Port Lorrel- Puppet Masters

[Alberich]

[OOC: Yes, that is exactly the point. On land, miles out from the city, under cover of the storm, so that Udo can go in on foot in disguise the next morning to try to contact the Eisenfaust, and so that Ralkin spies will not see these adventurers make land or know where they are coming from - especially since their crystals have been "suppressed" by being attached to Angrist's anti-magic amulets.

Going into town will require Udo to get up very early, not his usual practice, but any sacrifice in a good cause. If it's too far - we can do some night travelling when the worst of the storm blows over. Udo's highwayman career was in these hills so he knows a little about the territory.

I can write the scene next morning where he goes into town anytime, two short posts or one long one to get to the point where Graybeard's Eisenfaust NPC Carlos needs to respond. Right now I'm pausing just in case anything interesting happens at night first.]

[Jack Rothwell]

OOC Well alrighty then./OOC

Tamina retreated with the group into the cover of a thick copse of trees and shook herself to get rid of the rainwater which clung so readily to her kind. She made a disgusted noise and began casting around for dry wood to build their fire.

"HATE rainwater." She muttered. "Anyone got a towel? Need some rubbing... drying."

[Alberich]

Udo still had the camping gear he'd bought in Goriel, but alas! - a towel was not included. For him, hygiene spells always substituted for baths while he was travelling (at least, when he remembered to do them they did). Rubbing her dry the old-fashioned way would be a lot more fun for sure...

But there was a kobold in distress. "Here," he said, and as he'd done once in Goriel, he used the spell to get most of the water out of her fur. "Once we get the fire going," he said, "well, you can dry off the rest of the way like that."

He helped to gather wood, dry it out magically, and set the fire. Once that was done, he took off his robe, boots, and socks, wrung them out squishily, gave them a once-over with the hygiene spell, and laid them out near the fire to dry the rest of the way. The spell was good enough for his loincloth, so he left that on. Everyone here had seen him in that anyway.

He was tempted to hum the "Leesha vaa teesh" song but thought better of it...Tamina had said she'd learned it from Leli, and maybe that wasn't the best memory to raise just now.

[OOC: You sass that hoopy Udo Fujomori? Sorry, the frood don't know where his towel is after all.]

[Jack Rothwell]

Tamina sat gratefully, but quietly, in front of the fire, her jacket drying at her feet and her tail curled snuggly around her. The ribbon she'd brought for it had been lost somewhere. She missed the splash of color.

After a moment of silence she opened her mouth to speak, her words were hesitant, and her tone unusual in it's softness.

"I... umm... wanted to say something."

Tamina stood, grabbing the tip of her tail and wringing it between her fingers in a gesture of selfconsciousness.

"I wanted to say... thank you. All of you. For helping me with this. I thought about what could've happened if the Killikah hadn't had your help against the bad men. It could've been the end of all of us... but..." She faltered for a moment, then composed herself. "...it wasn't. So thank you. I just hope... I mean, I don't... I'd hate to lose anyone else over something that's between the Killikah and The Ralkin, and there could be something terrible waiting in Lorrel. I'd understand if people wanted to go... go home. Don't want friend's deaths on my conscience... they sting."

[Alberich]

Udo shook his head vigorously at the suggestion.

"Go? No way! We're proud to take out these Ralkin scum! Bastards don't deserve to live, the way they attacked those kobolds, who are all friends of mine. And if we just walked away and let 'em live after that...well, that'd sting too! And no way would anyone here just let you go walking in by yourself. Nope! You're stuck with us, sweetheart."

Maybe he should be asking for help with Angrist's disguise ideas, but just right now, there was a kobold who needed bucking-up.

[Jack Rothwell]

Tamina patted her knight protector on the shoulder with a sad smile.

"Just... had to say it. Thanks Udo." She surveyed the group and released her tail from a be-clawed grasp. "I should... umm... get practicing... still gotta learn how to use magic without touching."

For a moment the kobold's mind strayed to the amulet which had functioned as a power booster for the late Ralkin Captain and, she suspected, the half-elf who'd joined up with Aleron Harland. She said nothing,

[Alberich]

[OOC: Moving forward - but if someone wants to add more for the evening, then by all means.]

Any magic lessons being given to Tamina that night were being given by Drusia -- Udo, contrary to his natural inclinations, actually went to bed and woke up early. With help from his companions, he got into a disguise almost as strange as Angrist had proposed. Then he made his trek into town. The others came along part of the way, and they set a place to rendezvous. No bandits harassed them, luckily for the bandits.

The sun was drying off the previous night's rain when Udo reached the corner of Linden and Kugelheim, and a sign he remembered well:

Dr. W. L. Rabbitfoot, Doctor of Thaumaturgy
Lifemage
Second Floor

While healing magic had done wonders against the spread of epidemic disease, in a Farrelian port there were certain social discomforts that hadn't been stamped out, and if a fellow was drunk enough and really in the mood...well, he could wake up wanting a little reassurance. And this man was the premier provider. But what mattered for today was his other reputation - as the best first step for a talk with the Eisenfaust.

Before he could knock, Udo saw another customer walking up - lean, blonde, and handsome, his clothes in good order. For a moment he felt embarrassed by his shaven-headed, head-painted, dyed, scruffy look...but in front of Dr. Rabbitfoot, none of this would matter; you could be an eight-legged thing dragged from the swamp, and if he didn't cook you, he'd treat you the same as anyone. Besides, if the stranger was here for what most people came here for, he'd gotten down and dirty himself, no matter how spruced up he looked today. Amidst these thoughts he did not notice the stranger's eye flick for just a second to the battlemage staff he carried.

"Good morning!" said the stranger. "Ross Rothwell, fortuneteller. Up with the sun to see good Dr. Rabbitfoot?"

Witty repartee wasn't coming to Udo. "Just so," he said. "You too?"

"Quite! But you know, my business with him might be quite lengthy - so I think you should get the chance to take the cure first."

"Well, thanks, that's neighborly of you, but I have to warn you, I might be a little while myself."

"Oh, by all means, go ahead anyway - you'll feel better, I'm sure." He gestured to the door so that Udo could knock.

Udo turned to the door and was taken by surprise. With the speed of a hundred-pace viper strike, "Ross" leaped forward and smashed him behind the ear with a dagger hilt. A second blow brought Udo down. In moments, Udo was lying in an alleyway, Ross had a heavy new purse and a staff, and was tapping on Rabbitfoot's door with a magic token....

To be fair, Ross didn't take anything else from Udo, let alone strip him to his loincloth. It was the local sneak-thieves of Port Lorrel who did that. Two hours later he awoke with a pain in his head and not so much as a pair of boots to spare him from the street. Shame burned his face and revenge fantasies his brain, as he pulled himself to his feet and looked around. That fucker was going to regret leaving him alive...but he had to stop that thought. There was a mission to do. Port Lorrel being what it was, he wouldn't be the first outlander wandering the streets in his underwear after a wild night.

Once he got out of the alleyway, walking gingerly barefoot, he saw that he wasn't so far from his original destination. So he came to the door and pounded. In moments, Zero the monkey was there. Like a good shopman's familiar, he had a photographic memory for customers - shaving their heads, dying their beards, painting them with fake tattoos and scars, and taking all their clothes off didn't affect that. "Oh, it's you, Udo," he said. "No credit! And if you're keeping your cash in there" - he pointed to Udo's loincloth - "we don't want it."

"It's not that at all," said Udo, "but I do need to see Dr. Rabbitfoot" -- he remembered the code -- "about something hypothetical."

Meanwhile, "Ross" was in a musical instrument shop elsewhere in town.

[OOC: More later.]

[Alberich]

Carlos' Superior Strings was a tastefully appointed shop, specializing in violins and guitars. To one side was a display of unsold lutes, a relic of an unfortunate interlude a year or two back, when Carlos had been pressured into letting his wife's brother Antonio co-manage the shop. Antonio had hoped to start a lute fad among the lusty young swains of Port Lorrel, and if you looked among the lutes, you'd find a sign with one of Antonio's jingles --

Now remember when you're out of cash to buy your girlie things,
It's romantic for to try a serenade;
And she gets all dreamy-weamy when your hands are on the strings -
And then maybe it's your instrument gets played.

When your pipes are gettin' hoarse and you want to stay the course,
But she's lookin' unreceptive to your suit (toot! toot!),
'Fore you go and rub it off, take a lozenge for your cough,
And play a solo on your...

Lute, bloomin' lute!
There's the thing to make the girls tell you, "You're cute!"
If you'd make the ladies swoon
(So's you get yerself some poon)
Draw 'em to you with a loo, loo, lulu, lute!
Heya, come on, cuties, loo, loo, lulu, lulu, lute-lute-lute!

-- now it served only as a conversation piece. This morning the shop was closed, as Carlos was in conversation with "Ross Rothwell" - a disguised elf, whom everyone present knew to be a disguised elf, and whom everyone present except himself knew to be known as a disguised elf. "Ross" was now armed with a mage's staff, stolen from some crazy freak going to "take the cure" from Rabbitfoot, and was in good humor as he contemplated the mayhem about to be unleashed on the Black Guard and their leaders.

True to his word, Ross was freely sharing information with the Eisenfaust operative, explaining that these "Black Guards" were led by a pair of very powerful and ambitious half-elf mages, for whom this "Logan" was a despised front man and a source of funds only. "Leave them in place for long," he said, "and they'll have you displaced - and I doubt they'll stop at one city."

But as it happened there was one hope - and that would be coming soon. These Black Guards had made some powerful enemies, and were sending one of their champions plus a company of heavy infantry to wipe them out. "They won't survive it," he said, "and in fact they're probably dead already." On this point he was exactly right. "But that means vengeance is coming their way."

Here he described the enemies he expected to be coming, almost exactly as Eli had described them to him and as he'd seen them on the Ralkin wanted posters. That meant descriptions of Drusia, Tamina...and Jamie.

"A pretty powerful combination. But I don't think they know how the Black Guards have been building up their conventional forces. By themselves...they'll only get so far. Also that elf, well, you know how those elves are. No subtlety. Likely to charge in magic blazing without knowing the odds." This was grossly unfair to Drusia, but who'd ever said Ross was fair? Tamina wasn't filthy and didn't really have fleas, either, yet his description had implied it.

"So here's your opportunity. Watch for those three. They'll be coming from the Southern Continent, probably by ship. When they do, put 'em in touch with me, and then join forces. You've got numbers, and they've got the kind of power you need to take out the leaders.

"'course you could just wait and try to let 'em do it on their own. But they'll probably get beaten that way. And if they do, then that elf may call on the elves at large for some help, and if that happens, the elves are likely to send in the artillery. These Black Guards would die for sure, but you might not have much of a city left at the end of it. So now is your opportunity to get rid of some rivals. In your place, I'd take it."

[Graybeard]

The door bell at the guitar shop rang, and Carlos frowned. "I wasn't expecting any customers yet," he said. "Excuse me for a moment." He got up from the table where he and "Ross" had been sitting, back in the workshop, and went to the front of the shop, carefully leaving the door separating the two parts of the shop open so that Ross could see there were no shenanigans going on.

"Good morning, Mrs. Wachiel," he called to the well-dressed young woman who was standing at the door, holding a very small instrument case. "We're not quite open for business yet, but for you, of course, I'll make an exception. What can I do for you?"

The young woman flashed an apologetic (and attractive) smile. "I know, Carlos, and I'm sorry to be here so early. Problem is, little Jenny's violin has a broken string and has lost a tuner." She opened the case, revealing what might have been a one-eighth-size violin. "Her first recital is this weekend, and she needs to practice." Motherly concern crossed the woman's face.

Carlos smiled. "Well, that's a small enough job. Leave it here and I'll have it ready for you by noon." He placed the tiny instrument under the counter out front as the young mother sparkled her thanks and left.

"Sorry about the interruption," Carlos said, returning to the table. "She's the daughter of a pretty important person in Lorrel, and we try to keep her happy." It didn't need to be said that the Eisenfaust had any number of reasons for that. "As for the first violin recital for a six-year-old ... well, I get why it's important for a mother and a child, but as a musician, brrrr." He shuddered almost theatrically. "So anyway, where were we?"

[Alberich]

Ross smiled with inward scorn. As if any human had the least glimmering of the beginnings of knowing how to make music! Sure, in the old days, the elves had had some of them sing their simple tunes for their amusement, but the real thing...well, let them waste their lives pretending to tell one flavor of dirt from another!

"Well, as I was saying, they might be coming from any direction at all." He thought she'd probably use the Rangers' travel network, but he wasn't going to tell these Eisenfaust about that. "But when they arrive, you'll want to get in touch with them before they try anything rash. And that could be pretty fast - they could be here now, and if they're not, it won't be long."

* * *

Meantime, one of "them" had finished explaining his situation to Dr. Rabbitfoot, and his need to speak to the "hypothetical" Eisenfaust hierarchy about it, while getting laughed at behind his back by a monkey.