Goriel and beyond, part 6

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.
Locked
User avatar
Graybeard
The Heretical Admin
Posts: 7180
Joined: August 20th, 2007, 8:26 am
Location: Nuevo Mexico y Colorado, Estados Unidos

Re: Goriel and beyond, part 6

Post by Graybeard »

Most of the newcomers gaped at Jillian as though she'd suddenly grown a tail, but one appeared to have more poise than her colleagues. "Thank you," she said, speaking slowly and carefully in Veracian. "We would like food, please."

Actually, most of the Tsuirakuans looked like they didn't need food as much as they needed tranquilizers. However, food was obtained, and shortly they huddled around their own table, as far away from the rest of the clientele as they could manage, picking at it as they continued to talk. Most of their words were incomprehensible, but every now and then one of them, usually one of the men, would squint off in the direction of Therese, Desiree, Anfisa and Tim, and the conversation would then contain a word that at least two of the party could recognize.

"Erufu ... Erufu..."
Image

Because old is wise, does good, and above all, kicks ass.
User avatar
Drannin
Prince of Space
Posts: 1350
Joined: August 15th, 2008, 2:46 pm

Re: Goriel and beyond, part 6

Post by Drannin »

Argus sat down beside Rose and put a reassuring arm around her. "The truth? This really isn't something you should keep from her."
User avatar
Drusia
Veteran of the Errant War
Posts: 1293
Joined: September 7th, 2009, 9:53 pm

Re: Goriel and beyond, part 6

Post by Drusia »

To Therese's question about the Tsuirakuans, I reply "I have no idea."

Although, to be fair, Tsuirakuan has a fair amount of elven in it, and I speak that. I bet it wouldn't be all that hard to learn. From a knowledgable teacher, given time, neither of which I have at the moment.

"Erufu ... Erufu..."

I raise an eyebrow. The think I'm an elf? A full blooded elf? That's... actually kind of neat. And, come to think of it, a lot safer than a rumor of a half-elf getting around.

So I do my best to look cold and haughty and aloof whenever I hear them murmuring about me.

-- Desiree
User avatar
Graybeard
The Heretical Admin
Posts: 7180
Joined: August 20th, 2007, 8:26 am
Location: Nuevo Mexico y Colorado, Estados Unidos

Re: Goriel and beyond, part 6

Post by Graybeard »

Desiree's acting had one unintended consequence, because of a little detail: Jillian spoke Tsuirakuan too.

Now, as she was bringing another batch of bread and cold cuts, she heard the rumble from the Tsuiraku crowd, picked out the observation that there was an erufu at this table, and stopped short. Her mouth fell open as she gave Desiree a momentary wide-eyed stare.

"It's true..." she mumbled, barely audibly, before the genial innkeeper facade went back up and the intimidated Veracian was silenced for the moment.

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

Sister Rose leaned into the arm, enjoying it for multiple reasons. However, there was still something bothering her.

"Of course we won't lie," she replied. "But just how much of the truth do we tell her? Mom might know already what kind of shape Margot is in, but if she doesn't, this is going to come as a blow. And if she does..."

Her voice trailed off before she finished the sentence, but the conclusion was still there in her mind. If she does, why hasn't she done something about it?
Image

Because old is wise, does good, and above all, kicks ass.
Alberich
Noble Knight Protector
Posts: 1892
Joined: October 5th, 2008, 9:58 am

Re: Goriel and beyond, part 6

Post by Alberich »

It took Jillian only a moment to recover. This wasn't the first time an elf had set foot in this city, this one looked more interested in being pretty than scary, and what it meant was that there was an attraction in her inn that would keep the Tsuirakuans interested and excited. And Tsuirakuans tended to have ready money in their purses and lots of folks ate more when they were excited. So the thing to do was to keep the drinks, appetizers, and other treats coming to the chattering foreigners, while also making sure the elf's table stayed happy.

That was easy in dealing with Tim - he was happy to lean back with his pint in hand and sip slowly, and compliment the hostess on her delicious house brew. Anfisa, alive to the strange social signals here, was whispering nervously to Desiree - "What is that?"
User avatar
Drusia
Veteran of the Errant War
Posts: 1293
Joined: September 7th, 2009, 9:53 pm

Re: Goriel and beyond, part 6

Post by Drusia »

Well, I'm glad to see the owner's taking it well. Not really the sort of attention I was hoping to get with this dress, but at least no one wants to murder me. That's always a plus.

Anfisa, alive to the strange social signals here, was whispering nervously to Desiree - "What is that?"

"They think I'm an elf," I tell her softly, making sure we aren't overheard. "Apparently they can't tell the difference between the real thing and a half-breed like me. I'd be annoyed, but rumors of an elf are safer than rumors of a half-elf. The last thing we need is to draw that kind of attention."

Actually, did anyone ever explain to Anfisa about Peregin and half-elves? Hmm.

-- Desiree
Alberich
Noble Knight Protector
Posts: 1892
Joined: October 5th, 2008, 9:58 am

Re: Goriel and beyond, part 6

Post by Alberich »

[OOC: I think this is the most she's been told.]
User avatar
Graybeard
The Heretical Admin
Posts: 7180
Joined: August 20th, 2007, 8:26 am
Location: Nuevo Mexico y Colorado, Estados Unidos

Re: Goriel and beyond, part 6

Post by Graybeard »

For a brief minute, Therese was peculiarly annoyed by this deception -- I would have thought that kind of duplicity beneath these people -- but then she thought about it. Really, was Desiree passing herself off as an elf any different than what she herself did in Goriel? Probably not. She sat quietly with her beer, listening and observing as the Tsuirakuan conversation continued.

At least it was quiet for the first five minutes ... and then trouble arrived, in the form of four large, drunken men in laborer's clothes.

"Ah hah!" one of them bellowed from the door to the inn. "It be true! There be Tsoo-rakyan devils in here!" He started rummaging around his coveralls, going through all the places where a weapon might be kept, and never mind what other "weapons" he might be revealing in the process.

[OOC: This incipient bar fight brought to you partly to allow the stuff with Rose and Argus to proceed; things still need to happen at the house. On the other hand, Saus is a "pretty crime-ridden place," there is a good reason for the Tsuirakuans to be there, and they'd attract riff-raff of a certain violent, drunken kind like honey attracts flies, so ...]
Image

Because old is wise, does good, and above all, kicks ass.
Alberich
Noble Knight Protector
Posts: 1892
Joined: October 5th, 2008, 9:58 am

Re: Goriel and beyond, part 6

Post by Alberich »

Tim was on his feet in a moment. He'd picked a respectable place with a good reputation, not a dive. A certain amout of brawling and fisticuffs was normal and tolerable -- all part of growing up as a healthy boy -- but a group starting a fight with foreign guests was something else again. Especially in a town with a good-sized foreign population. That kind of scene could turn into a riot. And stopping that was priestly business.

"Brothers," he said, "This is no time for that. This is a trading city and our foreign guests are welcome here. And if things get broken in here, it's expensive..."

The drunken louts' faces fell, particularly the leader's. None of them was drunk enough to assault a priest. Further, Jillian by this time had brought out her porter and dishwasher, who occasionally served as bouncers when the wrong class of people entered her respectable establishment, and they made the anticipated fight look far too fair. The leader, though, had a blustery look on his face -which Tim cut off with a word. "Come along wiht me, brother," he said, and led him out the door. To his companions, he called back - "Wait for me here."

It took an hour for Tim to get back, but there were no drunken louts with him when he returned. One had gotten himself cold-cocked in a place more suitable to that, two were back snoring in their beds, and the fourth, it would pain Tim to know, had gone to a house of ill fame to work off his tensions in a different way.

[OOC: The ensuing peace brought to you by people who don't mind waiting a few days between posts, if nothing's going on with their characters, especially since they're doing things in other threads anyway.]
User avatar
Graybeard
The Heretical Admin
Posts: 7180
Joined: August 20th, 2007, 8:26 am
Location: Nuevo Mexico y Colorado, Estados Unidos

Re: Goriel and beyond, part 6

Post by Graybeard »

It was not an entirely uneventful hour for Therese, Anfisa and Desiree.

The six Tsuirakuans sat at their corner table for a while, "conversing" in what sounded like alarmed tones, although none of the three women could tell exactly what they were saying. Furtive looks at the presumed erufu were cast from time to time, to the point that Therese was getting uncomfortable enough to consider trying to use her limited Tsuirakuan to get them to desist -- or to test her combat magic against citizens of the most magical culture on the planet (except for the elves) if they didn't.

However, this plan, and similar plans that were being developed by an increasingly uncomfortable Jillian, were rendered nugatory when another Tsuirakuan strode into the inn, wearing the uniform of his country's Homeland Security forces. There was another furtive conversation in Tsuirakuan, and the would-be diners rose as one and filed out the door. Left on the table in their wake was a large pile of tsuis and rakus, the national currency of Tsuiraku (approximately dollars and pennies, respectively).

The uniformed man surveyed the table with a look of distaste on his face. Then he snapped his fingers, and what Therese recognized as a Pocket Dimension opened. Magic flared from the small gadget that the man extracted. He nodded, shoveled the Tsuirakuan currency (which wouldn't be accepted anywhere in Saus except in a bank) into the magical storage, and a moment later, removed from it several bills and coins in the Veracian national currency. Someone familiar with the currency of both countries would have recognized them as the exact equivalent, at current exchange rates, of what had been on the table, right down to the last raku.

These he brought over to Jillian, to whom he spoke in precise, lightly accented Veracian. "Please excuse my countrymen," he said with a very slight bow. (A Tsuirakuan versed in the nuances of upper-class protocol would have recognized this gesture as polite but mildly condescending. No other intelligent being in the Errant World would have noticed, or cared.) "They are simple men and women who have never traveled outside our country before. There has been a -- what is your word -- traumatic event in the Homeland that caused them to travel without due preparation. All is well now. They will return home and trouble you no more." He handed the woman the money. "They have paid their bill, and offer you a substantial --" he fumbled for a word again -- "gratuity."

He bowed slightly again and left the inn without another word, but not without another action.

Before leaving, he turned and studied the three women with a remarkably direct stare. Therese thought she might have detected just a hint of magic in the man's eyes, and had the uncomfortable feeling of being examined, not just physically but mentally. Judging from the looks on Desiree's and Anfisa's faces, they'd had something similar happen to them. The man gave a nearly imperceptible nod, then went on his way as the feeling dissipated.

"What was that all about?" Therese wondered out loud, as the three women tried to get back to their meal.
Image

Because old is wise, does good, and above all, kicks ass.
Locked