The search for Brother Dalton, part 2

[Jack Rothwell]

OOC Might have a brief reply to edit in here depending on the response to a PM. /OOC

[Graybeard]

"He's a perfect stranger, already shown he's dangerous, she didn't even say a word to him, let alone me, just off and out the door alone with...no. It doesn't look right for that. And it doesn't make sense. No."

And why, please, would you think that Desiree in particular would "say a word" to you about how she and Anfisa are getting out of here? Sister Rose thought, with some exasperation. You've already let it be known what you think of those "heathen" women ... and you're part of what they're in a hurry to get away from. Not to mention that they're probably just as concerned at your own mental state as I am.

She was trying to frame a response when she became aware that something in her robes was becoming warm to the touch -- downright hot, actually. "Excuse me a second," she said, and reached into the pocket containing the little charm that Therese had left her ... and an instant later, she withdrew her hand with a mild curse of pain and surprise. The charm had become too hot to be directly touched, and was starting to glow. It only subsided when she withdrew it from her robe, using a napkin to hold it.

"Damn. Looks like Therese is in trouble," she said. (Indeed she was; this phenomenon coincided with the casting of the Paralysis spell a long way away.) "As much as I hate to say it, we're going to have to assume that Desiree and Anfisa are finding their way, and go do what we came here for, which now includes rescuing Therese, if I read this correctly. We'll take the time for a stop at the consulate, and at the temple, to do what we can for the girls, but -- yes, what is it?" It looked like Tamina was trying to get her attention about something.

[Jack Rothwell]

Something had been bugging Tamina since the group had returned to the restaurant to discuss the missing Desiree and Anfisa. An itch at the back of her mind she couldn't put a claw on. While Rose and Tim had been talking she'd been thinking hard (despite what some may have thought the kobold was capable of such a thing), trying to recall any detail about the women which would have made the task of tracking them easier, clothes, hair, smell, the possessions they carried... Kobolds were more in touch with their senses than other humanoid races, and recalling such details was an easy task. The memory of their scent in particular was vivid, in fact, it was like...

Tamina sat sharply upright as Rose's charm began to glow.

"Damn. Looks like Therese is in trouble."

With furrows of suspicion creasing her usually smooth forehead the kobold tilted her head back and sniffed the air.

"As much as I hate to say it, we're going to have to assume that Desiree and Anfisa are finding their way, and go do what we came here for, which now includes rescuing Therese, if I read this correctly."

The humanoid twisted in her seat and stared hard at the double door entrance to Geno's, taking another nose-full of information as she did. After a beat, she looked back at Rose and waved a hand like a pupil in a classroom.

"We'll take the time for a stop at the consulate, and at the temple, to do what we can for the girls, but -- yes, what is it?"

"Something's weird." She said helpfully. "Dezzy and Anfi left here a while ago but... scent's too fresh."

No sooner had she finished speaking the kobold dropped out of sight as if a trapdoor had opened under her chair. A moment later she emerged from under the furniture on all fours, her nose nearly touching the ground and her unlimbered tail flicking like a discontented snake.

"Weird." She said.

[Alberich]

Tim was on his feet in an instant. "Fresh?" he said. "Can you follow them?" If Rose had been using her Empathy spell she'd detect some very, very warm feelings from Tim towards this kobold right now.

[OOC: And I think we should really let Desiree and Anfisa have had at least one conversational exchange before moving it forward, that being only fair, given the situaton they're in.]

[Graybeard]

[OOC: Agreed. Desiree and Anfisa are only about ten minutes of game time behind everyone else now, but it's a big ten minutes. Let's freeze action at Geno's while we wait for them. Meanwhile, to get everything synchronized elsewhere as well:]

One thing about being paralyzed, Therese thought (her mentors had always taught her to try to make the best of a bad situation), was that it gave her plenty of time to check out her surroundings and see just how bad things were.

They're probably going to sacrifice us to Exitialis, she'd thought as soon as the robed men had come down the hall to retrieve her and Mordan's crumpled forms. However, the chamber into which they'd been carried looked -- Tsuirakuan. In fact, it looked exaggeratedly so. A different time and place might have considered the decorations of the chamber to have "baroque" elements. And there was another thing. There were banners on the walls bearing characters that looked slightly like the Tsuirakuan alphabet, but weren't. Old Tsuirakuan, from before the dwellers of the sky city had come back into the world? Maybe. In fact, probably. The not-quite-Tsuirakuan nature of the script matched the not-quite-Tsuirakuan way the robed men were speaking. She could catch an occasional word -- "intruder" was apparently the same in the archaic and modern forms of the language -- but not enough to make sense of what they were saying.

However, their mood was clear enough, as they stared at the two captives with unabashed hostility.

Therese began to pray silently to the Five Great Mothers for deliverance, and it was at this time that Rose's amulet became warm.

[Drusia]

Anfisa cocked an eyebrow as Captain Kitaura left. "I meant a story about where we've been and who he was and what we've been doing," she said, now that they were alone.

I shrug. "A business man took us to lunch and made us a proposition. We'll leave it to Rose's imagination what sort of proposition it was. We didn't like it, so we refused politely. He paid for lunch and we went on our way."

Since we're finished eating and the bill has been paid for us, I stand and offer Anfisa my hand. "Shall we? The others are likely waiting."

It takes us some time to find the others.

-- Desiree

OOC: Sorry for the delay.
Also, since the party seems to be in the location where Desiree and Anfisa were sitting (so far as I knew) I'm not sure how to write a meeting. Unless Anfisa and Desiree have been walking around town looking for the party while the party has been walking around looking for them.

[Alberich]

[OOC: My understanding is that Kitaura placed a Damping spell over the girls that runs out of juice a little while after he leaves.]

"Do we need to explain why he was teleporting that stu...that priest around, or will they take that in stride?" asked Anfisa. "I've never had a Tsuirakuan ask me to lunch before. But there's one thing we have to be careful about -- " She looked Desiree square in the eyes, with an unusually earnest cast to her face.

"We know he was waiting for us. Not just anyone. Us, the ones who were travelling with that airship. They don't know and we shouldn't tell them. But it means he knew we were coming there, and was ready for it, even though we didn't decide to go there until just a few minutes before. I mean, once we decided to go, we started walking. So how did he find out we were on the way?

"Maybe he has a magic that can watch us from far off, and hear everything we say. But if he does, then why wouldn't he just spy on the ship himself?" Anfisa knew nothing of magic and the wards that might stop scrying. In fact, Anfisa knew nothing of magic, period. "But I think it makes more sense that he has a spy already. Someone who was with us when we made the decision got the message to him."

To a very sensible question about why Kitaura would want to recruit a spy if he had one already, Anfisa made this reply:

"The men have a saying" -- well, in the upper strata of Goriel they did -- "Everyone relies on spies and no one trusts them. One checks up on the other without knowing he's there. And if a spy seems to be turning his coat, the tortures are fearsome. So we mustn't tell anyone. Assume they're all informers. Except you and me."

There was anxiety in her face. She hoped her love wouldn't treat her like a fool for wanting to take precautions. But this had the feel of the world she'd known before, where a careless word was death. That Kitaura was powerful and ruthless, powerful the way the highest Gorielian men were powerful, with a self-assured mastery that made his new ally tremble. The complete lack of sexual chemistry, even when Desiree was being flirtatious, troubled her too - she read it as a control of his passions that would let him sip tea while he watched them flayed alive.

Anfisa didn't bring up her guess as to who the other spy might be. Her money was on Argus but it didn't matter. It would make sense - he was a Tsuirakuan making forbidden love to a Veracian nun who was also some kind of high-ranking official. So he had a loyalty Kitaura could use and an "in" with the Veracians ("in," heh), and maybe set the nun up for blackmail, too. But the very thing that made him useful also made him suspicious - what if he fell in love and betrayed his masters? Thus, the need for an extra check. That was a kind of thinking she could understand.

[Graybeard]

[OOC: Yes, everybody is there together, with Anfisa and Desiree behind the Cloaking spell that Rose noticed but ignored. However, that isn't going to last long... Note also that Kitaura is gay -- not bi, but strictly homosexual -- and has a preference for young men, as was a minor plot point a very long time ago. Rose would know the first part of that, but not the second; Argus has the whole story. I don't think they would have had any occasion to fill Desiree and Anfisa in, but if asked, they'd obviously tell what they know. So:]

Sister Rose was momentarily startled when Tamina dropped to the floor, but then she got the idea. Why didn't I think of that? she scolded herself. She let the sniffing and snooping go on for a minute or two as she fidgeted impatiently. "It's good you're able to tell they've been here," she eventually told Tamina, "but what we need to know is where they are now. If we can't find them quickly, we're going to have to leave it to the missions, because Therese is in trouble, and we'd better head --"

And just then, the magical curtain concealing Desiree and Anfisa on the far side of the room dissipated with a soft pop. [OOC: If Desiree wants to respond to Anfisa's hypothesis before the curtain goes away, that's fine; if not, that's fine too. Either way. But either way, now everyone will be in a position to see everyone else ... and to wonder WTF is going on.]

[Drusia]

"So we mustn't tell anyone. Assume they're all informers. Except you and me."

"Fair enough," I reply. "I won't say a word about that." Anfisa picked up on some very interesting points. I'll have to think more on the issue she brought up.

I pause as the area suddenly gets louder. Oh - that spell just ended. "Look," I say to Anfisa, "There's Rose and the rest." I wave at them.

-- Desiree

[Alberich]

Tim had been following Tamina's pointing nose, and was looking the right way when the spell dropped. A picture of shocked relief, he ran to them at his top speed...

...and, because reality is cruel, tripped and fell, bloodied his nose, healed that bloody nose, struggled to his feet, and made it the rest of the way.

"Are you all right?"

"Mm-hm," answered Anfisa, nodding primly. Her own self-control prevented her from staring at the spot of blood he still had to clean away. Ignoring physical oddities in men, or at least seeming to ignore them, was second nature to her.

"What did that wizard do to you? How did you get away from him?"

"Oh, he just took us to lunch and made us a proposition. We didn't like it, so we refused politely. He paid for lunch and went on his way."

Tim was stunned. "What was the magic for? The" -- he gestured back and forth to indicate the way the man had teleported him around -- "the teleports, the" -- he gestured up and down to indicate the magical cloak that had just dropped -- "the concealment?"

"Oh, that," said Anfisa. "He thought he was protecting us. He knows how you Veracians walk the streets of Port Lorrel, looking for poor innocent girls to beat and smite. So he thought we were your prisoners, and when you couldn't get rid of us through the gate, you'd take us back to some terrible fate. Don't worry," she said gently, as if seriously trying to comfort him. "We set him straight."

Maybe it was time for someone else to talk now.

[OOC: Understood about the gay thing; but Anfisa has misinterpreted the total lack of sexual interest as extreme imperviousness and self-control, rather than a lack of desire for women generally; and so it frightens her. Naturally she is not going to be asking any questions about Kitaura or even hinting that she saw him.]