Getsemiel, part 2

[Jack Rothwell]

Eli found his way to a nearby tavern several minutes after his departure from The Rose. He swept past the bar with a murmured word and a swift exchange of coins to the bartender, and made a beeline for an unoccupied room with a dreamy look on his face. He shut the door behind him and, after a moments consideration, pulled the bolt over to stop any unwanted visitors poking their noses into his business.

'They probably would as well...' He thought sardonically. 'Kill a few slavers and all of a sudden you're the bad guy?'

Well, he'd just see about that. After he'd wrung a few answers out of Telan's associates in the morning while everyone else was making puppy dog eyes at each other, or contemplating their navels, or acting jumpy like that skittish cat-thing that...

'Enough! Think bitchy thoughts some other time! Read the damn book!'

Eli took a deep breath, pulled the slim volume from his pocket, his 'benfactor's' lastest gift to him, and turned to the first page.

"Ancient magicks of the Southern Continent..." He murmured with a mouth which had suddenly gone dry. "Summons... and resurrections..."

OOC Edited./OOC

[Graybeard]

OOC:

Eli returned the tavern the group had taken rooms at several minutes after his departure from The Rose.

I think the expectation was that the main group would be staying in the guest chambers at the Veracian temple. That doesn't mean that Eli has to, though.

[Drannin]

Argus left the two to their moment and turned to meet Tim. "Find something?"

[Alberich]

Seeing that Rose was occupied with something best not interrupted, and knowing that Argus was supposed to be trusted, Tim was heading his way anyway. Keeping his voice low -- not wishing to disturb the ladies -- he gave the older mage a quick account of his encounter with Keyes, and gladly placed the bag in his keeping. "I didn't want to check inside - no idea what kind of traps Blaise might have on that thing - and then, too, I didn't want to be out in the street with something that important, leafing through it and all. Anything to do with him, I'd want to be well shielded with someone watching my back before I gave it too much attention." And preferably have my sins confessed and atoned for.

[Drannin]

Argus nodded grimly. "Prudent. And as it stands, I'm going to wait until later before I rifle through its contents. Until we're all backing each other up, that is." But that could wait until Rose was done with Desiree. "Good work, by the way. Hopefully, this will answer some questions. Though it may just pose a few more."

[Alberich]

Tim didn't see taking a bag and carrying it over here as "good work" of any kind, but he took the compliment as a gesture from Argus. So when he said "thanks," he meant it.

A part of him wanted to go looking for Eli and his new companions, and see if the passionate half-elf had calmed down any, and maybe lend him an ear. Better not put it that way. That could wait, though. Better to stay here 'til Rose and Desiree were through. He waited.

[Graybeard]

It dawned on Sister Rose, as she looked over Desiree's shoulder, that this square was only about a block from the Veracian temple; it could be seen at the other end of the square. Desiree was hardly the "idiot" that she'd labeled herself, but you had to admit, her route finding in an urban setting wasn't very good.

Or was it? The Reformed Veracian Church didn't follow the Orthodox routine of ascribing every good thing that happened to the Hand of Luminosita, which some of the more devout practitioners took to the point of saying, and apparently believing, that Luminosita HImself caused the sun to rise in the morning (what a silly concept, Rose thought). However, they weren't totally unwilling to accept the occasional intervention of Luminosita in the minds and affairs of men. Maybe, just maybe, Luminosita's Hand really had been on this priestess, in ways that nobody would ever be able to prove, ways that caused her to circle aimlessly until she wound up almost at the exact point where she needed to be. The result, anyway, was highly satisfactory, and Rose permitted herself a brief, silent prayer of thanksgiving as she released the young woman from the hug.

"Let's go get our rooms at the temple," she said, standing up. "It's been a long day, and it'll be an early start in the morning."

And maybe by then, we'll have figured out a way to inspect this bag of Blaise's without someone dying ... although somehow I'm not as optimistic about that as I wish I was.

[OOC: So I propose we fast-forward to morning, except for a possible coda for Tamina and Udo to do whatever they need to do. Then we can open a new thread, as this one is getting rather long. Any objections?]

[Drannin]

(OOC: One last thing...)

Later, after the party had found rooms at the Veracian Temple, Argus found himself staring silently out the window. He found himself staring at some of the nicer-looking hotels, and having thoughts he really shouldn't be having.

Fuck it. I'm going to think these thoughts whether I like it or not. Not that the previous thought makes any sense. Whatever.

"Got the thousand-yard-stare there, Boss," Harker piped up from the corner.

"Mmph." Rose had immediately taken custody of the bag and secured it, while Desiree seemed to having some private time. Not that Argus could blame her, really. What an ordeal...

"Boss, if you ask me, you should take Rosie out for a walk and wind up in one of those love-hotels. Spend the night, get it out of yer system. It'd do ya wonders! Both of ya!" Harker smiled wickedly.

Argus thought about it for a moment. "Harker, that's the best idea I've heard all damned day."

Silence.

"What." Harker goggled.

"I think I'm falling in love with Rose, and I've been thinking about her feminine qualities since we took that blasted bath together. I'm also faintly disgusted that I haven't made a move before now. Except now all of my baggage is cleared up, including the threat of imminent death." Argus held up the magical object Maduin had affixed to him. "I'm cured. I can feel it."

Harker considered. "Then go get her."

Argus winced. "How? I'm terrible at this crap. You know that-"

"Go to her door. Tell her you need a walk to clear your head. Invite her along. Midway, stop and take a good, long look at one of those nicer hotels. Go from there. Just. Freaking. Do. It."

Argus turned. He locked eyes with Harker. Master and Familiar shared a moment. Then...

"...Alright." With a look of determination, Argus walked over to the door and let himself out. Harker watched him go.

"Godspeed, Magus."

(OOC: How will this turn out? Will anyone ever know?)

[Alberich]

Tim settled in to rest as best he could, glad the Temple was so close to where Desiree had wandered after all.

He wasn't concerned with the theological condundrum that disturbed Rose. Official Church doctrine did not require every good thing to be a direct act of Lord Luminosita. He had brought goodness into the world, and made every good thing possible; was that not enough to command gratitude? If you agreed that he made the world and the sun, and fixed it so the sun would rise every morning, what matter whether he did the deed anew every day? The important thing was to be grateful for what he had done, and to keep his strictures. Only a few miraculous Acts were truly confirmed - but if somoene believed another had happened to his own benefit, he was that much happier and might even be right. Letting a farmer think he'd been guided by a divine hand to find his lost sheep, this was no worse than letting the Unorthodox sects persist in their various strangenesses. The kind of person who wanted to quibble over the differences - there were places for that kind of person. Inside Tim's robes was not one of those places.

One thing was disturbing him, however - Eli. Eli had gone off angry (that wasn't surprising) and in some dangerous company. Tim doubted he was going to meet anything he couldn't escape or destroy, not with Blaise already gone, he wouldn't, but...but...but he didn't like the fact he wasn't back yet. He might've brought something on himself he couldn't handle. Or he might be off brooding alone. A little of that could be healthy, but too much would not be. Tim wanted Eli to stay with them for this adventure, especially if it stayed outside Veracia, and didn't want any more tension than there had to be. He wanted to find Eli, make sure he was safe, and talk to him alone. And he wasn't going to be able to sleep until that happened.

So he rose and dressed again, and went to look for Rose - to get permission to go, and make sure she knew about it. But she couldn't be roused from sleep, and he knew it was so, because Argus was right there to tell him so. "Better to let her sleep, I think," he said - but he explained in a few brief words that he meant to go looking for Eli, and make sure he was all right, and maybe make his return less jarring. He made sure also to leave a message with one of the priests, but he decided to leave Desiree alone, as she might've cried herself to sleep by now, and besides, a man in her chamber would be unwelcome right now, doubly so if he was talking about Eli.

A few hours and many questions later, and perhaps protected by the Hand of Luminosita, or perhaps a "guardian angel" with a badgerlike look, Tim found the tavern where Eli had gone, and was knocking on the half-elf's door. The "Who's there?" was exceeding surly. The answer, "Brother Timothy, and no other," was very much the opposite.

[OOC: Edited based on Graybeard's post. Will edit further if Drannin tells me it'd go otherwise. Not wishing to hold up the plot, but I think this is what Tim would do. Whether his good intentions lead down the "usual road" we shall see!]

[Graybeard]

[OOC: I'm sorry, after all that buildup, to disappoint Argus and Harker, but not only does the following add an entertainingly Kafka-esque touch to what's going on, it's also entirely in character, so ...]

"It's been a long day," Sister Rose said as they got back to the temple. "I should probably go to the Rite of Repose for that poor priest. I'm sure the temple will want to give him one." She turned to Argus with a faint yet playful smile on her face. "Maybe afterward, we can go out and sample the night life." Don't I wish, she thought, completely unaware of the wheels that were starting to turn in Argus' brain.

The Rite of Repose did happen, and this being about the westernmost temple where Orthodoxy dominated, it dragged on and on and on. Rose found her attention wandering, even as she started to realize how tired she was. It wandered first to that bag that Tim had brought her; what to do about that? And then to Argus; what to do about him? Wasn't he ever going to figure out that ... Her thoughts flitted back to the bag, then to Desiree's nearly depressive state, then back to the bag, then to the weird way Eli had been acting ever since Getsemiel ... and finally, as the Rite finished, back to the bag.

I have to do this. She rose and strode as vigorously out of the sanctuary as her fatigue would allow, past Argus' room (he was still awake, she was pleased to note; there might still be ... possibilities later), to her own small chamber, where the menacing bag awaited. And there she set to work.

There was no way of telling whether whatever deadly artifact had killed Sister Bree was still in that thing, or whether it was active, and she most assuredly wasn't going to use any detection magic to find out; from what Harker had said, that was what had killed Bree in her tracks. However, it should be possible, she thought, to set up defenses around the bag without making magical contact with the bag itself. First, a Barrier, with a bit of permanency added; the shimmering curtain of light would be considerably more tiring to cast with the permanency, but it would be their main line of defense. Then came one of the anti-detection spells she'd learned from Miguel, to make sure that nobody (particularly Blaise, if he hadn't flown off to Goriel yet) could home in on that bag and trigger something disastrous. This too sapped her energy badly; these spells were a great deal easier to cast with help, but Tim had already turned in (or so she thought), and she wouldn't have wanted to put him at risk anyway. Finally came a fairly standard Ward, and it was all she could do to focus the magic into a second curtain of light that surrounded the inner one.

By the time she was finished, Rose was so exhausted she could barely stagger over to her bed. Without even changing into nightclothes, she slumped into the bed, was asleep within seconds, and started snoring vigorously seconds after that ...

... And similarly scant seconds before Argus applied a soft, tentative knock at her door.

[OOC: You're fine with Tim's actions. Rose is altogether too sleepy to order him not to do anything...]