Temple of the Divine Dwarf, part 2

As we play, occasionally we'll close a thread and open a new one to keep the size of threads (and relative complexity) down to a dull roar. Here's where we store the closed posts from the history of Errant Road.
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Graybeard
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Re: Temple of the Divine Dwarf, part 2

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Joe shook his head. "Not yet. Good fallback plan if they can't nab Mrs. Torou directly, maybe, but let's not call any more attention to ourselves than necessary. Good opsec -- hey, where are they going?"

The girl and her escort turned away from the path to the school; what was that all about? Then it became clear: she was hailing another group of teenagers, also heading for school from a different set of apartment buildings. She said something to the security man, who bowed deeply and turned back in the opposite direction, as she trotted off to join the group.

"Hmmm," Joe said. "We can maybe get ahead of them now, maybe even merge into the flow since the streets are crowded. A little eavesdropping on teenager conversation might be interesting..."

---------

The ladies' at the airship terminal appeared to be empty. Completely empty. If Mrs. Torou had gone inside, as she appeared to, she'd either vanished into thin air ... or done a very good job of hiding.

Except for one little thing.

The janitor's closet at the far end of the stalls had an opaque door, of course ... so why was a shadow, such as might have been cast by a woman sitting down and nursing a baby, coming through it?
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Jack Rothwell
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Re: Temple of the Divine Dwarf, part 2

Post by Jack Rothwell »

"Sounds like a plan, Joe." Jade replied, leading them into the crowd and pausing momentarily to look with interest in a butcher shop window. "Although teenagers as a rule rarely have anything interesting to talk about." They parked themselves on the opposite side of the street to drop their eaves.

......

Eve had spent the last several days suffering one misery from magic to another. Although the young woman had no magic inclination to speak of, she had picked up enough experience to realize when she was being fucked with.

'Trying to play castles with me, princess?' She thought sardonically. 'Fine, I can play along...'

Eve pushed her way into a stall unsteadily like a woman suffering a breakdown. She sat down on the seat behind the open door, buried her face in her hands and sobbed as though her heart had just been broken.

'Come on female empathy! Just give me a 'what's wrong?' and this thing'll be over before any more aggravating developments!'

OOC Castles- Stephen King' reference :geek: ./OOC
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Re: Temple of the Divine Dwarf, part 2

Post by Graybeard »

A screech echoed from the toilet, as Eve lowered herself on a seat that was already occupied by an illusion-clad nursing mother and child.

Oops. I'lll retcon. I thought Eve had gone into the stall with the illusory door. Now I see that it wasn't so.
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Re: Temple of the Divine Dwarf, part 2

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[OOC: OK, sorry about that, let's try this...]

Obligingly, a stream of Tsuirakuan came from the "closet." A speaker of the language would have heard it as "What's wrong?", but of course, it really didn't matter.

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

Joe and Jade merged into the flow on the street, much although not all of it composed of students walking to school, and it wasn't long before they were in earshot of the girl.

"Use the barbarians' language," the young man walking with her was saying. "We are supposed to be learning to move in this society, after all."

The girl sniffed. "They are barbarians, for sure. Last night, right after I got done baby-sitting for Torou-san, there was an intruder in our building." She shuddered theatrically. "Shots were even fired!"

The boy inhaled sharply, cursed in Tsuirakuan. "Did your father -- I think the word is 'incinerate' the barbarian?"

"No, he was out," the girl said, apparently uncomfortable with the direction the conversation was taking. "Security forces are taking care of it." The dialogue turned to other topics.
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Re: Temple of the Divine Dwarf, part 2

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My- my boyfriend dumped me!" Wailed Eve to the voice responding to her cries. The mercenary noisily pulled a stream of paper from the holder and used it to dab at the tears which ran down her cheeks. "I told him I wasn't ready to-to... and he..." She let the sobs take over her talk and made her way out the stall with the paper pressed to her tear-ducts, searching for the source of the voice.


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

"So her father is a mage?" Said Jade side-mouth to Joe. "Is there anyone Seishi works with who would be old enough to have a daughter that age?" She turned the revelation over in her mind a couple of times.

"Maybe we've got ourselves some potential leverage here."

OOC Sorry that took so long. :oops: /OOC
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Re: Temple of the Divine Dwarf, part 2

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The "janitor's closet" turned back into a stall, and momentarily, a surprisingly young woman emerged, buttoning her blouse and carrying an infant. "I not understand," she said in broken, halting Veracian. "What wrong?"

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

"Is there anyone Seishi works with who would be old enough to have a daughter that age?"

Joe put a finger to his lips. "Later," he said, nodding toward the gaggle of students continuing to pass by them. They moved out of line, and he picked up where he left off.

"You know more about Torou than I do," he continued, "but at least there's the -- professor." He could not bring himself to say "Oshima" in public. "Thing is, though: if those guys are on the outs with the Tsuirakuan government, why does the Homeland Security mob show up when one of their own is threatened? Think about that for a minute."

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

Her son safely ensconced in Galina's playpen, Layla headed for the airport; it seemed like that was where the action was going to be.
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Re: Temple of the Divine Dwarf, part 2

Post by Jack Rothwell »

OOC Let me know if you want this changing Grey./OOC

Eve turned with an expression of gratitude on her face and wiped away the tears that coursed down her cheek. And they were real tears: one of the things Eve had taken like a fish to water to during her, admittedly horrific, childhood had been learning how to manipulate people's emotions. Evoking pity, sadness, sympathy and generosity had been the difference between getting something to eat that day and being given a kick to send her on her way.

Leo had once told her she belong in a theater; Eve had told him to violate himself with a rusty stick.

Whatever her motivations, the woman had come out of her 'camouflage' long enough and trustingly enough for Eve to get within a few feet of her, and as the merc looked into the sympathetic face she watched with interest as the expression changed to horrified surprised as her hand came up holding a very sharp knife that stopped within a few inches of her throat.

"Your husband has been a very bad man." She hissed in a voice unrecognizable to the previous one. "...and I need you to come with me in order to set him straight. "She held up a pointing finger on her free hand. "And if you get any ideas about using fancy tricks to get out of this predicament, know that the first thing that'll happen will be me slitting your throat, the second thing that''ll happen will be me killing your child for the aggravation you'll have caused me." Her tone was flat, her eyes were dead. "Furthermore, my associates will come looking if you and I aren't out that door in the next ten seconds. Now... do you understand everything I just said?"

OOC I'll pen one for Jade tomorrow./OOC
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Re: Temple of the Divine Dwarf, part 2

Post by Graybeard »

The color drained away from the young woman's face, and she clutched her child like a security blanket. "I ... I not understand," she stammered in broken Veracian. [OOC: Does Eve speak any Tsuirakuan? I think we decided the answer was no, but I don't remember for sure. Right now, this seems to be the sub-thread where things are happening, so things involving Layla, Torou, etc., later.]
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Re: Temple of the Divine Dwarf, part 2

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OOC I figured my resident old man might know a little, enough to move the situation along. let me know if this interferes in any plans Grey./OOC

Eve didn't speak Tsuirakuan, (she could hardly speak the language she'd grown up with truth be told) and it didn't look like her intended victim spoke Veracian very well. Fortunately her problems were solved a few seconds later by Rufus entering the room (exactly thirty seconds after his protege had) with a pistol in one hand and his one good eye immediately fixing on the situation at hand.

"What's the issue?" He barked.

"She doesn't understand our bloody language! That's the problem!"

Rufus stepped forwards as swiftly as his aching leg would allow him until he was close enough to terrified woman to assess her. The old man was no student of linguistics but he generally picked up enough to get by from one strange area to another during his lengthy military career. Although admittedly a lot of the phrases he'd learned were either curses or flirtation (a young soldier had his needs after all). In a sense it was fortunate that the business at hand was kidnapping and not ordering in a fancy restaurant.

<"You come with us. Your child... safe."> He pointed to the door. <"Stay... front. You run..."> He gestured meaningfully with his pistol and, with a feeling of disgust which he barely kept from his face at the action he was taking, gestured to the baby with his empty hand. <"Orphan.">
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Re: Temple of the Divine Dwarf, part 2

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The young woman's mouth worked like that of a fish out of water. "I -- understand," she finally got out.

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

Meanwhile, Layla was arriving at the terminal, to be met by Oskar. "They found her," the large man rumbled to his boss. "Now what?"

Damned good question, Layla thought ... but we are going to start by putting that cloaking spell Galina taught me to good use.
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