Nautkia, and the South

[Graybeard]

"Eyes glowing red," Brother Miguel thought out loud. "You know, Jason Hamael's eyes glowed red ... didn't they?"

[Sareth]

"Who?" Lillith asked. "You mean you've encountered something like that before?" Sighing, she flopped to a seat on the ground. "Is there anything that you people do that's SAFE?"

[Viking-Sensei]

(OOC - I'm still reading through the end of the last location post to catch up, but can anyone give me a quick recap on where Sasha wound up?)

[Sareth]

[OOC]She really hasn't been talked about a whole lot, V-S. So my general assumption is that she's sulking in the wagon.[/OOC]

[Graybeard]

OOC: Sasha is presumed to be in the wagon, but she can be anywhere she needs to be. Also OOC, I should be back in the picture tomorrow, or Tuesday at the latest. A little bit to get things moving again until then -- /OOC:

Something had been nibbling at Brother Miguel's memory throughout the exchange between Harker and Dirienzal, and with the mention of Damyo's name, it finally emerged.

"Now I remember where I've heard of Nautkia," he said. "It has some odd geography. The town itself sits at the top of a huge, 500-foot-tall sea cliff, so it's not really suitable as a port. But there are supposed to be some passageways down to the water level that set it up as a perfect front operation for sea-going smugglers -- and pirates. And Lillith, I'm pretty sure that what we're doing is safe by comparison to what those people do ... so it's all in the eye of the beholder."

Lillith didn't have time to argue this point, however, as a pair of travelers came into view along the road from the self-same Nautkia.

[Sareth]

"If you say so," Lillith muttered, though she sounded at least vaguely mollified. Seeing the travelers, she carefully made sure her ears were covered by her hair, then returned to settle in the wagon.

[Drannin]

"What's going on?! Who else is there?!" Dirienzal demanded, suddenly alert.

"No-one you need to worry 'bout Beebee," Harker said cheerfully. "Anyway, gotta run. We'll ring ya again if we have any more questions." The rotund Tsuirakuan started to protest, but Argus cut the link before he could get a word out.

Weave, that was satisfying. And then Argus noticed the travelers, too.

[Graybeard]

The travelers, two fairly young men, approached soundlessly. As they drew near the wagon, one made a subtle but complex gesture with his right hand, while the other kept his hands near the swords on his belt. When the gesture was met with bland indifference by the party, the men moved on, still not saying a word.

Interesting, Sister Rose thought. Wonder if ... She muttered a spell as quietly as possible, using the hilarity surrounding Harker's description of Dirienzal for cover, and turned to peer at the retreating men. Aha.

"Smugglers," she announced as soon as the men were well out of earshot. "The hand signal was for recognition, I'm pretty sure. We occasionally used things like that in special ops. I got a combination of relief and puzzlement off them. It's like they're expecting another group like ours somewhere on the road. And I think they're carrying something they'd prefer not to be found with."

"Any take on what?" Brother Miguel asked, but Rose shook her head. "This is just Empathy, remember, not mind reading. Probably nothing interesting to us, but remember that from a smuggler's point of view, anything he's carrying and not supposed to have will create discomfort, and relief when it goes undetected. Personally, I'm more interested in the hand signal, and I wish I'd had the spell up when they used it. It makes me wonder if these smugglers are ex-military." She let the implications of that sink in while Argus and Harker dismantled the snooping apparatus, still chuckling under their breath.

[Graybeard]

[OOC: Where did everybody go? Sorry for the double, but to get things moving again:]

The wagon lurched into motion, bearing the pieces of Argus' eavesdropping setup as well as the passengers, but it was only a few minutes later that another traveler appeared on the road from Nautkia, this one on horseback. He was a tall, thin young man in the robes of the Reformed Church, with a non-uniform red shirt over them; probably something to keep the road grit off the robes, Sister Rose guessed. He looked young enough to have been promoted to priesthood quite recently, and possibly was taking extra (and completely unnecessary) steps to keep his outfit pristine for use in the temple. A whimsical thought struck her: In the military, we'd have called him a red-shirted ensign, with all that that implies... She winced inwardly and put the thought out of her mind as the man hailed the group.

"Greetings, Brother Miguel, Sister Rose, fellow travelers," the man called. "My name is Brother Kelso. Father Nestor asked me to guide you to the temple in Nautkia." He fell in beside them, casting a puzzled glance at Lillith, Sasha and Cit.

[Sareth]

For her part, Lillith returned the puzzled look with one of slight disdain. She didn't know the ins and outs of the church and its working, but if he'd been sent out here, he was probably low on the pecking order. And the fact he looked confused about her also meant he didn't know much about what the group was doing.

Oh, like you do, she snorted to herself. You're chasing down some missing priest who has a habit of turning up in places that cause people to die, all because it is actually somehow *less* scary than your original mission. She blew a small raspberry that was mostly mental. You are such an idiot.

"Is it far," she asked, not making eye contact.