Port Lorrel- Puppet Masters

[Graybeard]

While all this was going on, Khoo, who could scarcely think of anything he'd have less interest in doing than being in a political rally in a foreign country, wandered off to the Tsuirakuan consulate in town.

There was good news and bad news concerning the incident at the Tower of Artifex. Security was still ultra-tight around the airship terminals, and it was going to be months, if not years, before the Tower itself was returned to service. I'm going to have to find another job when I get back. On the positive side, Tsuirakuan society was getting back to some degree of function, and as Anna-Lisa had implied, classes at Sashi Mu were going to be starting up again next week. That left him with a whole five days to save the world, or at least whatever part of it Udo, Tamina and Drusia were currently working on saving.

Which left him, in turn, at least an hour or so to do something that, as far as he could tell, had been done only in a rather sketchy, ad-hoc way: learning about the enemy.

Finding a quiet niche at the consulate (it wasn't very busy even under normal circumstances, and now that everyone was going back home to Tsuirakushiti after the resumption of warp-gate travel, business was downright dead there), he got out his crystal ball, got permission to use the place's Crystal-net connection, and fired up Tsuipedia. With any luck at all, it would have some kind of article on the Ralkin; a country full of wealthy mages with time on their hands had filled the thing with articles on far more trivial subjects than that one. And so it did. He made himself comfortable and began to read.

[OOC: Up to you guys how informative this article is. The answer shouldn't be "nothing" -- Tsuiraku is better plugged in than that -- and also needn't be "everything." Feel free to use this as an excuse to build backstory if you wish.]

[Alberich]

[OOC: Since Jack has decided that Tsuipedia would contain information on the Ralkin I've deleted most of this post.]

Some of Khoo's fellow-countrymen came in to sort out an issue with their travel papers. They were excitedly discussing the events of a rally they'd attended.

"<Well, it's pretty obvious to me the Eisenfaust are behind it, all right. See, it's like this, they send their fall guy up to point a weapon at him, thing goes off blank, they kill him, probably someone they had no further use for - and it sends the message, work with us or the next one will be loaded. Then they do a backroom deal, let the new face get elected, but it's just the same old same old...>"

"<No, no, look, that's silly. What do they need that for? The Eisenfaust control the water supply...">

"<Oh, what does it matter you two? The same sordid commercial interests are behind all these political groups, they'd never let anyone who wasn't with them get that big in the first place, so at best it's an internal power play between two tentacles of the same monster, not worth bothering about, let's get those damn papers replaced...">

"<Yeah, man, read the right comics and you'll find out what tentacles do to us all...>"

While they waited for a clerk to see them, one of them unwrapped some horribly overpriced sweet he'd bought. As he ate, he started grunting like a pig as he snaffled it down, as if imitating some ill-mannered glutton they'd recently seen and found amusing. The others laughed at the impression. Then they passed the time with a game of "Corrupt a Wish."

"<I wish for some yummy rice balls.>"

"<Meet my buddy, the sweaty 40-year-old wrestler, Yummy Rice. I wish I could make people laugh.>"

"<You drop your pants and everybody does. I wish...>"

[Alberich]

[OOC: A couple hours earlier, back at the beach, Jargalan's asked Drusia about how Gabriel died - he's interested in discussing that, and anything Drusia knows about the errants they're up against. He will share a more-or-less accurate account of his fight with Aleron and Eli, including the way Eli turned Myra against him with a knife, though he will downplay any fondness he was developing towards Myra. He already has, or thinks he has, a pretty good gauge of her abilities and Tamina's, and knows she knows what he can do, but is interested in any "interesting" abilities Khoo and Angrist have - so he can know what the people fighting next to him can do.

Since he's rude as hell he will talk to Drusia in Elvish unless he's specifically asked to switch languages, because no one else really "counts" to him. He's not dropping his defenses though. His intent is to get away after the discussion is over to rest and recharge at his secret campsite.

I say all this so that you, Jack and Drusia, can summarize the conversation or add little bits of Jargalan dialogue to move it along at whatever rate you please, slow or fast, it's good for me either way. I suspect it'll be over and Jargalan will be gone by the time Udo and Khoo get back from their errands in town. And if Khoo is looking for some Ralkin background, I bet between them they could give him the full crash course over the course of the afternoon before the meet-up with the Eisenfaust.]

[Jack Rothwell]

OOC Thanks Al, I'll try to get something in tonight./OOC

[Jack Rothwell]

OOC Something for Khoo's benefit./OOC

Khoo's diligent searching of the Tsuipedia eventually brought him to an article penned by one Samuel Rawlins. A professor from a local university whose subject was History of Ancient Magic and Associated Phenomona. Near the bottom of a list of personal entries and 'recommended reading' was a paper entitled 'Regarding Defunct Elven Magics and The Ralkin.'

There were several parts of the manuscript which caught the student's eye.

'Through Ruins uncovered in the heart of the Southern Continent suggests the splinter group made their departure from the major elven settlements some three thousand years ago. The few records found suggested that the departure was an unfriendly, but not outright hostile one. There is evidence found in the carvings on the walls (see attached images)...'

The pictures seemed to be of a tableaux depicting a spiderweb-like pattern with countless tiny figures intertwined in it's strands, a single, larger figure stood at it's center, holding the web in a single clenched fist.

'...and in the chambers we explored that the ruins were formerly a centre for an exotic brand of magic, one which was connected to strong religious beliefs.'

'...the specifics are unclear, but the 'operating room' suggested a study of biology for the purposes of the experiment. Given the hostile (and, frankly, warped) nature of some of the wildlife in the heart of the country it's entirely feasible that the Ralkin's work had a permanent effect of the biology of it's recipients.'

'A Fucilious (roughly translated- ceremony leader) made references in a journal uncovered to 'Ascending the Stairs to Godhood', declaring that by 'unlocking' the secrets of life and 'taking the reins of the mind' the wielder becomes the forefront of a greater whole, the entries had a fanatical tone to them which suggested delusions of granduer by the long-passed leader. He also stated that the 'link' imbued the controller with an 'aspect of nature' declaring the heightened emotions experienced in this state to be part of the ascendency.'

'Based on the evidence I saw at that site the other, smaller sites, it seems clear that the 'cult' eventually imploded or simply left their territory. Their initial lack of numbers and remoteness of the largest settlements would have also played a part in their final migration along with the references to emotional instability caused by the practise of mind-controlling magic. There was no hard evidence uncovered that their attempts to 'take the reins of minds' progressed beyond beings of animal intelligence, but the information available was limited after the passage of such time. If the society had ever succeeded in doing so the consequences went unrecorded.'

[Graybeard]

Well, well, well, thought Khoo. Some of the information in that paper was ... outdated, to say the least. There might be an opportunity for a professional paper on that, based on what he was learning on this trip, that would fatten his resume a bit.

If he got home in one piece, of course.

The other links didn't seem to lead anywhere interesting, so he shut down his crystal-net connection and prepared to go looking for his traveling companions. First, though, there was a small inquiry that he wanted to make of the consulate. After a few inquiries, he found the person he needed to talk to, and asked her what would surely be considered a very unusual question. "Do you know of anyone in Lorrel who can help me with a -- research problem involving mind magic? There is, ah, an experimental component to it, and I'd like to find someone who can help me put up some defenses in case things get out of hand."

The middle-aged woman looked at him as though he was suspected of being a carrier for some exotic disease. "And this research problem would not happen to involve either chronomancy or necromancy, would it? Because you should know that Tsuirakuan citizens are still forbidden from researching those areas, even though they're abroad."

Showing what a dumbass government we have, thought Khoo. Just because Tsuirakuans weren't supposed to be working in those areas doesn't mean that ... other people weren't. (He didn't know about the OCRAP negotiations, not that they were relevant to the Ralkin problem anyway.) "No, no, nothing like that," he said. "More of an archaeological problem, safety measures against ancient artifacts and all that." He waved his hand as if brushing away the "problem" as academic and insignificant.

The woman frowned more deeply. "If you say so ... Anyway, you might try the Poundstone clinic. It's part of an international exchange program between us and Farrel, where we're trying to help these benighted people develop their own thaumatic healing skills. They're about the only place in town that might have access to Tsuirakuan resources on mind magic. Now if you'll excuse me, I have some paperwork to do on the Artifex Incident." He was dismissed, but he had what he'd come for, after a fashion.

[Jack Rothwell]

''<So, how did things go with my old pal Gabriel? I figured he'd put up a good scrap before you finished him.>"

Tamina didn't understand elvish but she did recognize the name Jargalan said to her elven companion.

''You know Gabriel?'' She asked suspiciously. ''Is he your enemy?''

OOC Getting things rolling again on the coast./OOC

[Alberich]

"Enemy?" drawled Jargalan. "Naw, he was my pal! 'course I was going to kill him, but I wasn't being unfriendly about it. Then they sent him after you two, and I said, 'Okay, he's dead, and now reinforcements are on the way.' And look, I was right!"

[Jack Rothwell]

''Drusia cut his head off, I threw it in the fire.'' Tamina said, feeling her anger starting to rise again. ''He was an evil man, killed innocent people... why were you friends with him?'' She made no effort to disguise the accusation in her voice.

[Alberich]

Jargalan smiled a sunny, sunny smile. "So I could kill his friends, of course!"