Rinkaiel: Temple of the Divine Dwarf

[Graybeard]

Layla didn't like the idea of splitting up, but had to admit, Eve had a point. "See you at the liquor store in ten," she said, the "visit" to the brothel put on the back burner for the moment.

It didn't take as much as ten minutes, however, for her to draw a conclusion. She caught up to the Silver Hands pair and gave them the news.

"You, not me. And it's still there ... and I'm damned if I can tell exactly where."

[Jack Rothwell]

"Again?" Eve shook her head in disbelief. "Maybe if I let it follow me and you tracked it we might be able to get some answers."

"What about me?" Bert interjected.

"Stay with her." Eve replied, as she pointed at a particulary shady looking alleyway. "I could wander down those lonely, deserted streets and wait for something bad to happen to me, if your stalker is really focused on yours truly you might be able to get the drop on him, or her, or it."

[Graybeard]

Layla and Bert exchanged dubious glances, then Layla broke the silence. "Well ... if you're willing to take the risk, I can't really say it's a bad idea. We need to get to the bottom of this." She pulled Bert off into the alley, hoping any passersby wouldn't get the wrong impression of what was happening here. (Actually, there weren't any passersby, but she still felt plenty sheepish. People will think I'm an Eisenfaust whore ... and I'm not sure which part of that I find more distasteful.)

Once Eve had a head start of a hundred yards or so, they set out after her, and it didn't take Layla long to sense that the magical stalker was between them -- and still completely invisible. But after a few minutes, she noticed something interesting. It had rained the night before (nothing unusual about that, overnight showers were common enough in Rinkaiel, it helped water the grapes) and small patches of mud were still visible on some of the roads -- mud that could retain footprints. And sure enough, Layla found one -- or more accurately, two.

Superposed on top of Eve's own prints across the wet dirt were a different set, made by a foot not quite human. And also a foot that was quite invisible.

"I've seen these before," Layla said to Bert. "Now just what in Luminosita's name made them? Because dammit, there wasn't anything there."

[Jack Rothwell]

Eve increased her lead over to trailing pair slightly, trying to resist the urge to glance back over her shoulder and see if the invisible follower had decided to show himself. She'd always hated magic, there was something dishonest about it somehow (of course, breaking into people's houses or holding up merchant caravans was also dishonest, but at least she had the decency to use a gun instead of reality-violating weirdness.).

The young mercenary began humming an old tune she knew. She forced herself to stroll as if there was no immediacy to get to her destination. She tried to focus on the other task before her; namely catching Stevo and making him squeal.

[Graybeard]

Layla looked at Bert as Eve started to pull away. "Got any better ideas than to follow her?"

[Jack Rothwell]

OOC "Fuck knows, I'm just an npc..."/OOC

"You know some magic right?" Bert replied. "Could you blast the area where the observer is, maybe? You know what they say, when all else fails, use fire."

[Graybeard]

[OOC:

OOC "Fuck knows, I'm just an npc..."/OOC

Well done. /OOC:]

Layla shook her head. "I'm just a magic student. They haven't taught me any fire magic yet. Let's do something different. Can we catch up to her? If we can trap the thing that made that print between us, we can find out what it is."

They were running out of time, though, because Eve was approaching the brothel, the magic presence still between them.

[Jack Rothwell]

'Why won't this bastard attack?'

Eve's brow crinkled; the aggrivation she felt at the invisible observer growing with each passing minute.

'Well... if he's not gonna stop me I may as well proceed.'

She approached the house of ill-repute and passed a burly looking man leaning at the doorway with barely a sideways glance. She a conscious effort not to clentch her fists at the leer on his bearded face as she went by. She didn't make it inside however, as a hairy arm seized her own and pulled her backwards.

"Heyyyy... girlie..." The man slurred, a trickle of spit drooling down his chin. "Are you new? How much do you-"

The end of the man's sentence was cut off by the merc's reaction, she wheeled into the man's body and snapped her knee up between his legs at a speed that would've made even a high priest wince. The man collapsed with a noise best described as 'Ghhh'.

"Shop somewhere else." She muttered, and entered the brothel.

[Graybeard]

Layla wasn't sure it was a good idea for Eve to go inside that place, but the die was cast. She turned to her companion. "Now we wait, I suppose -- uh, oh."

The magical watcher was moving fast, very fast. Reflexively, Layla drew her handgun, thinking even as she did so that it probably wasn't going to do any good against something non-corporeal. In just a moment, though, she realized that she needn't have bothered. The magic had started toward the brothel, but suddenly it veered off, and improbably, went up. Still invisible to the eye, it ascended the wall of the building next to the brothel, climbing like a monkey. (It probably is a monkey, Layla thought; that footprint back at the vineyard hadn't been completely human.) As she followed the magical aura, it disappeared across the rooftops at high speed ...

... Moving in the general direction of Tsuiraku-town.

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

The madam, or whatever she was, standing in the inner door of the brothel blinked when she saw Eve come through the outer door. "Um ... what can we do for you?" She surreptitiously pushed a small button concealed on the door frame, and from somewhere inside the building, a buzzer could be faintly heard.

[Jack Rothwell]

Eve flashed the lady a businesslike smile and answered the inquiry.

"I didn't think you'd need to ask a prospective customer that question." The young merc pulled a purse from her pocket and jingled it meaningfully. "Anything on offer?"