Rinkaiel: Kidnappers

For in-universe game play. Journey through both familiar and foreign settings, explore lost ruins and forgotten cities, and try to bring light to the darkness of the world... or, you know, blow stuff up. Either way.
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Graybeard
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Re: Rinkaiel: Kidnappers

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"Outside it is," Layla nodded. She'd been an expert climber for long enough (although the ankle she'd sprained climbing up at the pass, disposing of Clem and his gang, occasionally let her know that she still had some getting in shape to do) to look at a situation like this and see that it held faint prospects for getting into a sheltered position from the inside. If anything, the setting would work to the Tsuirakuans' advantage; they were reputed to be able to levitate.

They stepped back outside, and it didn't take long for Layla to see a route to the top of the cupola that ought to work just fine. "I think we've found our site," she told the others. "Plenty of room down below, and a couple of ways in and out so the parties don't run into each other, but not so many that it's hard to keep an eye on. The exchange can happen at that flame. We should be able to put at least three or four people on top to keep an eye on proceedings."

Something was nibbling at the back of her mind, but she couldn't figure out what it was. Better take one more look, just to be on the safe side. They checked the site over once more; everything looked the same the second time around. This seemed like just the place for an exchange, after hours and late at night when nobody would be there.

Or so she thought.

"Come on, let's go write a ransom note," she said, as the group headed back for the carriage.
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Jack Rothwell
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Re: Rinkaiel: Kidnappers

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Jade cast an eye back at the building as they clambered into the vehicle. The blacksmith had an innate distrust of elf-related things. She was no scholar of history, but the actions that species had taken were at least known to her.

"Back to Barker Lane?" She queried. "I think roof-hopping might be a job for Eve and Leo."
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Re: Rinkaiel: Kidnappers

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"Barker Lane sounds good," Layla replied. The group set off.

"I'll be up top too," she continued, "because I don't want whoever brings Mom to see me. I think it might be best if Leo was down below, though. He's the master of disguise, right? If he and Joe work the exchange --" Joe shot her a sharp look, but said nothing -- "we'll keep the Tsuirakuans from figuring out too much about who does what in our operations. Anyway, let's figure out what goes in the note. Frankly, I don't have a lot of experience writing ransom notes."

The reason for that, of course, was that the Gewehr were the people you turned to if ransom notes didn't work ... but there was no need to say that.
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Re: Rinkaiel: Kidnappers

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OOC Skipping ahead to the lane if that's ok./OOC

The situation at the Silver Hands place of business was much the same as it had been when the two women had left. Although it seemed to the blacksmith as they entered the building through the brand new, handsome-looking oaken door that Bert had been stuck with guard duty of their prisoner and Leo and Eve had reverted to their natural behavior when they had time off; namely Eve being in the back yard attacking training dummies with wooden swords and Leo lounging around on the most comfortable couch the place had to offer. Jade briefly noted that her boyfriend had also moved his pet cat to the guild and it was currently using his stomach as a bed. The animal opened a single yellow eye and glared at her as she passed.

Rufus was waiting on a chair with his bad leg stuck stiffly out in front of him. on the desk at his side was a dismantled revolver the old man was polishing with a practiced hand.

"Well, what news?" He spoke in gruff tones.

The plan was easily explained. The captain nodded his way through it and turned to Layla at its conclusion.

"Ransom notes? Not a problem." He replied. "You have a particular tone in mind for it madam? I have, ah, some practice in the art."
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Re: Rinkaiel: Kidnappers

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"Thanks, I'll be delighted to take advantage of your skills," Layla smiled. (It was not lost on her that the Tsuirakuans might have some kind of divining magic that would lead back to the author of the note, and although she'd try to block it, if she couldn't, having one of the Silver Hands write it would ... have some advantages.) "Go for a formal Tsuirakuan style if you can. Here." She extracted the note that she herself had received earlier, telling her what had happened to Faye, and as she did, she noticed something.

"Damn. I'd forgotten that that ridiculous Temple of the Divine Dwarf was tied up with this. It wasn't the Oshimas that sent the note, it was their Reverend Orpiment." Her eyes narrowed. "We'll make the exchange straight. After that, if Torou and his professor leave us alone, we'll leave them alone, and they are off the hook."

Her face hardened another notch. "But Orpiment is not. That bastard has to die."
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Re: Rinkaiel: Kidnappers

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Rufus busied himself with the note with a blurring of the quill which indicated that the old man's arthritis hadn't advanced to his hands, at least not yet. Jade turned to head to her forge in search of something to do.

Leo had listened in to the pair's explanation of the current situation, and pulled himself off the couch, still carrying the cat and stroking it in a manner that suggested he was hatching an evil scheme of some kind.

"I think i'll have to dress up special for this exchange." He paused for thought, and then nodded. "A beard, I think."

Rufuus muttered under his breath as he wrote the note, a habit which the rest of the Silver Hands had long since ceased to nag him about.

"... she is now in our custody." He said, and chuckled. The formal Tsuirakuan style amused him, the idea of such an excessively polite style being used to convey information about a kidnapping seemed a glaring contradiction in terms. "We propose an exchange at The Elven Ruins..." The quill's dance continued.

OOC Sorry, that took way too long./OOC
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Re: Rinkaiel: Kidnappers

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Layla nodded approval as the ransom note took shape. They'd get it to Seishi Torou tonight; the exchange would occur tomorrow night; and life would go on for all the principals involved.

Except for Reverend Orpiment.

When Rufus was finished, she praised the old man's work -- he'd made the note sound convincingly Tsuirakuan -- and then got down to tactics. "Three things. First, we need to decide how we're going to get him this note. The crossbow idea sounds good to me," she nodded at Jade. "Then we have to figure out who's going to be where, in what disguise, when we make the exchange. And the third thing ..."

She paused before getting to that last point; she wanted to see exactly how the Silver Hands responded. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea ... but dammit, that priest had to die, and she'd figured out how to make it happen. But the plan would sound ... strange. She took a deep breath and went on.

"I don't suppose you people know of any sites up north where we might be able to find a dwarven artifact or two, do you?"
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Re: Rinkaiel: Kidnappers

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"Outside of the temple?" Rufus asked.

"Oh! I think i may be able to help with that issue." Leo interjected, the cat now perched on his shoulder and a big black, fake beard dangling from his hand. "Liepzeller, that is, Officer Liepzeller passed me a little information a few days back. Mostly routine stuff, neighborhood shenanigans, patrol routes and so on...."

"Get to the point sweetheart."

"Will do honey." Leo nodded at Jade. "A few of the militia came back from a patrol saying there was an evacuation site at some tiny spit of a town in the northwest... they found one of those... what d'you call 'em? Like a porthole in the earth? A cover, man-sized, over it that looked of dwarven design. Not clue to what was inside yet. Liepzeller said there might be a group from the temple heading up to check it out by the end of the week. If you're looking for artifacts it might be best to get there before they do."

"Well... that's convenient." Eve chimed in, entering through the back way with her training swords still in hand and a thin coat of sweat giving her skin a sheen.

"The rest of the issues should be easy to handle." Rufus said. "Eve can deliver the message."

"Thanks daddy."

"And no heroics." The old man concluded, stifling a smile.
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Re: Rinkaiel: Kidnappers

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The smile that crossed Layla's face was a wolf's. "That should work just fine," she said. "As soon as we get Mom back, let's make a little trip up there. Jade, your smithing skills will come in handy, because there'll be some little modifications we want to make to an artifact or two before we donate them to the temple." The smile widened. "Mom's an expert on poisons, you see ..."

[OOC: So I feel a fast-forward coming on. The question is, to when? Do you want to handle delivery of the ransom note in real time, or to just assume that it happens and move on to the exchange of prisoners? Or even beyond that, to the trip to the dwarven site? Any of the three are OK with me.]
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Re: Rinkaiel: Kidnappers

Post by Jack Rothwell »

OOC I vote moving to the exchange. Even with the bad luck Eve's been having since... well... since she came into the story I doubt shooting a crossbow bolt at a door and running away would pose much trouble to her. How about we cut in to the group almost at the temple to discuss last minute details?/OOC
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