Rinkaiel, Part 2

[Graybeard]

OOC: OK, I'm utterly perplexed here. Layla's (and company's) "mission" at this point is simply to fly routinely back to their nice, secure base in Kugelheim and get ready to move the household to Rinkaiel for an extended stay. On the Gewehr's 1-to-10 danger scale, where 10 is the hairiest situation imaginable and 1 is bumping off an unarmed little old lady, this "mission" rates as about a -3 -- that is a negative three. All of the dangerous stuff will happen when they make it back to Rinkaiel (or, in Joe's case, while he's waiting for them to return). It makes no sense under those conditions for the Gewehr big brass to be laying on muscle for the southbound trip. Furthermore, Ace, whom Tess is addressing here, is Gewehr; that's the whole point of the relationship. What's the intention with this? We may need to work something out.

[Dallen Andair]

[ooc]I actually kinda engineered that into my post. Are The Brass overreacting? Probably. More likely it's "certainly". Even Tess doesn't think she'll be needed, but hey, easy job, easy money. If everything goes according to plan, nothing happens, Tess gets paid for doing effectively nothing, Ace and Layla get their household moving, and everything goes off without a hitch, leaving the people that pushed to get Tess more than a little sheepish and everyone else involved somewhat amused and shaking their heads.

Or, as Tess put it, things get wildly out of hand at some point. It's what high-ranking people in any organization are really good at doing; getting everything you don't need to you quickly.[/ooc]



[ooc]Addition: Also, it's me trying to get Tess into the game while having only so much time to read whats gone one before. I'm not trying to force any action or something. Hell, if hiring Tess ends up being a complete (expensive) waste, then theres plenty of openings for humor from those involved.[/ooc]

[Graybeard]

[OOC: Well, if you say so, he said dubiously... A minor variation on what you're proposing, then, to make it fit the scenario slightly better: /OOC:]

"You should read this," Ace said uncertainly, handing the message to Layla as soon as the airship was under way.

This will introduce the bearer, who goes by Tessa or Tess, and serve as instructions to you to take her with you on your return to Kugelheim.

This woman is, to put it bluntly, on the lam. You do not need to know from whom, or from where, or why. She has performed several useful services for us in the past and we owe her one, big time. Just get her to Kugelheim and we will take it from there. Warning: she is very good in a fight, but a bit of a loose cannon. She has enough powerful enemies that a fight is not out of the question, which is why you are directed to get her out of town ASAP.

Best wishes on the new business opportunity in Rinkaiel. With Tess safely delivered to Kugelheim, you'll be able to get back to it soon enough. Thanks for the help, and don't ask too many questions.

Layla recognized the signature as that of a very big gun in the Gewehr. (The signature was also that of her father, a fact of which she was completely unaware.) "Well, this looks legitimate," she said doubtfully. "Tess, is it? Welcome aboard." She folded up the paper and slipped it into a pocket.

Meanwhile, the additional little bit of "cargo" attached to the stern of the airship began a magical countdown.

[4uk4ata]

((OOC: any reason why Kalin should be lying down? He was supposed to be working outside during the last post. Or did he have another accident?))

[Graybeard]

((OOC: any reason why Kalin should be lying down? He was supposed to be working outside during the last post. Or did he have another accident?))

OOC: That was weird. Your most recent contribution wasn't displaying when I wrote that. It is now. I'll retcon. (And done.)

[Graybeard]

"Are we in a hurry?" Layla asked Ace.

He thought for a minute. "Not as far as I can tell. We need to take our, uh, passenger south, but it doesn't sound like there's any urgency. Why do you ask?"

"Oh, I just got to thinking," Layla replied. "If you don't mind, I thought we could maybe check out the vineyard from the air before we leave town. Something just doesn't seem quite right there. Maybe we can see something from up here that we were missing on the ground."

Ace thought again. "Well, I can't see any reason not to. We're still close to town. It should only take a couple of minutes to get over there. Besides, the view is great." He turned the wheel, and the airship changed direction.

---------

Any minute now, a cloaked figure hidden in the elven temple's ruins smiled to himself again, knowing that the magical beeping was accelerating.

[4uk4ata]

Kalin nodded to the man, and poured half a bucketful of water several inches from the root of a vine that was starting to feel the effects of the dry weather recently. He looked to his sides, as if making sure no one was around, before answering. "No, but since you folks came things've been quite strange anyways. Some time after you an' the ladies left, some foreigner snuck up behind me and told me not to look back. I managed to... sneak a peak, 'ss that what you say - but didn't get a good look. When I checked again, he was gone. No tracks, no smell, nothing - like Lum'nosita himself struck him to dust. Only no dust, either. I checked. "Kalin said defensively, his face sour from the embarassment of someone disappearing from under his nose again.

"Anyway, from what I saw, he was medium height - five feet something - not very young, small beard, a bit portly. Spoke like one of'em Truirakons. Oh, and he smelled a little like he'd eaten some spicy chicken, or some such. Very strange spices."

Maybe I should mention the bird, Kalin thought. He'd have to be fairly circumspect about it, though, and he didn't really like deceiving people. However, Joe looked quite interested in the Tsuirakuan. Not surprising, of course - he looked like the go-getter of the two women, and that kind never liked it when people with mysterious powers popped around on their property - but Kalin thought the man might have some ideas about who the stranger was.

((OOC: I will be going for a festival for the weekend, and I may not be able to post. Sorry.))

[Graybeard]

Spicy chicken? Joe wondered. North Farrelian cuisine tended toward seafood, reasonably enough, and also toward what might charitably be called "mild." The meals he'd had in Tsuiraku-town had been considerably livelier, and that stuff from Rice's operation down on the waterfront ... now that was interesting. He'd seen a couple of Tsuirakuans getting things there. Might the man that Kalin was describing have been one of them? Anyway, yes, his visitor did sound Tsuirakuan.

He was just about to make generally appreciative noises toward Kalin when he became aware of the sound of airship engines. A small, modern-looking airship was coming in low from the east. Was that Ace's ship? Looked like it. He stopped to look up and wave.

Layla, watching out the front window of the airship, could see the gesture. "Joe's down there," she reported to Faye and Ace. "So is our caretaker and his dog. I can't see anyone else."

"Any signs of anything you wouldn't expect?" her mother asked.

"Not really. Can we hover for a minute?" Ace complied, and Layla turned a pair of field glasses on the property. "I'm not seeing anything I wouldn't have expected at a vineyard." Then she corrected herself. "Wait a minute. There's a subtle difference in the color of the grass over by the off-limits shack on the south, compared to around the house." Why didn't I notice that before? Just the fact that there is grass around a supposedly neglected out-building is interesting. "I'd almost guess that there is disturbed earth underneath it. There've been people coming and going there."

"And that's all?"

"Yeah, as far as I can see. Give me a couple of minutes more ... No, I'm just not seeing anything else out of the ordinary here. Okay, I guess we can gain altitude and head for --"

But she didn't get to finish the sentence before there was a loud, magical fooossshh, audible on the ground as well as on the airship, as the device affixed to the stern of the airship functioned.

[Graybeard]

[OOC: Where did everybody go? To get things moving:]

A chorus of "What the hell was that?" erupted in the airship as a magical blast of energy ripped into the stern of the ship.

The designers of the airship, whether human, dwarven or something else, weren't fools, whoever they were. The lifting gas had been carefully partitioned into four different compartments to deal with situations like this one, and the ship would normally have had enough lift to fly if one was ruptured. However, the ship was fairly heavily loaded, and the blast took out two envelopes, not just one. Ace swore mightily as it lost lift and began to settle.

"Mom? Are you and Zacky all right?" Layla shouted as her mother emerged from the rear passenger compartment, the baby in her arms. Faye looked a bit singed; Zachary looked unharmed but was crying, reasonably enough. Faye was trying to get to the front of the ship to reunite mother and child, but it was settling by the stern and she was facing a literal uphill climb.

Layla didn't wait to see how it was all going to work out; Wraith skills came in handy at times like this. She scrambled down to where her mother and son were, using anything available as a hand-hold. Faye didn't wait either; she passed Zachary to his mother and started to climb back up using her now-free hands. If they could only make it to the bow, Layla thought, they'd be okay...

Close enough, if narrowly; they'd made it to the midsection of the passenger compartment when the ship reached the ground with a crump, impacting not far from where Joe and Kalin stood watching.

[4uk4ata]

((OOC: wow, it looks like we're getting major events happening every two hours or so in game time ))

Kalin was about to say something to Joe, when he saw the shadow of an airship above them. He wasn't quite sure what to make of the things - after all, if Luminosita had wanted them to fly He'd have given them wings, but a mind that could conceive of such outlandish concoctions was an appreciable second. All in all, he was quite ok to live and let live... or fly, or whatever.

He saw Joe look up and wave, and looked in kind, seeing Layla and Faye. He waved as well, and noticed the ship pass by them in a direction that put them close to the shed in the corner of the vineyard. He would have to ask Layla how things looked from up there, but he probably would have to wait a bit... Or so he thought at first.

A clutter of sparks close to the airship's passenger quarter quickly spread into a fire, which vanished almost as rapidly with a loud "whooosh". The results, whatever they were (he was pretty sure this wasn't normal, but he knew nothing about such machinery), left the airship unbalanced and reeling. Beside him, he heard Joe utter a phrase that, under other conditions, would have been blasphemy of the first degree... yet now seemed like the only logical response.

Both men started running as the airship was losing altitude, and then hit the ground with a thud.