Port Lorrel

[DarkIntruder]

"Funny you should mention that. If I recall correctly," Roger said to Jamie as he quietly took several steps away from the others, "there's a nice little restaurant a couple of blocks from here that serves the nicest marbled cuts of meat you can find, and I really don't think it'll be a problem. The goons back in Kiyoka didn't live long enough to report me, in all likely hood, and they certainly didn't see you. Even if they did manage to get a description of me, I won't look anything like it soon enough."

Roger frowned slightly as he stroked his handlebar mustache. It really would be sad to lose it, but it was only hair. Love for one's possessions to the point that it harmed your ability to enjoy them was the height of foolishness. Besides, he could always grow a beard.

"Yup," Roger spoke in a louder voice, "the guy who owns the place is a friend. We can stop off there and get ourselves some nice steaks. Luminosita knows that I haven't had one in ages. Also, I think I'm due for a change of clothes and a shave as well."

He lowered his voice again.
"If you do have any ideas for some sort of plan, I'm willing to hear them. Though I think if we both get ourselves a nice change of clothes, maybe a haircut, then that'll throw those bastards off any trail we leave behind."

[Weirdonian]

Toivo was relieved to get out of the arms dealing business in one piece, but it was then that he began to realize that this trip might actually go better with this rag-tag group. They knew the ins and outs of the more seedy side of life and the world outside his homeland was turning out to be a rather seedy place. Also, it pays to travel in groups, especially groups that know their way around firearms and fighting.

He was also glad his aquired pistol was now clean and ready for sale, trade or some combination there of. It wasn't a terrible pistol*, but if he could trade it for something better, something he was familiar with**, he would.

And then the topic of a steak lunch came up and a wide smile crossed Toivo's face. "Most excellent! I haven't had a good steak in ages!" Toivo declared to the group.

(OOC: Thanks, Jim! My attentions have been rather divided lately.

*The aquired pistol - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Enfi ... volver.JPG
**Toivo's pistol back home - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Ruge ... inish.jpeg
**Toivo's rifle back home - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Remi ... 00_BDL.jpg )

[Sareth]

"I like my outfit," I said quietly. However, Tovio then loudly proclaimed his liking of steak, and so I dropped the subject. Roger's ideas certainly had merit, and we could discuss them at another point in time. Right now it looked like we'd covered our conversation too well.

I turned to look more fully at the rest of our travel party. "So... Who's up for steak?"

[Viking-Sensei]

"Steak sounds very good. I like meat." Lucas said, dryly. "However, before we go out in public, I think this gimmick might help out somewhat... I don't normally use these this soon on a trip, because they have a limited lifespan, but I think we probably had better be safe."

Lucas reached into the upper left pocket of his jacket-like quilt of various leathers and pulled out a small black case. He opened it, removed three cigarettes, handed one to Jamie and Roger, then returned the case to his pocket. He then stuck the third cig in his mouth and lit it... and transformed into several things, like a wheel spinning randomly through identities. He flickered wildly, as if the spell was having trouble locking on, then settled into a 40-50 year old dock worker, apparently named "Vinnie", according to the name stitched above the pocket on his overalls.

"Glamour smokes." Vinnie said, offering Jamie and Roger a light. "Spell-bound in herbs, flame activated, similar to the magics used by Ayiee last night. Assigns a random identity and appearance, complete with imaginary paperwork the person might need. One stick gives about 6 hours of level-three identity protection... small children and advanced mages can percieve there being a glamour, but they can't make out your real identity."

[DarkIntruder]

Roger accepted the cigarette with justified hesitation. He didn't entirely trust magic, even though he had nothing in particular against it. Still, this was probably a good idea, at least until Roger had a chance to change his clothes and cut his hair.

Not sure exactly what to expect, roger accepted the lit match from Lucas/Vinnie, and held it to the end of the paper tube, drawing in a deep breath as he did so. The smoke flowed down his throat to his lungs, filling every space within them, and perhaps going even deeper.

DAMN, if it didn't feel good. Roger hadn't had a good smoke since...well it had been a long time, let's just put it that way. As far as they went, this one wasn't bad. Smooth and mellow, but with a undertone of something foreign.

At that point, the illusion kicked in, whirling around Roger like a subtle vortex. It spun for a few seconds, before evaporating.

Roger suddenly heard laughing, and turned to Lucas and Toivo. They were pointing at him, and Toivo seemed to barely able to contain himself. He was holding his midsection, he was laughing so hard.

"What's so damn funny?" Roger asked, feeling both slightly anxious and self-conscious. He looked down at himself, but he looked the same, as far as he knew. He wondered if the charm had worked.

Lucas, in between wheezing gasps, pulled a small brass mirror out of his satchel and handed it to Roger. He held it out at arms length, and angled it to see himself.

"Oh HELL NO!!!" Roger exclaimed.

He had taken on the appearance of an immensely fat, (obese really) business man, dressed in an impeccably made morning coat with underlying waistcoat, and pinstriped trousers, all of which appeared to be about 2 sizes to small, resulting in the front buttons of the vest bulging out ominously. To top it all off, a small bowler hat sat perched on top of his balding head. His handlebar mustache, however, had remained, resulting in a look that smacked of a walrus poured into a sausage casing.

"Hah..heh.. I..I've..ne..never heh, seen that one before!" gasped Lucas, and Roger scowled at him.

"Maybe," Roger thought, "there's a reason to distrust magic.."

[Sareth]

I waved away the smoke. I had picked up many a bad habit in my reasonably short life, but smoking was, remarkably, not one. And seeing the results on Roger, I had this suspicion this was really not the time to start. Good lord...

"That's just... wow." I shook my head. "Your own mother wouldn't recognize you." I grinned. "I'm pretty sure she wouldn't want to, either. Green waist coat and yellow morning jacket? Gaaaaaaaarish."

"Oh?" Roger shot me a dirty look. Well, as dirty as a chubby businessman could manage. "Let's see you do better!"

"Wait, what?" I blinked in surprise. "Me?"

"Yeah! You!" Roger shoved a pudgy finger my way. "He's got one more of those things. Let's see what happens when you smoke one."

"Uh..." I backed up a bit. This did not strike me as a good idea. "Weren't you just saying it can't be trusted?"

"Whatssamatter," Roger asked, smiling like his overly large lips should be chomped around a particularly fat cigar. "Chicken?"

"What did you say?" I snarled.

"Chicken! Chicken!" Roger started dancing around making chicken wings. "Bwaaaaaawk!"

"Gimmie that," I barked, snatching the last cigarette away from Tovio and lighting up. I took a nice deep pull...

(OOC: Alright, it's have fun at Jamie's expense time! Let's see what you people come up with! I am so dreading looking forward to what you come up with.)

[Tiamat]

Jonathan, having finally woken up, immediately noticed three things.

First, he was hungry. Second, he was no longer in Kiyoka. Third, there was very strange man standing over him.

The man said something in what sounded like another language. Jonathan held up a finger, cast a translation spell on himself, and said, "Try that one more time."

"I said 'It's about time you woke up,'" the man (probably) said. Jonathan realized that the man was not speaking another language, but was just speaking very, very poorly. 'No translation spells for that,' he thought to himself. He sat up. "So where the hell are we?" Jonathan asked. "Port Lorrel," the man replied. "Your cat is in a barrel over there," he said, pointing to a barrel with a rather large rock on top of it, "and you'd best be taking it with you."

Jonathan cursed under his breath, but nodded anyway. He stood up slowly, and, finding himself able to balance, moved towards the barrel and took the rock off. "I don't suppose I could convince you to keep him?" Jonathan said to the man. He responded with the most pointed look Jonathan had ever seen. "Of course I can't. I doubt I could find enough money to pay you to take the damned thing."

Resigning himself to his fate, Jonthan opened the barrels lid and found Winston ready to pounce. As soon as the cat leaped, Jonathan slammed the barrel's lid back into his face, then lifted it again and pulled him out by the wings before he could recover. "Make yourself useful and go find our acquaintances, cat."

"Wither and die, asshole. You just hit me in the face with a barrel!" Winston spat back. "Only the lid," Jonathan responded, "but I can add the whole barrel to the mix if you really want me to. Or you can go find them. I'm not in the mood to argue with you today."

Winston took a halfhearted swipe at Jonathan's nose, then led him out of the boat into the sunlight of Port Larrel.

Keyes just shook his head and got back to work.

[Graybeard]

With the last of the passengers ashore, Keyes waved to Lucas, then rigged the boat to sail. Mr. Stagpoole wasn't one to let one of his ships wander the sea empty, and arrangements had been made for pickup of a "special" passenger down the coast. Keyes didn't know the details; he decided he really didn't want to. But before going to get him/her/it, there was one quick thing he had to do.

He went below decks and opened a rarely-used and well-concealed equipment box, revealing one of the Tsuiraku crystal doohickeys. He passed his hand over it for identification, and the ball cleared to display the symbol indicating the party at the other end was unavailable. Would he like to leave a message? He would, and it was very simple:

"Dey've landed."

[Viking-Sensei]

KRAKA-FROOM!

Lucas looked up as the bolt of ominous lightning flashed through the sky, as if someone somewhere had said something very important and the gods wanted to put a ! on the end of it. Then, he sighed, because far more likely the lightning meant that it was probably about to start raining again.

Despite the disguise spells three of them were wearing, Toivo and Bob were still unmistakably normal in appearance and immedately caught Johnathan's eyes as he emerged from the dock. The party, now consisting of mechanic Vinnie (Lucas), a well-dressed Walrus (Roger), and what appeared to be a short, angry young blonde child... woman...esque person in a pastel pink sundress and matching bonnet (Jamie), approached him.

"Don't worry, the effects will wear off. Eventually." Vinnie/Lucas said, snickering. "And you're still you under there... " He waved a worn leathery paw through the air and smacked something invisible floating above the girl's head... which, of course, was Jamie's real head. The glamor reached up and touched it's face to correspond with where Lucas had whacked Jamie. "See, still all you. It's a little disconcerting, I know, but nobody would ever recognize you."

Lucas/Vinnie grabbed Johnathan's arm with his left arm (right arm still sort of shot). "There's a lot we've got to explain to you... let's do it over dinner. I suspect we owe you that much, at least."

[Sareth]

"Bloody well right, it'll wear off!" I squeaked, rubbing the side of my face where Lucas had whacked it. "There is no way... absolutely no way! I am going through life like this!" I struggled at the knot to my sun bonnet yet again. "ISN'T THERE SOME WAY TO GET THIS BLASTED THING OFF?" For some reason I'd been able to drop the dolly I'd found myself holding, but no matter what I tried, untying the knot, taking a knife to the ribbons, tearing at the thing, I for some reason could not get the bonnet off. The dress I could live with if I had to, but that bonnet had to go!

"My! She's a cutey! Your niece?" I heard. Out of the corner of my eye I caught a hand descending, attempting to pat what should be my head, but which would prove oddly textured for that should the hand connect. I spun away, avoiding the hand of the vendor who was attempting to snare a prospective customer by, no doubt, convincing the child that she just haaaaaaaad to have that candy now, Uncle Mikey! NOW! My hand shot out, accompanied by the illusion that oddly managed to adjust accurately and accordingly, and caught the vendor's wrist lest a second attempt was made.

*WHUD*

Apparently the illusion found my knee a size match for it's foot. Nice to know. And the cross eyed expression on the man's open mouthed face as he slowly sank to the ground, pale, and clutching at his crotch was imminently satisfying.

"ANYONE ELSE THINK I'M CUTE?" I shot a dirty look at the crowd that I'm sure the illusion made far less menacing. "I DIDN'T THINK SO."

"Now... About that steak?" I smiled sweetly, an expression I'm sure my current appearance only made even more sickening.