surrounding them, mounted on two wheeled carts. Towards one end, a group of the blond haired men were etching some sort of carvings into the metal as other chanted something.

A blue flash caught her eye, and she turned her head. More of the devices had just appeared on a travel platform. Several blond haired men began muscling them into place within the ranks of their compatriots. The smell of ozone from the platform reached her nose, making it twitch with displeasure.

She ducked her head intimately close to Miguel's ear so that she could speak too softly to be heard by anyone further away than a few feet. "What is all this?"

"Artillery," Brother Miguel replied. "A lot of it. And something more."

"What?"

"Forbidden magic."

[Graybeard]

"Let's get out of here," Brother Miguel whispered, and Lillith was only too happy to comply. They retraced their steps as best they could, trying simultaneously to be as quiet as possible, and to look as routine and innocuous as they could -- no small challenge. Fortune was on their side; they didn't run into any of the cloned-looking soldiers until they were back in a public-looking part of the castle. However, they never did find the post exchange.

"Change of plans," Miguel said as soon as he was sure they were well away from the bizarrely incongruous armory. "It doesn't look like the PX has -- the supplies we need for the rest of our trip. I think we're stuck going into town." Lillith looked like she didn't like that idea, but Miguel was adamant. "Trust me on this one," he said, sotto voce. "It's the less dangerous alternative, probably by a fair margin. I'll explain later." They headed for the main castle gate.

--------

Meanwhile, Sister Rose and Argus were doing some shopping.

Rose had shape-shifted into a rather frumpy, middle-aged form consistent with the way most of the townsfolk had looked on the way in, the better to make it appear that she and Argus were simply a couple out doing their business in town. It wasn't entirely satisfactory; nothing could completely disguise the fact that Argus was clearly not from around here. However, anything that reduced the attention that they called to themselves had to be an improvement.

Actually, the town itself didn't look that unusual, Rose thought as they walked. They only saw two or three of the blond, polygamous men out with their multiple blond wives and blond children, although it looked like polygamy was also common among the more heterogeneous citizens of the town itself. (Where are all the excess men? Rose wondered, then decided she probably didn't want to know.) The townsfolk seemed to give the blue-eyed blond families a wide berth, but there was no overt hostility.

The town seemed to be a fairly prosperous hub of commerce for the farm country of southern Veracia, and there was a well-developed town center with a number of stores. Unfortunately, none had that second-hand, knick-knack look that they were looking for. After all, they weren't going to find anything like a crystal ball in the usual bakeries and general stores, were they? Eventually, however, they did find a place that called itself
REMEMBRANCE OF THINGS PAST
Curios with Character, for the Curious Character
"Shall we?" Rose asked, and getting an indifferent look from Argus, went inside, where a blond, blue-eyed, pregnant woman was standing behind a counter.