Saus

[Drannin]

Argus was impressed. He had no idea that Miguel spoke fluent Raving Lunatic. Come to think of it, Addon had talked this way when getting technical with hid friends, although Argus had made it clear that he was to translate around his father. And of course there was that phase when Fayna had said 'like' every third word....

Argus really wished he'd stop reminiscing about the past.

So Father Egbert arrived... and then vanished. An invisibility spell?! Good lord, we may have been going about this all wrong... Argus tuned back in momentarily to see if the stream of mago-babble had come to an end yet.

"...And once the poly-elliptical resonating duodematrical fields pass through the life pattern remodulator, the checksum needs to filter and..."

Nope.

[Graybeard]

The torrent of techno-babble crested and fell from flood level, leaving Argus', Sazaki's, and even Brother Miguel's intellectual levees intact. Ryuzo left the room as abruptly as he'd entered it, giving no indication that he'd heard the thanks that the other three offered -- not that he'd have responded anyway, of course.

"Well, that puts developments in a totally different light," Sazaki said, relief evident in his voice. "I think it is clear now that the gate did not malfunction. The Ministry will be happy to know that."

"However, it doesn't get us any closer to knowing what happened to Father Egbert," Miguel pointed out. He was still dizzy from "discussing" the checksum safeguard with Ryuzo, but his head was clearing rapidly. "He somehow vanished between when the checksum functioned and when the physical gate opened, at the exit of the chamber, and your portalmages did the manual head count. How'd he do that? Invisibility? Teleporting himself out of the chamber? Something else?"

Sazaki tugged at his beard thoughtfully. "Good question. I think invisibility is out. There was an incident a few years ago where a rather notorious criminal was being transported back to Tsuirakushiti for trial after being captured on the surface, and one of her henchmen had managed to get some kind of gadget onto her person that she could use to become invisible on the spur of the moment. There was enough of a fuss over that that there's now a standing detect-invisibility spell at the gates. Teleportation seems unlikely too. The gates are hermetically sealed against transmission of magic outside the chamber walls; that resulted from some lunatic environmental group filing suit claiming that magical leakage from the gates was killing their pet goldfish or some such. Since your man disappeared while he was in the chamber, if you can believe that incredible stuff Ryuzo was saying, he could hardly have teleported out of the thing."

The three men sat looking at each other for a minute, then Miguel spoke again. "We may need to chew on this one for a bit -- and even if he did find some way to disappear on the outbound leg, there's still the question of what became of him -- and above all, why. But that one isn't your problem. Thank you for your help, Master Portalmage; I think we can get out of your hair now." The last was said with a wry smile as Miguel glanced at the portalmage's shaved head. "Unless you have further questions, Dr. Cleiviein?"

[Drannin]

Argus shook his head. "That more than answers my questions, and... well, it changes the nature of the inquiries that we will need to make. Thank you once again, Mr. Sazaki." The two men shook hands, and Argus and Miguel politely made their way out of the building. For a time, they walked on silence.

Argus was the first to break the silence. "Father Egbert disappeared on his own. Not a word to anyone, just...left. I've suspected this for some time, but it doesn't explain why." A couple of months ago, Argus had had to make a rapid departure from a town himself, but that had been because the hooker he was negotiating with turned out to be a) not a hooker after all, and b) married to a very large and frightening man named 'Bubba.' Argus knew better than to mess with Bubbas. He had left town very quickly.

Somehow Argus doubted that Father Egbert was leaving under similar circumstances. His Bubba-detector would have gone off. You only needed to meet a Bubba once to develop such a sense.

Brother Miguel shook his head. "I just don't know what could have spooked Father Egbert so much. Do you want to go see Gordon Grumniel now?"

Argus nodded. "Maybe he saw something we can use. He certainly seems helpful. Let's track him down." And afterwards I'm going to find myself a bottle of booze and possibly the local strip joint. And if my head hurts enough, I may even seek a woman of negotiable affection. Provided the Bubba-alert doesn't go off.

[Graybeard]

Brother Miguel frowned. "I don't know if that's such a good idea. One thing you have to remember about Veracia is that it's a theocracy. For practical purposes, the civil government and the Veracian Church are indistinguishable. What that means is that the people that Grumiel probably is meeting with, the bureaucrats in charge of the economic well-being of Saus, are actually part of the Church, and he's probably not just meeting with them at the main temple, but in all likelihood, staying there too. I'm not sure it's a good idea for a Tsuirakuan to just wade in there; some of those people have long, xenophobic memories."

"I find it interesting that you refer to them in the third person," Argus said. "Aren't you part of that church too?"

"Yes, I am, of course," Miguel said, "but I'm not Veracian by birth. I follow the Word of Our Lord Luminosita, but I can play no role in the civilian governance of Veracia. And remember too that like many members of our Kiyokan mission, I'm part of the 'reformed' branch of the Church, which doesn't have much to do with the government in Saus anyway."

Argus was amused. "So the reformed branch is kind of like an opposition party in the government?"

It was Miguel's turn for a wry smile. "That's closer to the truth than we'd generally care to admit. Anyway, it'd be best if you let me make some inquiries at the main temple, and I'll meet you at our mission in an hour or so to let you know what can be done. Why don't you use that time to start familiarizing yourself with Saus? It's a safe enough city to wander in, although I'd avoid the harbor district; it's rough, just like the docks in Kiyoka, and most everywhere else for that matter."

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

Meanwhile, Father Egbert was regaining consciousness in a dark, musty, and odd place. And the noise...

[Drannin]

Argus wandered through Saus alone. It really wasn't a bad town, as long as you avoided the rough parts. And Argus, an experienced vagabond, had developed a sixth sense when it came to rough parts of towns. Actually, they were usually pretty fun. Would be roughnecks developed such entertaining expressions when the realized that the old guy on front of them was a magician of some strength. The stony fists to the groin were even more entertaining. But Argus really didn't want to make waves.

He'd picked up a couple of shirts and trousers. Pretty average stuff; once he put it on, he'd blend in pretty well without anyone noticing him for a Tsuirakuan. However, Argus would have to ditch the staff; it was too obvious, and would mark him as an outsider. Not many people wandered around with them, it seemed. This baffled Argus; a staff was such a valuable instrument! You could use it to help you walk, to test muddy puddles for depth, to prod things out of your way, for self-defense... a lengthy piece of wood was a vital piece of equipment for anyone! Of course, women supposedly could get a great deal of use out of them in... other ways... but Argus found this a ridiculous notion. Staves were just too large.

You couldn't stir a stew pot with a staff, for the weave's sake!

[Graybeard]

Brother Miguel came hurrying back from the main temple with good news. "Gordon Grumiel is there," he said, "and he's willing to come out here and meet with us. He'll be here mid-afternoon. Another thing that may interest you: the Cardinal Inquisitor left early this morning for Kiyoka, via ship. That's about the best possible situation for us: he's on the way, so that he won't be interfering with us here -- to put it bluntly -- but he's not due in Kiyoka for at least four days, so we have some time to do some serious investigating and get back to Sister Margaret. The Abbot is sailing with him; I'm not sure whether that's good or bad."

Sister Hortense, wearing her usual severe expression, greeted the two men and offered them lunch, again the simple, almost stark, yet adequate fare that seemed the trademark of the mission. As she retreated to the cloister, Miguel said, around a mouthful of some kind of soup, "In general I think we're doing very well here. I feel like this morning's session made real progress. I still don't have any good ideas about how Father Egbert disappeared unseen from the warp chamber, but I'm pretty sure that he was there, and now he's somewhere within a day's journey of Saus. We should be able to make some more progress. But one thing --" He looked around the sparsely furnished, nearly empty dining hall before continuing.

"Were you aware that you were being followed?"

[Drannin]

Argus was jolted by this. "No, I wasn't. I'm embarrassed; usually I can pick up on these things." Argus paused at this and sighed. "Scratch that. I haven't picked up on being followed in years. Must be getting old..."

Shaking off his sudden deep blue funk, Argus turned serious. "Did you see who it was?"

[Graybeard]

"Did you see who it was?"

"There are two of them, actually," Brother Miguel said. "Teenagers, from the look of them, one boy, one girl. The first time I noticed them, they were hanging around outside the warp gate, just goofing around doing the things a teenage boy and girl will do -- at least the things they'll do in public. They seemed to be having a good time, and I wouldn't have paid any attention to them except that they gave us a very direct stare, and then the girl started giggling. I saw them again when you were picking up your shirts and pants -- by the way, that place was a little closer to the temple than you might want to be getting, at least until you're a little better at keeping a low profile. I could see you myself, from the main entrance, and they were between us. And then when I got here, the boy was crashed out under a tree out front, pretending to read something, while the girl was at the back gate, which I checked. You know what they say: twice is a coincidence, three times is a conspiracy. And they've got you staked out."

[Drannin]

Argus frowned. "Interesting. I can't believe I didn't notice them, but then I wasn't really expecting to get tailed myself." He was silent for a moment, considering this turn of events. "The question is, who sent them to keep an eye on me? Kitaura?" It was possible. Kitaura certainly had no use for Argus, seeing him as nothing more then an exile. But would Kitaura really feel the need to spy on Argus...?

"What do you suggest, Brother Miguel? If we accost them, they may simply deny watching me in the first place, and it wouldn't look good, two grown men interrogating a pair of teenagers. On the other hand, I really don't like the thought of a couple of young people trailing me. It makes me feel more than a little bit paranoid."

[Graybeard]

Brother Miguel rubbed the bedbug bite on his forehead. "Frankly, I'm not sure how to proceed on this one," he said. "The Church has the ability to summon certain, shall we say, visual effects that would be more than adequate to intimidate most Veracians, as those kids seem to be. However, I'm not sure why, but I don't think they'll work on these two. And you're right that neither grilling them nor ignoring them seems likely to work out. One idea might be to see if we can get Sister Hortense to go have a word with them. I don't know her well, but her demeanor suggests that she can be rather ... stern ... if she needs to be."

Is that a euphemism for 'battleaxe'? Argus wondered, as Miguel continued, "I think, though, that it might be best to try to find out who sent them, before we worry about countermeasures. I'd be surprised if they're Tsuirakuan; they seemed pretty comfortable in the city, and with all due respect to your new shirt and pants, Tsuirakuans tend to stick out like a sore thumb here, for behavioral reasons, as Sazaki said. Of course they could be in some Tsuirakuan's employ, but that's not so easy to arrange either. They're certainly not any of ours, at least not the reformed branch's. So who does that leave? Any ideas on that, and how to check it out?"