Nautkia, and the South

As we play, occasionally we'll close a thread and open a new one to keep the size of threads (and relative complexity) down to a dull roar. Here's where we store the closed posts from the history of Errant Road.
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Graybeard
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Nautkia, and the South

Post by Graybeard »

The party got out of Provatiel, then rode on for a time without speaking, until the town and castle had disappeared in the distance. Finally Lillith broke the silence. "I don't think I understand what was happening there. I just know I didn't like it."

"Nor I," Brother Miguel agreed. "Rose, there's even more to this than you saw yourself." He described what he and Lillith had seen while Argus and Sister Rose were getting the crystal ball.

"That pretty well ices it," Rose said grimly. "I was nearly certain of what I was seeing as soon as I saw the uniforms. They're almost like the army's... but except for Bindiel's, not quite."

Lillith's pained look said she was still confused, so Rose decided to explain while Miguel drove the horses; more miles between themselves and the town couldn't be a bad thing. "Lillith, we're not absolutely certain, but we're 99% convinced that what you were seeing there was a private army being raised and controlled by the Millenarian Church. You saw the formations, right? There were far too many of them for that to be the regular Veracian army, although I bet that Bindiel and his people could have found just enough conventional-looking ones to put on display when an officer of the regular army comes through for an inspection."

"Right," Miguel confirmed. "Remember the grumpy maid? I bet she had a son or a husband who was part of the show force and wasn't treated well by the cloned-looking guys. Clearly she wasn't going to say anything and get themselves in trouble, or worse. But she'd have plenty of grounds for resentment, and since as far as she knew, we were guests of the clones, it would spill over to us. One thing sure: whether Bindiel or someone else, the commander of that show force would just happen to be blond and blue-eyed -- and backed by lots of invisible muscle."

"As for that damnable abortion clinic, to call it what it is, that's how they've been enforcing the 'racial purity' of their soldiers," Rose continued. "If the baby isn't going to conform to their standard, they find out about it magically, and it's quietly disposed of, the hell with the preferences of the parents. The fact that the townspeople have other reasons for fooling around with the sex ratios of newborns just provides convenient cover. Damn them all, and I mean that literally. Luminosita's wrath really needs to be aroused against those people."

The wagon crested a rise, and Miguel called a pause to tend the horses. "Shall we send a classified parrot off to Bernie about this?" he asked.

Rose thought about it, shook her head. "I think this is better reported in person in Lorenzel," she said. "Too many people saw us using the parrots in the castle, and they're not native to the area. If one is seen flying north, somebody might figure out what's going on ... and we wouldn't want that."

Miguel shuddered. "No, we wouldn't. You're right, let's wait. But as long as we're stopped, Argus, why don't you try to set up your comm system? And while you're about it, what do you know about this Professor Damyo in Tsuiraku?"
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Drannin
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Re: Nautkia, and the South

Post by Drannin »

Argus considered. "Asshole," he said with finality.

"Something that doesn't encompass the entirety of the population in your eyes, Boss," Harker quipped.

"Fair enough." Argus thought a bit harder. "Well... he's not as bad as some... typical Professor, quite obsessed with writing meaningless research papers so he can have his name in print. Specialist in Conjuration and Dimensional Contact. Not a prodigy like Dirienzal, but damned fine in his field. I actually worked with him on a project or two, but our interests never really overlapped. In the end, I always found him a little... sneaky. The kind of man to steal another's research rather than develop his own. Can't say I liked the man, but I actually don't have anything against him personally. Just on principle."

Argus stretched. "Anyway, I'll need a half-hour to set things up. I can work with a cracked crystal ball, though the picture may be a little fuzzy... I'll work on restoring it later. May as well get started..."
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Re: Nautkia, and the South

Post by Graybeard »

"Damyo 'was' not as bad as some," Sister Rose corrected. "Remember, he's the latest victim of that desk." She left Argus and his suddenly queasy facial expression to work on the apparatus, and turned to where Brother Miguel was studying the map.

"The route looks pretty straightforward," Miguel said, pointing to the town of Nautkia, a distance downstream from Fort Lorenzel. The main road south headed directly there, and as had been implied, there didn't seem to be much on the way except tiny villages. "We can give Argus an hour here to do whatever he's doing, and still make it there with daylight to spare."

"One thing puzzles me," Rose said. "If this map is to be believed, I don't understand why this Nautkia didn't develop as the main port on the Lorenzel River rather than Lorenzel itself. It's quite a bit closer to the mouth of the river. You'd think that would matter for shippers, between the time for sailing up the river, navigability, and so on. I've never been there; have you?" Miguel shook his head. "Maybe it'll be clear when we get there, but right now, I don't get it."

"Based on the way this trip has been going, it'll probably turn out to be haunted," Miguel joked. "Or a hotbed of pirates, or clandestine crocodile-men from beneath the sea."

Rose permitted herself a brief chuckle. "Don't say that; you might be right. Let's change the subject and see how Argus is doing."
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Re: Nautkia, and the South

Post by Drannin »

Argus was doing quite well, actually. Having had a bit of experience the first time around, the communication structure went up speedily. A magic circle was inscribed in the ground, and within a half-hour, everything was ready to go. Even made it collapsible, for ease of use. He thought with satisfaction. A mirror was set up to serve as a screen, and the cracked crystal ball was set at the pinnacle of everything.

Argus sat within the circle. "Harker, I'm powering things up. Use the mirror to contact Tsuiraku. You can do that, right?"

"It's me, Boss." Harker actually sounded a little hurt. With a chuckle, Argus concentrated on the crystal sphere above him, willing it to activate...

A little to the side, Harker manipulated runes inscribed on a mirror to serve as controls. Almost at once there was a hideous shriek which set everyone to cringing. Hurriedly, Harker tapped one rune and the noise descended. "Ah, sorry. Snowflake channel. Just a minute."

"Snowflake channel?" Miguel looked startled.

"Interference," Argus mumbled. "Given our position and equipment, it's a little hard to get a clear signal."

"Hang on, got it!" cried Harker." The screen cleared... to show what appeared to be a teenage girl with unnaturally large bosoms in a ridiculous pose that was clearly meant to be threatening. "Prepare to be PUNISHED!" She shrieked in a high-pitched voice. Harker hurriedly hit another rune, and the image faded into what looked like a blizzard again.

"Um...sorry. Wrong frequency."

"What in Luminosita's name was that?!" sputtered Rose.

"Don't ask." grumbled Argus and Harker. Argus shook his head. For some insane reason, both of his children had loved that show...
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Re: Nautkia, and the South

Post by Graybeard »

Maybe there's something to the Orthodox position about Tsuirakuans being decadent after all, Sister Rose thought. That last image ... She looked for something to help get it out of her mind. Lillith had assumed a position of meditation -- possibly she had the same opinion about what she'd seen as Rose did -- and the other half elves looked to be napping, so she turned to where Brother Miguel was studying the map.

"I've been thinking about what we do once we get to Nautkia," Miguel said. "The route there looks simple enough; there are a couple of little tiny villages that we can enter or bypass as we wish, and otherwise it's just passing through farm country and forests, no hard terrain to navigate. We should get there around dinner time. But then what?"

"Good question," Rose said. "We probably need to check in at the base in Lorenzel, but otherwise I'd vote to give the city itself a pass. From all that I've heard, I think it's very unlikely that Egbert will have anything to do with the place. Of course, that doesn't mean I know where he'd be likely to go instead."

"How about this sister Lucy that that girl in the castle mentioned?" Miguel wondered. "If she's still in the area, she might know something."

"Good idea," Rose agreed. "Maybe we should pause in Lorenzel after all, and see if we can track her down. Let's play that by ear. Oops, looks like he's got something." She went back to where Argus and Harker were fiddling with their apparatus, as an image formed on the mirror.

--------

Lucy Kankaniel was indeed in the area, for the first time in a long time, as the small, fast ship she commanded pulled into a well-hidden inlet up the shore line from Nautkia -- to be met by a most unexpected visitor.
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Re: Nautkia, and the South

Post by Sareth »

[OOC]Greybeard, that twist ending to the last thread was nasty in all the best of ways! Kudos! And Drannin... Nice touch! "Boobies!" *snicker*[/OOC]

Lillith was trying desperately to meditate. Between the revelation of just what was wrong with the town they had just left and Harker's rather inept attempts at operating that ball... (That show was OBVIOUSLY some sort of fetish written by Tsuirakuan men with issues, she thought) she felt a rather desperate need for calm, and for a touch of the sacred. Unfortunately, as she had learned when still a young trainee under her mother, the more desperately you wanted something the harder it was to get.

With a sigh, she unfolded her legs and rose. It was pretty much pointless. Too much activity was adding to the stress. All she would do by trying to meditate while all that was going on would reinforce bad habits. She walked over to where Argus and Harker were finishing up the fine tuning. "Can I help?"
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Re: Nautkia, and the South

Post by Drannin »

"Hmm... Harker?"

The familiar sputtered as the mirror kept focusing on bad Tsuirakuan entertainment programs. "It's that blasted crystal! It's cracked, so it's hard to isolate the right frequency!"

"Hmmm... Actually, Lillith, I think you can help," Argus said thoughtfully. "If you can help me regulate the energy of the crystal ball so it's not distorted, that should deal with the interference. Can you do it?"
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Re: Nautkia, and the South

Post by Sareth »

Lillith gave Argus a slightly confused look. She understood the concept of energy, and of harnessing and shaping it. But it was something more commonly done by thaumaturgical professionals. People who had spent years studying the science of the thing and earned advanced degrees on the logical application of theory to the ether could do the sort of thing he was talking about with ease. She, on the other hand, was a priestess. Well, a priestess in training. Science had little to do with it.

"I'm a miracle worker, not a doctor," she muttered. "But I'll see what I can do." She peered at the crystal ball, then turned a desperate look to Argus. "Um... I'm sorry. But how do I do that?"

[OOC]I am so sorry, but I couldn't help but lampoon Star Trek when it struck my feeble little brain.[/OOC]
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Re: Nautkia, and the South

Post by Graybeard »

"Looks like there are still a few problems to be worked out there," Sister Rose observed as she and Brother Miguel headed back to the wagon, having lost interest in the cartoon "entertainment" that Argus had summoned.

"So it would appear," Miguel said. "Amazing, how much junk the Tsuirakuans seem to subject themselves to. I didn't even know frogs had risor muscles."

"Nor I," Rose agreed. "I wish one of us had the skills for magical manipulation of inanimate matter. Maybe we could do something to fix the crystal ball. Since we don't, let's concentrate on the next leg of the trip -- including what we're going to say when we reach the base in Lorenzel."

"That's probably a good idea. I assume we're in agreement that what we saw was a private army of the Millenarian Church, right? One populated with what looked like the output of a eugenics program? And supported by weaponry brought in from the Northern Confederacy using a travel platform they're not supposed to have?"

"That about sums it up," Rose said. "I think I get how they do it: recruit girls from southern Veracia with the right genes, to make babies with their blond soldiers who'll have even more right genes, until they get to some standard of racial purity that satisfies them. The travel platform will have to be looked into. The one thing that I'm not sure I understand is the 'why' of the thing. The girl we got the crystal ball from was obviously looking ahead to another fight with the Tsuirakuans, but she said something about dealing with other 'apostates' first. You don't suppose..." And then comprehension dawned in her green eyes.

"What other interpretation is possible?" Miguel said, also getting the picture. "The apostates have to be the Orthodox Church itself -- the church, and the army. It's the only thing around worth putting a force that size together to fight."

"Well, that settles it," Rose said. "We must, must, must make a stop in Lorenzel. I don't want to, but this has to be reported."

Miguel nodded grimly, but before he could say anything else, an emphatic "AHA!" came from where Argus was tinkering with his apparatus, and the Veracians went over to investigate.

[OOC: If you get the frogs-with-risor-muscles reference, drop me a line...]
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Re: Nautkia, and the South

Post by Drannin »

"You just did it," Argus said triumphantly. Lillith looked startled. She had simply reached out with her mana to the crystal ball, pulled back in confusion... and that pulling back was exactly what Argus needed to clear the static. "Just keep your mana like that for a few minutes, all right? And incidentally? Color me impressed."

Over at the mirror, Harker was fiddling with the runes. Out of the sea of swimming magical energy came a face that Harker knew right off the bad. "Heya, Beebee! How's tricks?"

At that nickname, Revyl Dirienzal's face went white as a sheet.
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