Port Lorrel: The search for Jun Oshima

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Graybeard
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Port Lorrel: The search for Jun Oshima

Post by Graybeard »

[OOC: OK, new topic as promised, and don't let the title fool you: this one is definitely not restricted to the job Jamie and Tamina have been handed to get it started, not at all. But we had to call it something ...]

"I have things to do," the well-dressed Tsuirakuan said to Jamie, "as do you. Take this." He handed her a small shirt, of a size that might fit Nera. It glowed faintly with magic.

"When you have completed your mission," he continued, "place this in the donation basket outside that church." He gestured to a small temple of the Orthodox Veracian Church at the end of the block. "Certain things will then be set in motion, and you will receive instructions on how to proceed to collect the remainder of your payment for services rendered. I must warn you: do not deposit this item in that basket before you are ready. Consequences of doing so are unpredictable." He let it hang in mid-air as to exactly what he meant by that. "And now, please excuse me."

There was a blurring of the air, and the man vanished.
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Jack Rothwell
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Re: Port Lorrel: The search for Jun Oshima

Post by Jack Rothwell »

Tamina watched the man disappear with naked admiration. It had begun to occur to the kobold that the trip away from her homeland could yield a lot more than just a sightseeing tour. Her own magic was mainly internalized in form, contact-based, producing augmenting effects like increased speed, toughness, strength or healing, but to throw up a barrier like the wizard her girlfriend had shot moments ago? Fire jets of flame out of her hands? Teleportation? None of these things had been covered under Leli's tutelage.

Tamina was a good study for all her scatterbrained behavior (as least scatterbrained in the eyes of the 'yooman's', she was sure) and she'd have cheerfully disemboweled a puppy for the opportunity to learn. It occurred to her that the man who'd offered Jaime the contract might be able to help her if they did the job correctly. She turned to Jamie and Udo and beamed.

"Really wanna learn how to do that." She said. "Can we, umm, ask the man when we see him again? After we, erm... get rid of the bad man?"
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Sareth
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Re: Port Lorrel: The search for Jun Oshima

Post by Sareth »

"We can certainly try. I wouldn't have the first notion of how to do that sort of thing myself." Jamie lifted the shirt and studied it closely, then shrugged. "First time I've ever been paid in shirts."

"It is a rather unusual contract," Jasmine commented. "Usually they come in paper form."

"MOM!" Jamie jumped and spun towards the closest side street.

Jasmine, with the long practice of being a mother to the precocious snagged the neck of Jamie's shirt. "Not so fast, kiddo. Shirt or not, that is still a contract, so I am not going to prevent you from doing your job. I'm coming along to help."

Jamie paused, her head cocked to one side. "Really?"

"Really," Jasmine nodded. "We get the job done and you get paid."

A moment passed as Jamie took this in. "Okay, cool."

"And then you come home and find a nice boy to help you raise my granddaughter."

"MOM!"
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Re: Port Lorrel: The search for Jun Oshima

Post by Alberich »

Udo's mouth opened and closed again. He really wanted to tell Tamina that she didn't need to look for "that man" to learn anything about magic, that he could teach her everything she needed to know herself. But while he wasn't always a close neighbor to reality, it did send him a crystal-net message from time to time, and failing to live up to a promise like that, well, it could be quite fatal to his petting fantasies. Better just to stick by her. And prove his merit in this mission, which apparently was going to involve looking for someone among his own countrymen, which ought to be easy enough. For the moment his mouth stayed closed, as his self-image meandered further along its journey from "war hero" to "dashing highwayman" to "knight protector" to "international man of assassinatory mystery" or whatever he was going to be this time...
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Jack Rothwell
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Re: Port Lorrel: The search for Jun Oshima

Post by Jack Rothwell »

Tamina fought back a scowl at Jasmine talking about taking Jaime home to be a 'good little housewife' and thought of sunnier matters. Another drink perhaps. It was late after all, Lorrel was a day away and there was no point setting off without a decent night's sleep.

"Gonna go get a drink." She announced to the general world and then, looking at Udo. "Big day tomorow!"

With that the kobold impulsively seized the highwayman's arm and pulled him, half-skipping, back towards the tavern.
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Sareth
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Re: Port Lorrel: The search for Jun Oshima

Post by Sareth »

"Drink? Sounds great!"

Jamie began to follow after the two, but Jasmine hauled her back. "You're under age. And we need to go pick up my granddaughter. Where is she, hmm?" The look the woman gave her daughter qualified for the evil eye in the same way a howitzer qualified for the term "gun".

Under such a gaze, Jamie could feel the grass turning brown and withering for miles behind her. "The drover's babysitting her."

"Well, let's go pick her up, shall we?"

Looking woefully towards the tavern, Jamie sighed. "Yes, mother."
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Re: Port Lorrel: The search for Jun Oshima

Post by Graybeard »

Meanwhile, a very unusual, and very fast-moving, boat was approaching the Farrel coast.

"Why are we landing up here?" Father Blaise grumped. "I thought Port Lorrel was the only place in this benighted country where we could get this vessel serviced."

Keyes fought back the urge to snap at this arrogant passenger. Just who was skippering this boat, anyway? But his boss had said that this was a cargo to be handled with kid gloves -- extreme kid gloves. He hadn't said why, as usual, but it didn't really matter, and Keyes knew better than to ask.

He settled for a neutral comment as the hydrofoils retracted into the hull and the boat rapidly slowed. "Dit way id better. Miter Tagpoole don't like to hab people in the titied tee dit ting. Dey might get tome wrong idea about what it id capable of. Den again, de idea might not be to wrong. Anyway, we hab a puel dump up here, hidden where nobody can tee it. Dere'd a town clote by, but we won't need to go in dere unlet you want to." He couldn't resist one little barb. "Ob courte, dere'd a temple ob your turt in dat town ... in cate you want to talk to any ob your friend. Make it quick ib you do, caude we won't be here por long."

Blaise glared at the half elf; he was hard to understand, but one thing he definitely did not want was to "talk to any of your friends" in the church. Word shouldn't have made it this far into the boonies, but one could never tell. He contented himself with gazing inland, as indeed, a single temple spire came into view.
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Jack Rothwell
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Re: Port Lorrel: The search for Jun Oshima

Post by Jack Rothwell »

OOC Merge is on the way? I was going vote for a skip to tomorrow afternoon with the wagon coming into view of the port unless anyone had business to attend to or an idea to fill in the intervening time?/OOC
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Graybeard
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Re: Port Lorrel: The search for Jun Oshima

Post by Graybeard »

OOC:
Jack Rothwell wrote:OOC Merge is on the way? I was going vote for a skip to tomorrow afternoon with the wagon coming into view of the port unless anyone had business to attend to or an idea to fill in the intervening time?/OOC
No merge is intended or anticipated. "Crossover," maybe ... but merge, no. Let's just say that if the town inland from where that boat is pulling up just happened to be the one where the stuff with Udo has been going on, or on the way back to Lorrel from that town, the results could be ... entertaining.
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Re: Port Lorrel: The search for Jun Oshima

Post by Alberich »

With his hand in his wish-kitten's paw, Udo practially floated as he skipped along with her. The Flatiron wasn't serving now, but another tavern -- the Swill and Spill -- had opened to accomodate the excitables, the ones who weren't home nursing bruises from the last time this crew had gone drinking.

With the death of Winslow and the destruction of the Expendables, a couple of loudmouths were trying to get their own Orders going before the Eisenfaust reasserted its dominance or the Gewehr took a toehold. The would-be War Chief of the Troublemakers was gesticulating wildly and trying to explain the sheer joy of "fight...fight....swing! Crunch! Boom! Troublemakers! If they laugh at that name we'll show 'em! We're not playing dumb!" The would-be Captain of the Lads o' the Drift had some kind of lute player next to him and was trying to get his recruiting song together -

We're the Lads o' Drift, and...we like to drink a fifth.
We're the happy Lorrel boys
And we make the loudest noise
I'm the captain man you see
The drum's so big you can't see me
Forty coins on the drum
If you volunteers to come
We'll have that much any day
Then over the mountain and over the say
Through Port Lorrel to Vee-race-yay...ummm...let's go back a line

The bartender explained that these groups might reach a "critical mass" of five or six members each, at which point they'd fight each other and be down to none when the real powers moved back in.

Udo didn't want more alcohol, really. He was already high and didn't want to be sick. He was quite content to order milk -- and since it wasn't that time of morning yet, be content with water -- and glare at anyone who seemed to be getting fresh, and humor all Tamina's whims, and try to sing along with her songs, or her melodic Nyan's, or whatever they were, and rant a little about things no non-Tsuirakuan, nor very many even of them, would care about, and propose a few strange toasts when it seemed like his turn. "Up with Elf Empires! Down with Typhon the Antelope!" And most importantly, when her furry paw rested nearby, to reach over slyly and give it a gentle, gentle stroke.

Soon, he supposed, she'd be tired, it'd be bedtime - then back to the coast and on to glory! And from glory to pay to drinking to resting to stroking silky cat fur.
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