Rinkaiel: Temple of the Divine Dwarf

[Jack Rothwell]

Eve's eyes widened as she turned at the sight of the sudden mage. She instinctively whirled her captive around and positioned him between her and her would-be incinerator, trying to shuffle him over so her back was to the meagre window of the room. She tapped the knife meaningfully to the ex-vineyard employee's throat and endevoured to keep as much of her body out of the line of fire as possible.

"Woah, woah, woah, woah, woah!" She managed. "Don't you care about your friend's life? I just wanted a quiet word with him. No real harm intended."

'Come on Bert, where the hell are you?'

................

Unfortunately for his fellow guild member, Bert hadn't yet developed a sense for danger that would've been a help in Eve's current circumstances. He'd walked into the brothel with what could only be described as a confused look on his face and he'd peeked around the ground floor with flat-footed uncertainty.

"Excuse me miss. Did you see a young girl in here a moment ago?" He inquired of the bartender. "Short, a bit scrawny, with mannish, blonde hair?" He tried to smile winningly.

[Graybeard]

The air in the room at the bordello grew thick and greasy as the man's spell took effect. Then it went from thick to downright coagulated. Those within found themselves unable to move; even breathing was a challenge.

None of which seemed to affect the man who had cast the spell. He casually walked over to Eve, removed the knife from her hand, conducted a quick and efficient frisking, and once he was convinced that his adversary was disarmed, resumed his spot just inside the door.

"No, miss," he said, in the careful, tidy accent of upper-class Tsuirakuans. "It is I who will be having a quiet word with you at this time."

Another bit of magic, and two things happened. There was a barely perceptible thinning of the air; Eve found that she could breathe more easily, at least, although larger-scale movement was still nigh unto impossible. Second, the door closed, and magic flared around its outline.

"Now, you will please tell me what you are doing here," the man said, still with Tsuirakuan politeness. "Be complete. I have time."

A disinterested party might have noted that the man hadn't said "we have time," but there were no disinterested parties in the room.

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

The bartender rolled his eyes, and wordlessly jerked a thumb at the door.

[Porcelain Fish]

"That's very kind of you, ma'am," Jin-Liu said as he followed her in, Saiho trundling along after him and finding itself a place in the corner. He handed Pai-pai off to the golem, who took it carefully in the three spade-shaped appendages that more or less served as one of its "hands" and removed his hat, and after a moment, Pai-pai's carved woodn hat as well, the four faces on the steel staff looking around with interest.

"I'll be perfectly honest with you Ms. Scherbatcheff," he said as he sat, brushing one large, long-fingered hand through his short, sandy-blond hair. "My spellwork has always been mediocre on the best days. I know the theory, but I don't have the power to drive it. I do a lot better with golemancy and thaumato-tech." He smiled faintly. "It's why I was hoping for a place here, as one of the technicians on the Warp Gate. I could use a little brushing up on the theory there, but I'm a quick study."

[Graybeard]

Galina gave the strange young man a searching look. "Well ... if you say so," she finally said. "I'm still not sure I'm going to be able to help you much, but what the hey, let's try." She turned back toward the labs to set up some diagnostic equipment, leaving a somewhat uncomfortable Layla to talk to Jin-Liu.

"So ... um ... do you have family here in town?" she said, mainly in an attempt to make small talk. The fellow seemed nice enough ... but she kept a mental tab on where her concealed pistol was, just in case the answer was yes and the family name turned out to be Oshima.

[Porcelain Fish]

"No." Jin-Liu shook his head, smiling fading. There was sadness evident in his dark eyes, visible to anyone who cared to look. "My family is all in Kinjuksu." He looked up, meeting Layla's gaze. "I don't know anyone here. Honestly, this is the first place I came - I was given Mrs. Scherbatcheff's name by one of the folk in Tsuiraku-town when I asked about work around here."

He shrugged, still meeting her gaze openly, no attempt at deception in his features. "I came here to start over, because I can't go home." A shadow of his smile reappeared, but it was slightly bitter. "I guess those circumstances aren't so different from a lot of the folk who come here when it comes right down to it."

[Jack Rothwell]

Eve racked her brain, since that was pretty much all the movement she was capable of at that point, for a way to talk the mage around. Telling the truth would probably be tantamount to suicide. An idea dawned on the merc.

"He owes McCaffrey a grand." She replied, quoting the name of a bar owner from half the town over. "Derrik doesn't like people taking advantage of his hospitality. it upsets him. He wanted me to come collect."

At that moment a creaking noise outside the room signalled a certain guild mate of Eve's coming up the stairs. A really keen listener might've heard the sound of a hammer being pulled back.

[Graybeard]

[OOC: Remember that the door in the brothel has been magically secured ... not that there aren't things to do about that, of course. /OOC:]

The Tsuirakuan gave Eve a cold look that somehow still managed to have a bit of upper-crust Tsuirakuan courtesy to it. "Miss, I believe we both know that if you had killed this man, your 'Derrik' would have been unable to collect on his debt. Please try again, but I will warn you: my patience is limited, and I have no debt to collect." Was that clear enough?

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

"I guess those circumstances aren't so different from a lot of the folk who come here when it comes right down to it."

Layla smiled wistfully, thinking of her late husband for the first time in a while. It wasn't so much that she "couldn't" go home again, as that the place she called home wasn't really "home" any more without him. Of course, Zachary was here with her, and that redefined "home" in a most important way. Faye was here too, and ... well ... Ace provided certain ... compensations.

"I understand," she sympathized; she truly did. "I don't know anything about Kinjuksu, don't think I ever heard of it before. Tsuirakuan, right? Is it one of those --"

She stopped, having just noticed something, and re-started.

"Forgive me for asking a personal question, but -- you're partly of elven blood, aren't you?"

[Jack Rothwell]

At that moment Bert finally finished his snail-paced journey to the room which held his teammate. Bert might not have been the brightest bulb in the chandelier, but he was bright enough to recognise the magic glow surrounding the door and quick enough to put two and two together. He threw caution to the wind and called through the sealed portal.

"Eve? You in there?"

On the other side, the immobile merc smiled in fake relief and strove to meet her restrainers eyes with confidence.

"That's my boss, Bert Tallow." She said, loud enough for the rookie on the other side to hear. (OOC Unless the spell muffles sound?/OOC) "He's the leader of our little organisation, and he's very protective of his employee's." She jerked her head in tourtured slow motion to the window behind her. "If you start running now you just might be able to end the day not in several pieces and at the bottom of a canal."

'For the love of all the Gods Bert, be bright enough to play along.'

[Porcelain Fish]

Jin-Liu nodded, expression turning rueful as he raised his hands to the pointed tips of his ears. "Half-elf by birth. I never met my father, thank fate. From what I understand I might not be here now if that were the case." He lowered his hands toward the table and shrugged. "That's the reason I left Kinjuksu. The Elves have entered into a trade agreement with Tsuiraku for some of the rare earth minerals that the mines at Kinjuksu produce. With an Elven presence in town on a regular basis . . . well, it was a good idea for me to leave rather than wait for the delegation to arrive."

He grinned at Layla, trying to look both sane and friendly. "Now you know everything about me, Miss Layla. Perhaps you could tell me a bit about yourself?"

[Graybeard]

"I think not," said the Tsuirakuan, but his self-confidence might have slipped just the tiniest fraction. "You will answer my question, please." He interrupted his scrutiny of Eve sufficiently for a quick glance at the door ...

... and away from the waking whore.

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

"Not much to tell," Layla shrugged. "I've only been in town a month or two myself. I'm in the process of opening a vineyard on the edge of town. I had one in my old town too, but my husband died and it seemed like a good idea to move out and get a new start." That was all true, although of course there was more to the story than that. "We -- I have an eight-month-old son, and I knew Galina from some security work we both did on the side, something over to the west of the mountains, so I was hoping she could teach me some healing magic and such while I'm here." That was all true, too. Dare I tell him about the Mesuinus? I don't think so ...

"Just in case you were going to ask," she added, "the security stuff was all pretty low-key, security at an amusement park. No big deal, about half the population of Farrel works in security or the militia at one time or another." Still true, as long as one's definition of "militia" was ... eclectic. She smiled. "We have to, since we don't have the kind of thaumatic gadgets that you brought with you. I'm curious: just what do they do?"