Douaga: the search for Brother Dalton

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Drannin
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Re: Douaga: the search for Brother Dalton

Post by Drannin »

Argus sighed. "This child..." he looked down at his terrified new adoptee, "...we may wish to take her back and see that she's tended to. This is... not what I was expecting." To understate things tremendously.
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Re: Douaga: the search for Brother Dalton

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Therese nodded gravely. "Might as well. We can't go into Yona now. They'll have been alerted, will know we're coming. And they won't be favorably disposed to intruders who disrupted one of their religious ceremonies."

Then, as she turned to reboard "Joe," she said something that she would wonder about (as in, What in the Names of the Five Great Mothers made me say that?) for a long, long time.

"You and Rose ... are you going to adopt this girl?"
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Drusia
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Re: Douaga: the search for Brother Dalton

Post by Drusia »

"What now?" she asked anyone who would listen, before turning the thing back on.

I extract myself from Anfisa's attentions - really, we're in a jungle, not going out on the town - and approach the girl. As I approach, I call on Anilis to help me calm her. Gentle, calm, kind... and not making any attempt to extract her from Argus.

"Do you know where your home is from here?" I ask her, via translator. "If you know the way, we can take you there." I glance over at Therese - surely we can, right?

-- Desiree
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Re: Douaga: the search for Brother Dalton

Post by Graybeard »

"Do you know where your home is from here?"

"Long way away," the girl whimpered. "Don't know how far or which way. They grabbed me and Dikembe and put us in a bag ... had to stay there for a long, long time ... and then ..." She started crying again at the memory of what had happened to her brother, and clutched Argus' body as a drowning man would grasp at a life preserver.

Therese was blushing furiously as she realized what she'd said to Argus. However, this exchange brought her back to earth. "We should at least make sure the people in Gona will take care of her, get her home," she said to Desiree. "That nun of Rose's church, Sister Helen, seems like she would be sympathetic and helpful. Let's get ready to go."

She was about to try to help the girl get onto "Joe," but she was interrupted by a rumbling and trembling of the earth again, as had happened once on the way from Douaga to Gona. This time, however, the rumbling intensified and dropped in pitch as it passed the improvised blind that Argus, Therese and Mordan had made ... and only a few seconds later, directly behind the warped statue of Anilis, it came to a halt.

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

By this time Sister Rose and Shortround were making their way back to the mission.

"That was weird," Rose mused to the novice. The underground noise had been coming from somewhere down the passage, and had intensified considerably as the two hid, with light continuing to play off the ceiling of the passage. Then, suddenly, the pitch dropped and the volume decreased ... just as the lights went out and a gust of wind swept up toward where Rose and Shortround were hidden. The rumbling noise could be heard in the distance, and after a minute or two, it ebbed out.

"I'd almost say that something big just went by down below," she said. "But where did it come from, and where is it going?" Although from the direction of the sound, I think I can guess at that last part; I hope Argus and Therese and the others are ready for company...
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Re: Douaga: the search for Brother Dalton

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"We should at least make sure the people in Gona will take care of her, get her home," she said to Desiree. "That nun of Rose's church, Sister Helen, seems like she would be sympathetic and helpful. Let's get ready to go."

I'm not thrilled about the girl being raised by Rose's church - the locals are fairly laid back, but I see no reason the girl should be indoctrinated in a religion not her own - but I suppose she's right about the infeasability of finding the girl's home. I wish there was something I could do, but nothing comes to mind.

She was interrupted by a rumbling and trembling of the earth again, as had happened once on the way from Douaga to Gona. This time, however, the rumbling intensified and dropped in pitch as it passed the improvised blind that Argus, Therese and Mordan had made ... and only a few seconds later, directly behind the warped statue of Anilis, it came to a halt.

"What going on?" I ask Therese softly. Whatever that was didn't sound natural.

-- Desiree
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Re: Douaga: the search for Brother Dalton

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"What going on?"

"I don't know for sure," Therese said honestly. "I've heard that sound before, though, from the underground railway we used to send enslaved women away to freedom and a new life, up north. You know: the thing we put Lillith and Brad on." As long as she didn't use the words "Goriel" or "Rosteriel" or "Sisterhood" or "Vatnikov," security wouldn't be breached. She thought.

"But others use it too," she continued. "It works in strange ways, and I don't want to talk about them here. First let's wait and see who -- or what -- is getting off it this time." She herded the group back into the blind and waited for ten minutes ...

... And precisely nothing happened.

Mordan was growing restless, Therese could see that. Going to have to think of some way to calm this one down, she thought. Still, it shouldn't have taken more than ten minutes for a hostile force underground to at least start reconnoitering the surface, if not make a sudden armed thrust in their direction. "I think it was empty," she said. "No potential enemies aboard..."

... Which got her thinking.

"What if it's here, waiting for us to get on board?"
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Re: Douaga: the search for Brother Dalton

Post by Browncoat »

Mordan lit up.
"A trap? What are we waitin' for?"
They kicked me out of the asylum. I miss the jello.
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Drusia
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Re: Douaga: the search for Brother Dalton

Post by Drusia »

"I don't know for sure," Therese said honestly. "I've heard that sound before, though, from the underground railway we used to send enslaved women away to freedom and a new life, up north. You know: the thing we put Lillith and Brad on."
"But others use it too," she continued. "It works in strange ways, and I don't want to talk about them here. First let's wait and see who -- or what -- is getting off it this time."


I frown. "I remember a portal thingy. At least I thought it was a portal thingy. Are you saying you also use some sort of... underground thingy that moves underground?"

"I think it was empty," she said. "No potential enemies aboard..."
"What if it's here, waiting for us to get on board?"


"Is that safe?" I ask. "I mean, is it the same underground thingy everywhere? Will it take us to Lillith's home town, like it did her, or will we end up somewhere else?"

-- Desiree
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Re: Douaga: the search for Brother Dalton

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"I mean, is it the same underground thingy everywhere? Will it take us to Lillith's home town, like it did her, or will we end up somewhere else?"

"I don't know," Therese said softly. "At least I don't know to the first part. But if it is the same thing, from that letter that Lady Vatnikov, may she rest in peace, left for me, it could go almost anywhere in the world except Veracia ... and that includes a lot of places that we really don't want to go to."

Including, probably, where this kidnapped priest is being held.

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

Sister Rose was asking herself the same questions, and reaching the same conclusions.

[OOC: I'm going to be intermittent for about a week, starting tomorrow night. Still in touch until noonish tomorrow, so we should be able to reach some decisions about what comes next, although the followup may be slightly delayed.]
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Re: Douaga: the search for Brother Dalton

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"I don't know," Therese said softly. "At least I don't know to the first part. But if it is the same thing, from that letter that Lady Vatnikov, may she rest in peace, left for me, it could go almost anywhere in the world except Veracia ... and that includes a lot of places that we really don't want to go to."

"Anywhere in the... world?" I say slowly. "How does that even work? I mean, I thought you sent people to specific locations. Now you're making it sound random. Surely there must be some way to... to control it. Or choose a destination. Or something. Otherwise, you might be sending the people you rescue somewhere worse."

I mean, that's logical, isn't it? How else do they use this... thing?

-- Desiree

Edit: So noted. I have trouble posting on the weekends anyway, so no worries from me.
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