Goriel and beyond, part 3

[Jack Rothwell]

"There's only one of me and I'm it! Any silver mines opened up lately?"

"But..." Tamina began, her brow furrowing in confusion. "Most wonderful thing 'bout kobold's is that there's lots of us! M' a killikah gah*, look! Got the eyes!" She said in the tones of a young biology teacher with an unruly student, pointing to the object of discussion, which were yellow with pupils like a cat's. "Got the big ears to hear you better with, got the sharp teeth to better eat stuff with, got the tail..."

The kobold pulled her fifth limb out the back of her pants, which sagged slightly at the meddling, Tamina tugged the thing around for the strange creature to see and giggled as she noticed the ribbon still tied there.

"Hee! Oh... right, got the claws, got the fur patches and got the magics! But.... umm... the magics are mine... oh! Mines! Looking for peoples from one! Seen any peoples around?"


*- sisterhood cub

[Alberich]

"Most wonderful thing 'bout kobold's is that there's lots of us!"

Udo didn't agree with that - he thought the most wonderful thing about Tamina was the way she was bouncy, pouncy, flouncy, trouncy -- she's sure trounced the Expendables -- and fun, fun, fun, fun, fun! But he held his peace - she was showing off all her lovely parts and he was keeping the light lit. If only the Great Hieronymous were here! He'd capture this scene like a dream. The kind you didn't forget.

"Mmmm!" said The Kobold. "Kili Ka-ga!" It scratched its head a little. "Got ears..." It rubbed under its mossy hair. "Claws to dig in the rock." It held up its clawed hands - which indeed looked tough enough to burrow through near anything. "Got the teeth to chomp down the ore!" It gave a wide, shiny, stumpy grin. "Got the tail too" - it half-turned and showed them its stony gray bare bottom, in a way that would've been flirtatious in another creature - "to make the other metal!" It turned back, but happily didn't lift its beard to show them any other parts.

"Got eyes to see people" - they were beautiful in their way, but maybe it was better not to tell it that - "...but closed 'em long time. Been sleeping long time! Years. Lots of years. The silver mines tapped out. Silver's what I like! My brother Nick, he likes copper. Silver for me! Got any?"

Instinctively, Udo's hand grabbed defensively at the bag with his medals, but he didn't reveal anything.

[Jack Rothwell]

Tamina nodded her head at the creature question.

"Yeah-yeah. Think I've got some in m' pouch..." The kobold rummaged through her purse and drew out a couple of coins which matched the-probably-not-a-kobold's desire, and handed them to the creature in a near-suicidal display of trust and bad business sense.

"Got questions!" She volunteered, and ticked off the inquiries on her fingers. "What's your name? Where you from? Where's your people? Do you know my people? Why you sleep so long? You seen anyone else lately? Do you like my ribbon? Where's your brother? Where's your family? Where's your clothes? Oh... ran out of fingers."

OOC Busting up at the Tigger reference, btw./OOC

[Alberich]

The creature grinned a shiny grin as she handed over the coins. Quick as a wink, it popped the coins right in its mouth, and closed its eyes as it swallowed with a look of weird-critter bliss.

Its look was tranquil as Tamina peppered it with questions. It stopped to think -- its memory wasn't bad, but its mind was a little slow to work.

"Name...?...uhh, Kobold! The Kobold!" It was happy to say it again. It liked its own name. "Good to meet Kili Ka-ga!" It seemed well pleased.

"From. From? From! From, ah, ah, village! Daddy was a wizard. Other daddy was a wizard too! But he was different from the other wizard. Nice people! They said where other not-nice people had lots of silver. Silver ore in the ground! So I got to go eat it. And leave the other ore!

"People? Don't got 'people.' Just got my brother Nick! The Nick!" It looked around. "Nick's not here. Bet he's in a copper mine somewhere! Nick likes copper! He's the only Nick there is! Good fella that Nick!

"Don't know people. Nice people I used to know...mmm...all gone. Long time ago. They'd take me to silver mines at night. They'd say, go there, eat all the silver! I did it, too. Took a long time. Lots of other people, they made lots of noise. Tried to hurt me. Didn't work! My daddies made me strong! I just went right on eating!

"I sleep a long time. Wake up, different people, more silver. No more silver, go back to sleep. Nice people give me silver!" He beamed at the memory of the coins he'd just eaten. "I don't wear clothes. Clothes interfere with the Miracle of Nature! Oh oh, feel a miracle coming on now!"

It closed its eyes, balled its fists spread its legs, and smiled like a happy baby. And then - chink! chink! - two metal things squeezed out from between its broad buttocks and hit the floor. It scooped them up and tossed them over to the adventurers. For some reason, nobody seemed eager to catch them. They hit the floor, chink!. "Clumsy!" the creature laughed. But at least they could see what they were -- coins. About the same heft as the ones Tamina had handed over. But they didn't shine quite like silver, and most likely they'd lost all their value. Even if picking them up had been less unappetizing.

Udo, being helpful, whispered - "You could count one more on your tail..."

[Graybeard]

[OOC:

OOC: Nope, Desiree has never used mind-speech, never been subjected to it, and if she were to be so without warning she'd likely scream in surprise/fright. ^^

And we certainly wouldn't want that to happen. So to move forward, sans retcon:]

"Do you... suspect that Clan Zukalin might be involved with Blaize?"

"Truthfully? I don't know," Sister Rose admitted. "It would fit some of the facts, but there's no way to be sure -- yet." She chuckled humorlessly. "I don't know which is scarier -- the idea that Blaise had something to do with all those assassins just instantly dying at midnight, or the idea that he didn't have anything to do with them. And we don't even know yet that Zukalin had anything to do with them, either."

She produced the kind of sigh that Argus had become a virtuoso at. "Well, we'd probably better get on with this incredible visit. And then there's this theft from the museum to check out. I'd say not to bother with that, except that we were there yesterday... Is there anything you want us to do -- other than get Anfisa out of here along with you, when that time comes?"

[Sareth]

"If I could," Brad interrupted. "There are a couple of things I thought I'd toss out there. First off, if we're right and Blaise has gone to ground in the mines the best thing we can do is go look ourselves." He raised a hand to forestall objections. "I know they are really cautious about who they let get a peek at them, but a greatly honored and recently insulted guest looking to open trade and willing to, as a gesture of good faith, possibly demonstrate some small mining techniques that could improve their yield might just get that peek."

Lillith looked quite surprised at this pronouncement by Brad.

"The other is less cheery. We saw how seriously everyone took it when we were attacked last night. If Blaise is also being protected, we may have a lot more than just Blaise to worry about if we actually do find him."

Lillith's look of surprise clouded over.

****

Jamie had been watching all this with a great deal of bemusement (and with her creator cracking up at Gilda Radner) while all these goings on had been going on. The little demonstration with the coins, however, put a frown on her face. "Wait... did it just turn silver into lead? What's it's brother do, crap sand?" She snatched the coin pouch from Tamina and "hid" it behind her back.

****

Katie stared out the window at the downpour outside. "Damn. With that going on I bet every single crew member will not be rushing back to the ship any time soon." She turned and tossed another coin at a tipped over cup against the far bulkhead. "Instead I bet every last one of them is snugged up to some cheap tart." Her expression clouded. "And I bet Rip's catching yet another itch. Or spreading one."

How little she knew about how wrong she was about Rip. And Shorty into the bargain.

[OOC]Actually, my suspicion is that the "kobold" just turned silver into tin and the brother turns copper into germanium, but Jamie doesn't have access to the knowledge, and (il)logic, I do. Of course, she could be closer to true than me! But if I'm right I'd just LOVE to meet their two dads and see if there was a third brother just for the chance to watch Jamie freak out. Hmm. And if they have sisters... But that leads to some thoughts very much not to be contemplated deeply. You know what, I'm just gonna go to bed now before my sleep deprived brain goes any further.[/OOC]

[Alberich]

"Well, anyway," said Udo, "The point is the silver's all gone." He congratulated himself on having the foresight to spend most of his money at the Red Shell House of Comfort and on the camping gear and rations they were carrying. He didn't want this critter getting a close look at his medals, though, or Jamie's coin bag either. "Maybe it's time to go back to sleep. Ah, what say, guys, know any lullabyes...?

"Off to bed now, off to bed now, it's time for sweet dreaming
Dream of coinage, dream of medals, and silver mines reaming,
Dream of sweet rocks, dream of silver,
Dream of...ahhh, what rhymes with silver?"

[OOC: Well, actually, he just turned silver into cobalt. Guess what his brother Nick does to copper? But anyway, that puts you closer than Jamie by a whisker. btw, the RW etymology of "cobalt" actually does relate it to "kobold" - according to my old Webster's miners thought little goblins were stealing the silver and replacing it with this stuff. So you're safe from a monster that shows up to turn all your platinum into thallium, which I know is what you were worried about.]

[Graybeard]

"First off, if we're right and Blaise has gone to ground in the mines the best thing we can do is go look ourselves." He raised a hand to forestall objections. "I know they are really cautious about who they let get a peek at them, but a greatly honored and recently insulted guest looking to open trade and willing to, as a gesture of good faith, possibly demonstrate some small mining techniques that could improve their yield might just get that peek."

Sister Rose looked uncomfortable. "You're right, of course. But how do we disentangle ourselves from this ridiculous web of intrigues around us?" She turned to Argus. "Any ideas -- my lord husband?"

[Drusia]

"Is there anything you want us to do -- other than get Anfisa out of here along with you, when that time comes?"

"Nothing particularly occurs to me," I say, shrugging. The information about the assassins dying at the stroke of midnight is new - and creepy - but unless they plan to trade me to another clan sometime soon, it doesn't really help my job. I'm starting to think we might have picked the wrong clan to trade me to - I don't think anyone here knows anything. Well, if nothing else I seem to be giving a good impression of my Clan, so perhaps that's enough.

Brad brings up something about mines. I recall that Valentina's Clan has mines - are they planning to visit there? Ah - Brad just mentioned a recent embarasment, so apparently so. I doubt they'll be seeing her if they're just visiting the mines, though, unless they also spend the night.

I wait quietly. It's the proper thing for a getera to do, after all.

-- Desiree

[Graybeard]

Sister Rose listened as Desiree got back in role, then sighed quietly. It was time for her to do the same, and it ... didn't come naturally. Oh, the wife part of it was just fine (actually, I've rather enjoyed that, she thought, well aware of where that thought might be taking her), but the subservience ... well, it got old.

She rolled her eyes. "So, my lord husband, might I humbly suggest that we present ourselves to the clan chief and take our leave of this place?"

Shortly the group was in motion, in a formation as tightly scripted as though it had been a military unit. (Other than mine, Rose thought sourly. Special Forces were much better at field improvisation than at close order drill, and she'd made no attempt to have it be otherwise.) They moved silently toward the appointed location ... but before they got there, Rose sucked in her breath in surprise.

A tall, red-headed figure was on a path to intercept theirs, or nearly so, at least. She looked carefully ... yes, she was sure, even without the Empathy.

<"It's that Therese woman we ran into yesterday,"> she thought at Argus. <"Disguised as a man, but no doubt about it. Wonder what she's doing here?">

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

Therese was having similar thoughts.

She'd managed to get through the front gate of the compound by engaging the sentry she'd dealt with (i.e., subverted) before. This time, however, no subterfuge was necessary. She brandished a bundle containing the item she'd bought at the market and modified. "I have something here that I found in the market," she'd told him, "and it will be viewed as horribly offensive to His Lordship." She shuddered theatrically. "By the Great Bear, it's offensive to me. I believe he should know about it so that he can punish whatever clan perpetrated the outrage. Would it be possible for you to escort me to him so that I can show him this awful thing?"

Yes, that should be possible, and soon she was walking alongside the sentry (another had been left at the gate) toward the inner quarters of Clan Duravsky ... but the appearance of the Cleiviein party distracted her for the moment.

Particularly the getera. Such a beautiful woman ... and so much like Melusine had been.