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 »

"Easily done," Leofric said. He was waiting at the large back door when the bell rang to announce the visitor.

"Good morning, Ritsuko," he said, bowing slightly to the woman on the wagon. "Let me introduce our new partner ... Lily. She would value your assistance in making contact with another of your clients on a matter of mutual interest." And that was that.

-----------

"What did you make of that?" Sister Rose asked Brother Miguel as they boarded the wagon.

Miguel opened his mouth to speak, closed it, opened it again, closed it again. Finally, he got it out as the wagon started moving. "I don't like it, Rose. We have our lead on Egbert, and that's really all we can ask for, I guess. But there was something going on in there that just wasn't right, and I don't need the Truth spell to tell me that."

Rose nodded. "I couldn't agree more. The business about the different smugglers and the truces broken by occasional violence is simple enough, no problem there. I think I can even guess why Egbert is supposed to be on that boat this afternoon: he wants his sister to get him to the Southern Continent so he can cover his tracks. But something just feels wrong. There was more to the story than he was telling. I still don't understand what role the temple plays in all this. And I have real doubts as to what role he plays as well. I almost don't think the man is really the contact that Bernie was talking about, although I can't prove it."

"I know what you mean," Miguel said. "Anyway, our task seems clear: find a way to get ourselves onto that boat that's coming to Smuggler's Cove so that we can meet Egbert when he boards. Do you think we can tell Argus and the half elves about that?"

Rose pursed her lips. "I don't know, let me think about that. But let's think quick; there's Argus right now ... and he doesn't look any happier than we are," she concluded as she noticed the mage rounding the corner that housed the Magic Kettle.
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Sareth
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Re: Nautkia, and the South

Post by Sareth »

Lillith gave a bow to the man she was being introduced to. She had no idea what the etiquette for such a situation might be, so she decided it was best to err on the side of politeness. "How do you do?" she asked.

The woman on the wagon seemed shockingly normal to look at. She somehow expected a smuggler to be festooned with scars, knives, and leather clothing that declared "I am up to no good." But the woman had somewhat expensive but otherwise fairly ordinary clothing. It was dusty from the wagon trundling about, but it would have looked perfectly at home on the lady of a minor merchant house. Or what Lillith would have expected the lady of a minor merchant house to look like. Being a town in hiding, Santorial had precious few merchants of means to judge by, and she had avoided the cities so far on her travels.

Knowing that the woman clearly knew about the half elves anyway, Lillith gave a pleasant smile and pulled her hair back behind her ears, a small luxury. It was nice to be able to tuck it away so it wasn't falling in her face for once. "May I climb up?"
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Re: Nautkia, and the South

Post by Graybeard »

The woman frowned, looked from side to side. "No, no, hide your ears," she said. "We are watched." (There wasn't another human in sight, as far as Lillith could see.) Then she motioned Lillith aboard as Leofric removed a carefully wrapped package from the back of the wagon. "I must make one more stop," she said, "and then I will conduct you to the people you wish to see. You will help me with the next stop? It is a large load there." She set the wagon in motion, heading toward a tavern on the way to the center of town.

---------

Argus still didn't look happy, but he joined Sister Rose and Brother Miguel in the wagon. "We had a very weird experience," Rose said. "I'm not sure what happened there, but the bottom line is that he did have some information we can use. There's a boat coming into the little bay behind the mission this afternoon; they call it Smuggler's Cove. Egbert is supposed to be meeting them there and then getting a ride to the Southern Continent. If we can get to the boat before he does, we can intercept him and -- now why are you looking at me like that?"
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Re: Nautkia, and the South

Post by Sareth »

Lillith hastily covered her ears, making no comment on the woman's slightly odd seeming speech patterns. Everyone had an accent, of course, and the further she had gone in her travels the odder things had sounded to her. But this woman had gone beyond the Veracian accent into something altogether different. Still, in a town crawling with smugglers, half-elves, and an elf, that was hardly to be unexpected.

She simply nodded her head. "Of course, I'd be glad to." She settled in for the ride to the next stop, unsure if she was unhappy with the delay, or grateful for the temporary reprieve from the need to discuss escape with smugglers.
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Re: Nautkia, and the South

Post by Drannin »

Argus stared at Sister Rose in horror. He held up a model ship. "I have been told that a ship looking like this is to be putting in at eight bells, before the dog's watch. I'm supposed to make life very unpleasant for this ship. As in terminally so." Argus took in their reactions. "Precisely."

Why do I suddenly wish for the war-golems again? Giant death machines were simple...
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Re: Nautkia, and the South

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"Eight bells," Sister Rose breathed. "That's just what Rogeriel told us, same language and everything. It must be the same boat. I can't believe smugglers would have more than one ship in the cove at the same time. They're too cautious, too canny. And Egbert is supposed to board it ... we're supposed to wait for it ... and you're supposed to sink it." The looks on the other faces told Rose she'd got the analysis right.

"So what now?" Brother Miguel asked. The question was still hanging there in midair, unanswered, when Rose noticed something unexpected.

"Hey, over there, on that delivery cart. Isn't that Lillith?"

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

It was indeed Lillith. She and the Tsuirakuan woman were pulling up at the back door of a tavern, where a short, muscular man and an exceptionally tall, slender woman in the outfit of a bar maid were waiting.
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Re: Nautkia, and the South

Post by Sareth »

Lillith didn't notice that she was being watched as she slipped in the door. Instead she nervously smiled to the short but stout man and the tall, slender woman. "May I have a word," she asked.
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Re: Nautkia, and the South

Post by Graybeard »

"Wonder what she's up to?" Brother Miguel said, reining in the horses; after all, they were going to fetch Lillith from the little park where she was expected to be meditating, and there was clearly no point in going there now.

"Dunno," Sister Rose said. "She was playing her cards pretty close to her vest on the way in, not saying what this trip was really all about. The meditation business was a transparent excuse. She was able to meditate just fine back at the gazebo, and Luminosita knows, there was so little spirituality in that place other than her own that she shouldn't have felt uncomfortable about it. Hell of a thing to say, I know, but there it is."

Miguel grimaced. "You're right about that. Well, maybe she found others of her kind -- religion, homeland, race, whatever -- and was wanting some company. You can hardly blame her -- Rose, what is it?"

The phrase "white as a sheet" is overused, but sometimes it fits, and it described what had happened to Rose's face as she watched Lillith go into the tavern. In almost a whisper, she said, "Luminosita have mercy ... I'm just all but certain that that tall woman she was talking to is an elf."
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Re: Nautkia, and the South

Post by Sareth »

The two figures at the door stepped aside, allowing Lillith to enter the room. She smiled to them, stepping through into the interior. She then turned back to face them once again. "Some friends of mine and I could use your help. Would you be able to do that?"
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Re: Nautkia, and the South

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"Wait, 'Lily'! This isn't the..." Ritsuko said, but it was too late; Lillith had already disappeared through the door. Suicidal inclinations? the Tsuirakuan wondered. Well, this "Lily" didn't seem to know enough of what was going on at the greenhouse to get them into too much trouble, and meanwhile, there was a job to be done, although it would have been nice if "Lily" had helped on it as promised. She started unloading boxes from the cart.

"Uh, I'm not sure I can help you, miss," the short, muscular man said. Who was this person? He knew that the produce people had something to do with the Chouzhu, but quite sensibly, he didn't know, and didn't want to know, exactly what it was; to the comparatively small extent that his tavern had connections to any of the smuggling outfits in town, it was to the Gilsoniels who occasionally used his back room for things, and they and the Chouzhu ... didn't get along. There was no way that this person was one of those heathen Chouzhu, though, produce racket or no produce racket, so may as well try to be helpful. "We run a decent establishment here. But if you tell me what you need, I can maybe connect you to people who can help. What's your problem?"

The tall woman didn't say anything; she just listened ... and watched.

-----------

"We've got to go in after her," Sister Rose said, panic rising in her voice. "Anybody watching?" She didn't wait for Brother Miguel's negative, but hurriedly made a quick adjustment to her form to look a bit more ... Orthodox. "Come on, Miguel! God Gambit! Argus, get ready to create a distraction!"

The two Veracians hopped off the wagon and crashed into the back door of the tavern, startling the tall woman who'd been standing just inside the door. "There you are, heretic!" Rose shouted in a voice she hoped Lillith would recognize. "You cannot escape Luminosita's righteous wrath this time! Come! It is time for a smiting, that will be administered by no less than Father Argus himself!" And she gestured at Lillith ... at the same time winking her green eyes in Lillith's direction, and hoping that neither the tavern's proprietor nor the elf (she was even more sure of it now) would notice.
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