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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Re: Nautkia, and the South

Post by Graybeard »

"Sorry we're late," Sister Rose said, not altogether sincerely, as she and Lillith entered the dining room, which was just as ornate as she expected it to be. Most of the other seats at the large, superbly carved table were occupied. Argus and Sasha seemed to be having a private conversation (she was glad to see that; Sasha had been curiously remote lately), and Brother Miguel was making a not-altogether-successful attempt to make small talk with the formal little man with a pince-nez that had entered the room shortly after Sasha. Three seats were unoccupied: Father Nestor's (she was pretty sure that he'd make a dramatic and ... elegant ... entrance momentarily), Brother Kelso's, and Cit's. The last two bothered her. She was a bit surprised that Kelso had the status within this curious place to be invited to this dinner, but if he was, even a Reformed temple would exert sufficient social pressure on him that he'd feel obliged to show up. So where was he? As for Cit, she hadn't seen the half elf since shortly after they'd arrived. She wasn't even sure he was still in his room. Sick, maybe? She decided to check on him after dinner, but put the problem out of her mind as Nestor made his grand entrance.

"Let us bow our heads and pray," the priest said in ringing tones. The guests, even Lillith, complied, and Nestor launched into a prayer of ringing eloquence in which he thanked Luminosita for essentially everything but cockroaches. Rose thought her own brief, internal (and sincere) prayer, then listened with a mental rolling of eyes. As often when an Orthodox priest waxed prolix on his own ritual prayer (but why was a Reformed priest doing the same thing?), she opened her eyes for a quick scan around the table ... and caught something interesting. The man with the pince-nez wasn't even making a pretense of bowing in prayer, but was scanning the guests with the demeanor of a cheetah checking a herd of antelope for a candidate for dinner. She dropped her eyes back to her lap as the man's gaze flicked in her direction, hoping he hadn't noticed her own inspection of the table.

The prayerful eloquence finally ended, and two immaculately dressed servants brought the first course into the room, as Rose realized she was losing her appetite.
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Re: Nautkia, and the South

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The meal was clearly going to be quite expensive and luxurious, Lillith realized with a sinking feeling. Unfortunately, that made for a bit of a problem for her. Many delicacies favored by the wealthy tended to run into the department of exotic animals, and the first course was clearly that. She had no idea what animal the platters set on the table were, but they were clearly fatty. Which meant that the onions, leaks, potatoes, carrots, and other vegetables surrounding the beasts decoratively were probably coated in the grease.

She sighed as she reached over for a roll, buttering it and nibbling at it pensively. This was going to be a long dinner, and she would have to do her best to not do anything to call attention to the fact she wasn't touching most of the fare. For a moment her eyes slid to Sister Rose, and she sighed again. It looked like it was true that misery loved company...
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Re: Nautkia, and the South

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"Are you unfamiliar with the appetizer?" Father Nestor asked, seeing the look on Lillith's face and misinterpreting it -- maybe. "It's a filet of Gornch lizard, imported at great expense from the Southern Continent. Our modest temple is fortunate to have some benefactors in the shipping business who allow us to sample some of Luminosita's more -- exotic -- blessings like this." He smiled beatifically.

Exotic blessings, my ass, Brother Miguel thought. More like "illicit." Not to mention painful...

He'd eaten Gornch lizard once, in his distant youth in the south. The beast had eaten one of the children of his tribe, and a band of warriors had been sent to avenge the death so that the tribe could devour the devourer's flesh to appease the spirit of the dead girl. He'd put the religious part of that meal behind him years ago, but he couldn't forget the weird discomfort that he felt about eating the thing that had taken his playmate Sarita. Truthfully, he had to admit that it had tasted good then, and it tasted good now. But there was a difference. The loose confederacy that now ruled his native land, he knew, treated the huge lizards as a protected species, allowing them to be hunted only for food, and only for vengeance-meals of the kind that he'd partaken of. There was justness in that; not only were they rare, there was a certain, one might say, magnificence to them, in a hideous sort of way, that made consumption of their flesh nothing to be trifled with. Had this specimen done something to someone of the Nautkia church to justify its demise and reduction to a pretentious appetizer? He doubted it.

Lillith, sitting across from him, seemed to be having trouble with the dish (for that matter, Sister Rose and Sasha were picking uncomfortably at it as well), and Miguel decided to risk a conversational foray to put her more at ease -- maybe. "I remember Gornch lizards from my youth," he said. "Great, mindless eating machines. Even the Calfornicans, the vegetarian sect in our church, would consider them the kind of non-sentient beings that might fall within their definition of suitable food sources." Of course, it was lizard eggs that the Calfornicans ate, but why quibble over nuances? Somehow, Lillith didn't look reassured, although she did manage to isolate one bit of potato that hadn't been contaminated by the juices from the strips of meat.

Wonder what other kinds of not-quite-legal exotica he'll be plying us with? Miguel thought as the servants brought out bottles of wine, then decided he didn't really want to know.
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Re: Nautkia, and the South

Post by Sareth »

She appreciated the attempt. She really did. She gave Brother Miguel a smile showing her thanks for his trying. But meat was meat, and that was all there was to it.

She nibbled away at the potato she'd found. It was fairly dry and tasteless, having not had the virtue of being in butter or anything savory as well as not having been in the grease. But at least it was something.

The serving of the wine helped as well. Even though she was sure it was just as much an ostentatious travesty as the rest of this, at least it was something she could consume in good conscience. She'd have to be careful though. Wine on a mostly empty stomach could go straight to her head.

She sipped gently, watching. As she did, her eyes fell on the man in the pince-nez. He was eating with a will. Quite comfortably. But even as he ate, and drank, and cracked the occasional joke, something seemed whip ready about him. Something seemed... sharp. Watchful.

He was on his guard.

Quietly, she leaned towards Sister Rose and, not looking at the man, but instead pointing to some decoration on the table, she softly whispered, "The man with the glasses... He's as wary as a half elf in Praenubilus Astu. Do you think..."
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Re: Nautkia, and the South

Post by Drannin »

Argus admitted that the meal was good. But it was hard to work up an appetite. The room was as tense as a rope with a multi-ton golem hanging from it. At least Harker was still asleep...

Oh Lord. Why did he even think that?
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Re: Nautkia, and the South

Post by Graybeard »

"I don't know what to think," Sister Rose answered Lillith sotto voce, as she slipped the half elf a leek from her plate that hadn't been touched by juice from the lizard meat; after the experience at the Provatiel dining hall, she had a pretty clear idea of why most of the food on Lillith's plate remained untouched. "Let's just watch and listen for a while."

The servants were pouring the wine now, and it appeared to be just as good, and just as exotic, as the appetizer. Rose realized with a start that she'd seen the label before, in a place decidedly different from this mission. Dare she risk a comment? She decided to try. "Your wine cellars must be remarkable, Father Nestor," she said mildly. "If I'm not mistaken, this vintage comes from the far north." (The very far north, she thought; the bellicose half elves at Albigenish had had a good share of it, and it hadn't been produced in northern Veracia.) "Does the same trader that supplied your appetizer deal in fine wines as well? If so, he sounds like someone I'd like to meet."

The comment was innocent enough, but Nestor cocked an eyebrow at it, and the man with the pince-nez also turned to look at Rose. "No, no, a different importer," Nestor said. "Luminosita has blessed us with good relations with several of the traders in Nautkia." His body language said that he didn't really want to pursue the subject.

I'll be he has, thought Rose, but she decided not to press the subject. "You're indeed fortunate to have good relations with the mercantile class in town," she said. "We're trying to cultivate the merchants of Kiyoka, but it's a hard job." The conversation settled back into small talk and Nestor relaxed ... but Rose noticed that the sinister little man's attention had shifted from Sasha to herself now.

I wish I could put on the Empathy, but I'm just going to have to watch him -- and myself -- carefully for a while, she thought as she sipped the wine.
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Re: Nautkia, and the South

Post by Sareth »

As Sister Rose skillfully sounded things out, Lillith quietly sat, eating the leek and potato, trying not to call attention on herself. While it was good they were focused on Rose, rather than herself, she was sitting next to Rose, and might be noticed simply through proximity. Something told her that the man in the glasses wouldn't care at all about her ancestry personally, but that it still would not be wise to let him know it easily. He seemed the sort to sell it, somehow. Or to capitalize on it in some way.
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Re: Nautkia, and the South

Post by Graybeard »

[OOC: Sorry, Templar, but gonna borrow Cit for a quick exchange. Feel free to pick this up and run with it,..]

I wish I knew where Cit was, Brother Miguel thought as the servants cleared the appetizer plates and brought out the main course, an artistically prepared side of Anuban swamp beast. He wondered how they'd got the thing into the country, then decided he really didn't want to know. At least there were elaborately carved vegetables at the sides of the plates, uncontaminated by swamp-beast drippings; Lillith should be able to make a pretty good meal out of those, since the total amount of food on the plate was well beyond what was decent for a Reformed temple to be serving.

Miguel wasn't the only one who was starting to feel some anxiety about Cit's empty seat. Father Nestor was doing his best to radiate sophisticated bonhomie, but he was sneaking occasional glances at the two unoccupied chairs -- more frequently at Brother Kelso's than at Cit's, Miguel noted. (Well, that was reasonable enough; the missing Kelso belonged to the temple, after all.) The two half elves were picking self-consciously at their food, and Argus had been looking withdrawn and uncomfortable ever since someone had mentioned Harker's name (and Miguel could guess why). Sister Rose, however, was clearly noticing the empty chair, and so was the strange little man with glasses, who had never given his name. In fact, the anonymous man seemed uncomfortable with everything. His glances at Lillith, Sasha and Rose all had discomfort to them, and he wasn't nearly as receptive to Miguel's attempts to make conversation as he had been earlier in the evening.

Come on, man, where are you? Miguel thought, trying to put on his best diplomatic face as he applied himself to the swamp beast, and not succeeding.

----------

Three weather-beaten men in the back room of a tavern in Nautkia could have answered Miguel's question, although Cit himself could not, except in general terms.

"Sorry about the blindfold. Security, you know," the oldest man said, removing it from Cit's eyes, and never thinking that a magic user might not have been all that discommoded by the thing. Actually, it didn't matter; the real security precautions were well out of sight. "We're safe here, so let's get down to business."

"We know who you are," said the youngest man, the one who had approached Cit on a street in Nautkia. "Your name is Cithule, but you use Cit in day-to-day life. You are a half elf -- obviously. You are a soldier of fortune with magical skills as well as a certain capability for hand-to-hand combat. You have an interest in certain ancient artifacts. You have a flying familiar named Felix, who by the way is being held, safe and unharmed, at another location -- more security." (The term had a slightly different meaning in context than it did the first time, of course.) "And you have a price on your head."

Cit started to bristle at this entirely accurate observation, but the third man laughed humorlessly. "Don't worry about it. So do about half the people in this town, all of ourselves included. Keep your mouth shut, and we'll return the favor." His eyes made it clear that bad things would happen if Cit did not keep his mouth shut about this encounter. "Final point: you're on the lam, although we don't know exactly what from, nor do we know why you've linked up with that ridiculous church group. Frankly, we don't give a rat's ass either. Again, you can keep your secrets, and we'll keep ours."

"And that is where we have a proposition for you," the oldest man said. "We have certain professional expertise at helping people who desire to become, shall we say, hard to find. If you are among those people, and would be interested in getting transported to a distant place where you will not be known, and at that, one that is well endowed with artifacts of the kind you seek, we can arrange it -- for a price, of course." The three men sat back to hear Cit's response, although their hands never strayed far from their guns.
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Re: Nautkia, and the South

Post by Graybeard »

[OOC: Oops, did I break something? The interaction with Cit can happen asynchronously and shouldn't gum up the works at the temple. To try to recapture some momentum:]

The dinner was well into its second hour, and its fourth course (an assortment of cheeses that Sister Rose was fairly sure were not domestic), when a servant appeared in the door connecting dining hall and kitchen, his face ashen, and gestured to Father Nestor.

"Yes, what is it?" the priest asked with rather less than his usual congeniality, then excused himself to talk to the man in the doorway. A muted conversation was punctuated by Nestor's gasp and ensuing "Oh ... my ... GOD!" There was a ripple of concern among the diners, and Rose used the commotion to quietly put her Empathy back on, hoping it wouldn't attract any notice. Apparently it didn't; at least everyone's eyes were still on Nestor as he came back into the room, shaking and white as a sheet.

"I -- I'm sorry that I must leave this dinner to attend to some -- business. There has been a tragic occurrence. Brother Kelso's body was found at the bottom of the cliff behind our temple. He is dead." Without another word, Nestor left the room, the quaking servant right behind him.

Oh, my, Rose thought to herself as she scanned the room quickly with her Empathy. As Bernie put it, there is one hell of a lot of death following us around. This is terrible ... Brother Miguel was beside himself, and it wasn't just because the meeting at the farmhouse tomorrow had been canceled. The servants still in the room, cleaning up the table as the dinner reached a premature end, were horrified, and the other travelers were aghast as well.

But the little man with the pince-nez wasn't reacting to this news at all ... and although Rose couldn't get much off him from the Empathy spell as a result, she had the distinct feeling that it didn't come as a surprise to him. He quietly slipped out the kitchen door as the room became noisy again.
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Re: Nautkia, and the South

Post by Sareth »

As the noise level and consternation increased, Lillith took advantage of it. She leaned over to get some cheese, which just happened to bring her close to Sister Rose's ear.

"Didn't the parrot mention something about trying to infiltrate a group of smugglers? If those were smugglers coming up the cliff..." Her voice was a soft whisper meant for Rose only.

She sat back, eating a cheese with a particularly nutty flavor that went well with the wine.
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