Rinkaiel: Temple of the Divine Dwarf

[Graybeard]

Just as he reached the ground level, the fleeing man from the temple screamed as two bullets tore through his arm.

Further spellcasting was out of the question now. He didn't even have the personal energy left to cast a Healing spell. If he tried, the shock might kill him. On the other hand, if he didn't try, the bleeding might kill him. This, it was fair to say, was a rather awkward position to be in.

At least he'd made it out of sight of that awful house. He paused for a moment, puffing, to try to stanch the bleeding with an improvised bandage torn from his shirt. If the bandage slowed the loss of blood down, it wasn't by much, but maybe it would be enough.

Growing weaker with every step, he headed into town, looking for one particular business ... and as he was on the brink of losing consciousness, he found it. He stumbled through the front door and collapsed in a heap, in front of a very oddly dressed woman.

"Good afternoon, The Dwarves Love You," the medic said, but she had enough presence of mind to skip the rest of the routine when she saw the man and the trail of blood he was leaving in his wake.

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

Layla was waking up to the realization that her nose hurt like hell. She didn't even remember what had happened to make her conk out. However, she did remember enough that she decided to conceal, for the moment, the fact that she was back operational -- more or less. She sprawled there, her head still on the lab bench, to listen to the conversation between Galina and Hikari.

This could be interesting.

[Jack Rothwell]

"Bert!"

The young merc skidded to a halt and looked in the direction the call had come from. He raised his eyebrows at the sight of Eve lowering herself down the roof, apparently without the aid of her legs.

"Stop bloody gawking and catch me!" She panted.

Bert fought back a tic of amusement and did as he was told. Eve dropped from her hanging position neatly into the man's arms, leaving them oddly looking like a couple who just taken their vows. Bert got caught up with the image suddenly; he found himself staring into the young woman's eyes. Eve slipped an arm around his neck... and gave him a whack across the back of his head. She pointed down the street.

"He went that way!"

Bert sighed, shook the daydream from his mind, and began carrying his guild mate to their destination.

OOC Anything coming up at the brothel or do you want me to play for time, Grey?/OOC

[Graybeard]

OOC:

OOC Anything coming up at the brothel or do you want me to play for time, Grey?/OOC

I'm out of town, and mainly out of touch, for a couple of days. Just go with it, tell a fun -- or raunchy -- story.
I'll catch up over the weekend.

[Alessa]

"All right, young woman," Galina said, forgetting for the moment that at thirty, she was hardly an "old" woman herself. "First you blow away the Conjuration diagnostic, then you do a professional-caliber job of Transformation magic on the ice, then you just toss off a Slow Fall spell to deal with an enchanted balance beam that I've only heard of one other person doing on their first try." Layla, and I want to think about that. "Then you crown it with what was no doubt a professional-caliber something, I can only guess what, evoked in your lab partner's head, that puts her out for the count, and in the bargain, use Healing magic that we haven't even talked about yet. You are no more a beginning magic student than I am. So what are you, and what are you really doing here?" Her face was a notch less friendly, and more serious, than it had been the first time she'd seen the Tsuirakuan girl ...

Hikari jumped when Galina said "All right, young woman" and continued to blink at Galina in surprise as she listed off all the things she had just done. "Beginning magic student..? I--I thought I said that I already graduated... and I don't know what career I want to go into... is this school only for beginning magic..?" Hikari turned red. She had wanted to get away from all the anti-magic drama going on in her extended family, had she run to the wrong place?

[Graybeard]

[OOC: I'm still mainly out of pocket for a day or two, so this will have to be brief. Alessa, want to use this to set Hikari's home situation before everybody gets back together on the morrow? /OOC:]

Galina flushed. She hadn't meant to hurt the young woman's feelings. "No, no, it's all right," she said. "This really is a place for beginning magic lessons, though. Tsuiraku wants to make sure there are some basic magic users to help around the warp gate when it opens."

An inspiration struck her. "We're finally starting to get some students, mainly real beginners except for Layla." She nodded at her friend, who was showing signs of coming around (and would probably need a little more healing on her bent nose). "Tell you what: you're advanced enough that you could help me as a teaching assistant, working with the real beginners." And giving me a chance to go off with Layla and make sure my daughter is safe and sound from that asshole Kitaura. "I can't pay you much, but it would be work experience, and maybe we could work with some more advanced things on the side -- if there's anything I can teach you, anyway." She smiled wryly. "Would that interest you?"

[Alessa]

[OOC: Alessa, want to use this to set Hikari's home situation before everybody gets back together on the morrow? /OOC:]

[OOC: Alrighty!]

Hikari brightened. Money wasn't a big issue for her, her mother was supporting her efforts to branch out and get away from her grandfather who had suddenly decided magic was the root of all evil. She could bide her time waiting for the warp gate to open. Then, she could either get a job at the warp gate, or make some connections to finding a niche in Tsuiraku. "I'd be happy to. Truth be told, I tutored a few people after school in high school. I think I could be of some assistance."

[Graybeard]

"I bet you could," Galina smiled back.

[OOC: Still traveling, back to the routine tomorrow. Meanwhile, let's hear more about Hikari!]

[Jack Rothwell]

"You like them? I picked them up from market yesterday."

"Oooh sweetheart, those are the second favourite things I've ever found in there."

Jade's brow furrowed; the conversation drifting from the other side of the door had piqued her curiousity. After snooping around and keeping up the pretense of being an inhebriated lady or questionable morale values she'd begun to see why Leo and Eve had such a fondness for the type of work they did. It was thrilling, in a slightly voyeuristic way, to take on the persona on someone else, to drift through the world in an invisible mask. She paused her train of thought; the man was laughing in a decidedly dirty manner.

"I brought that for you too, and this..." The clink of a bottle on the other side of the door, Jade took another swig out of her own like a reflex.

"Looks fancy. Wherever did you find the money?"

"A severance package from my old employer. A very generous one."

Jade stiffened. A suspicion was dawning.

"So you'll be staying long?" The woman's voice was muffled, the Blacksmith could picture her purring into his ear.

"Count on it."

Further dialogue was lost in the sound of enthusiastic smacking noises. Jade staightened up, feeling a little unsteady, and went to find Leo.

[Graybeard]

[OOC: OK, back, it'll take a little while to get back up to speed, but for now ...]

"You know, another thing occurs to me," Galina told Hikari. "My daughter has a touch of the croup. Would you be willing to watch this place overnight, while I take her back to my husband? He manages a vineyard back at Volkanenborg, and I'd guess the vineyard air is likely to be healthier for her than here, don't you think?" But the significant look she exchanged with Layla as she said that last part, her head turned away from the Tsuirakuan girl, left Layla with no doubt that the "vineyard air" that Galina had in mind was not in Volkanenborg.

----------

"Oooh, bet that hurt," the medic at the Sisters of Divine Mercy clucked. She set to work tending the wounded man's injuries, not noticing, or at least pretending not to notice, the way his glowering intensified as the wounds were repaired.

[Jack Rothwell]

Eve's legs had, mercifully, regained some semblance of feeling by the time the mercs had followed the tell-tale splashes of blood to an ornate-looking building in the heart of the town. Eve winced as they approached it, she leaned on Bert and walked with legs that consisted entirely of pins and needles, hailing a member who was standing outside the front door and enjoying a smoke. She met the woman's eyes with what she hoped was the right level of panic.

"Let me handle this." She murmured to the man at her side.

"Miss!" She cried, staggering wildly from Bert and collaping to her knees. "We've been attacked! A group of thugs injured our friend, please, you have to help us find him!"

Bert watched the young woman's performance with admiration; to look at Eve at that moment would yield no clue to the viciousness that was lurking beneath. There was a even a tear rolling down her cheek that would've brought sympathy from all but the most prick-like of individuals.

"We had to run from them. Please! He was shot, we followed the blood here. Have you you seen him?"

OOC Retcon, thought it was the temple. Doh/OOC