Rinkaiel: Temple of the Divine Dwarf

[Porcelain Fish]

"Well, Saiho is a mining golem. That's what it was designed for anyway. It's good at carrying things though, which is mostly what I use it for any more. It can still dig, but there's really not much call for that around here unless someone decides to open up a mine." Jin-Liu had a thoughtful look on his face as he glanced over his shoulder. "Pai-pai is designed to spot cave-ins before they happen - it's an expert at fractal geometry and analyzing stress points in braces, walls, ceilings, that sort of thing."

Jin-Liu shrugged as he turned his gaze back to Layla. "It's done pretty well keeping an eye out for trouble for me, though it's a little more difficult training it to look for that kind of thing since I can't just program it. Drawbacks of giving it sentience, but Pai-pai has to be smart to do what it does anyway. They probably wouldn't be very good at security I suppose when it really comes right down to it, but the three of us have managed well enough considering none of us is really doing what we were meant for."

[Graybeard]

Layla took another sip of tea, then stopped to think about it. Mining golems ... It just so happens that I've been wondering if there is an easy way into that damn Temple of the Divine Dwarf's off-limits areas, to find out what's going on there. And for that matter, into Kitaura's inner sanctum too. You don't suppose ...

"So how are you earning your keep around here while waiting for the construction to start on the warp gate?" she asked, continuing to pay attention mainly to her tea ... apparently.

[Jack Rothwell]

OOC Let me know if you want this retconned./OOC

Eve had pretty much run out of lies and excuses as the sorcerer made his final demand. Fortunately for her Bert chose that moment to inject a little chaos into the situation. The young mercenary's desire to protect his teammate finally got the better of him and he acted on the complusion by firing a trio of shots at the magically sealed door in front of him. The attack was ineffective, but the bangs were enough to turn the waking lady of easy vrirure into a panicking and disorientated woman with a pressing desire to get away from the flying bullets. She squarked in confusion and stumbled awkwardly to her feet, cannoning inadvertantly into the sorcerer as she rose.

The magic-user lost control of the spell momentarily. It was a window of opportunity for Eve, literally in this case. She winced in anticipation for the pain she was about to endure and jumped backwards.

She'd taken worse falls before, but not much worse. The window shattered and scored a dozen cuts across her head and arms. The merc fell two stories, only being saved from a broken leg by the overhang above the entrance of the brothel. She struck it hard, the breath leaving her body accompanied by a cracking noise which announced a pair of her ribs had decided to resign. As fate would have it she finished her abrupt journey by landing on the same man who'd tried to feel her up on the way in. Not that she really had time to ponder the coincidence at that moment, Eve drew a ragged breath, pushed herself painfully back to her feet and considered the virtues of escape.

[Graybeard]

[OOC: Certainly no need to retcon, what happens ... happens. /OOC:]

The Tsuirakuan briefly considered following Eve using a Slow Fall spell, rejected it. That would leave an armed enemy at his back, and him in the worst possible position to deal with it. Besides, Stevo hadn't become expendable yet ... and leaving him in the room unattended, in all likelihood, would "expend" him.

He set up some defensive spells on the doorway -- very potent defensive spells -- to gain some time to figure out what to do next.

Faint screams could be heard from elsewhere in the bordello, as the denizens figured out what the noise of Bert's bullets meant.

[Porcelain Fish]

"So how are you earning your keep around here while waiting for the construction to start on the warp gate?"

An uncomfortable expression crossed Jin-Liu's face at the question. In all honesty, it was his first time being out of a job. "At the moment, to be perfectly honest, I'm not. That's the other reason I came to see Mrs. Scherbatcheff. I was hoping she could get me a contact with someone who could make use of my talents. Right now I'm just living on savings, and to be perfectly blunt, that's not going to last me all that long."

He gave Layla a rueful, slightly abashed look. "I don't suppose you'd happen to know anyone with a job opening?"

[Graybeard]

"I don't suppose you'd happen to know anyone with a job opening?"

Layla thought about it, the outline of an idea taking shape in her head. "Well, I've been thinking of building in some more tunnels at the vineyard for aging the wine." She smiled, chuckled. "I think we're going to do a little better with the operation than the previous owners. Of course, we could hardly do worse. So would you like to come out after the day's classes and see if you could do that? We couldn't pay much to start with, but at least it would tide you over until something else comes along."

And I happen to have something else in mind, she thought but did not say.

[Jack Rothwell]

"Oh shit..." Bert looked at the end of the smoking gun and mentally facepalmed as it dawned on him (a little too late) where he was and how many people were around, a moment later the muffled sound of shattering glass and a feminine cry of pain immediately had him jumping to the correct conclusion. The young man ran down the stairs as fast as his legs would allow, buffeting past the panicking people until he hit ground floor where a moment later he ran smack bang into an oversized and extremely ill-tempered man who appeared to be a 'bouncer' for the brothel. Bert observed his slab like-face featuring a handlebar moustache that looked like an archway of doom. (OOC Goddam, that's melodramatic/OOC)

"Where do you think you're going?"

Bert reacted on instinct, he fired a bullet past the bouncer's ear, which had the big man suddenly rethinking his plans to apprehend the escapee and instead considering the virtues of not getting shot. He piled into the nearest room with uncanny speed for a man of his size. The merc took advantage of his brief respite to exit the building.

He picked out his fellow guild member running in a half-limp halfway down the street. The rookie cringed, holstered his gun and took off after her.

OOC Run awaaaaaaaayyyy!/OOC

[Porcelain Fish]

Jin-Liu grinned broadly across the table at Layla and gestured back at Saiho and Pai-pai. "We'd be glad to help out! If you like our work you might even give us a recommendation?"

[Graybeard]

[OOC: One post, but it affects both sub-threads, although it'll be a bit long...]

Layla smiled back. "That can probably be arranged."

Galina had been watching the exchange silently, and now she jumped in with a little smile of her own. "Well, looks like you're going to get along well. Now let's do a little exercise on Translocation magic. That's what's at the heart of the warp-gate system. The actual thaumatic techniques for the warp gates are proprietary, and they won't let those out into the general public. It's important to know the principles, though, if you're going to be working on the gates, as theoretically you both are." She gave Layla a wink to let her know that theory and practice weren't going to be exactly the same in her situation.

Galina went into a back lab, returning a moment later with two plates and a pea. "It's easier if I show how this one is done before you try it yourselves," she explained. She set the plates on the table about two feet apart, and the pea in the middle of one. "Now get yourselves into a meditative state, concentrating on the pea, concentrating on imagining the pea being on the other plate. You'd also have to think about the air that the pea will displace, if you were trying to transport the pea yourselves. If it got to the other plate and the space it was going to be landing in was already occupied, the results would be ... unfortunate."

There's that Tsuirakuan understatement again, Layla thought as she tried to get into a meditative state. "Unfortunate," in this case, was probably a euphemism for "would knock down the laboratory building, if not the whole of Tsuiraku-town." Well, she wasn't likely to ever try Translocation ... what was that?

While she'd been thinking more about Galina than the pea, something had happened, and the pea was now on the other plate.

"I'm sorry," she told her friend, "but I wasn't focused enough, I guess. I didn't see it move. Could you do that again?"

Galina giggled and waved a finger in mock admonition. "Now, pay attention, class." She giggled again. "This all reminds me of a moment back at Sashi Mu. That little half-elf kid I mentioned had some -- issues with concentration, too. The first time she ever tried to do a Translocation, it didn't work well. I was in the lab next door, and you should have heard the explosion ... Anyway, she got real good at it quickly, just so she could use a Micro-Earth-Smash to torment her familiar with." She giggled one more time. "Of course, usually he had it coming."

Tsuirakuans, Layla thought, but then she smiled back. "I'll be more attentive this time." She took a deep, cleansing breath -- remarkably like the early stages of labor, she thought before getting back on track -- and started to focus. Galina was getting ready to move the pea, and they could all sense the Translocation magic starting to form in the air and --

Good lord, what was that? all three minds thought at once, as extraordinarily powerful Translocation magic roared overhead.

And soon the distant noise of a powerful explosion reached their ears, coming from somewhere back toward town.

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

Bert and Eve could have told them exactly where it came from -- exactly where it came from, as a boulder materialized in the center of the brothel. Without displacing the air at the other end, as Galina had cautioned was necessary.

Their ears were still ringing when they realized the brothel had been squashed flat by some unimaginably powerful force. Not a living sound could be heard within, although there was plenty of screaming on the street ...

[Jack Rothwell]

"Holy shit." Eve stumbled to a halt at the sight of the demolished building, she was helpless not to. Bert hung by her side, mouth agape. In adrenalin induced slowness they turned and looked at each other.

"......."

"......."

"Wanna go back?"

"Umm.... FUCK no."

The pair resumed their sprint, as least now with the fleeing crowd they no longer looked suspicious.

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


"What do you think?"

"Could be bigger."

"But it's got character don't you think?"

Jade surveyed the Silver Hands workshop with crossed-arms and an intense stare. In truth, she wanted to grab Leo and waltz around the room with him. She'd never owned her own forge before and now the man she loved had just handed it to her on a plate. Still, she couldn't let him get too comfortable, her mother had schooled her on the wisdom of keep men in line.

"It'll do." She stated. Jade walked over to the nearest bench with her back to her boyfriend, smiled to herself and began clearing the surface.

"Could you go and catch up to Rufus? I don't think I asked him to retrieve the blue golem remains from the vineyard basement."

Leo rolled his eyes and put his hands on his hips in his traditional 'man pout' pose. "Great. I give my love a forge and she tells me to piss off." He wheeled around and made his exit.

"Love you sweetie." She called after him.

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

At that moment, the leader of The Silver Hands was arriving at the outskirts of the Gewehr hideout. The old man stiffled a grunt as he got down from his horse and made his limping way to the entrance of the main house. He caught himself by the door for a second and took the place in; it wasn't a location that particulary screamed 'cloak and dagger' but there was something about it that raised a warning flag. He raised a hand and hammered on the door frame.

OOC retcon- company name/OOC