Rinkaiel

As we play, occasionally we'll close a thread and open a new one to keep the size of threads (and relative complexity) down to a dull roar. Here's where we store the closed posts from the history of Errant Road.
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Graybeard
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Re: Rinkaiel

Post by Graybeard »

[OOC: Perhaps a minor misunderstanding here:
4uk4ata wrote:hary bobbing along in the carrier and thinking it great fun. "I think we're alone," she puffed. "At least I don't see this man Vikor. So like he says: what happened here?"

I stiffle an overwhelming urge to curse as the young woman and the - child - come here. "I'd love to tell you, miss, but I'm not so sure myself."
It's Faye, not Layla, who's approaching Kalin at this point, with Zachary in the child carrier. Faye is Layla's mother (and Zachary's grandma), a rather undistinguished woman in her late forties who looks her age. Layla, 26, is off getting introduced to the Tsuirakuan teaching mage. Faye doesn't really qualify as a "young woman." Doesn't impact the action, though. So back IC:]

Faye pocketed the small gun, hoping Kalin hadn't seen it; it wasn't going to be needed, from the looks of things, and he was already upset enough without firearms being waved around. "Let me see that thing," she said.

The runes on the small stone-like object that Kalin handed here didn't look familiar. At first she wondered whether they might be elven; a job far in her past, when she'd been a single mother raising a young and headstrong daughter, had involved the recovery of some elven artifacts (and the ... elimination ... of the people who'd stolen them), and they'd had a similar set of characters incised into their surfaces. However, even though she didn't speak the elven language, she thought she could at least recognize their alphabet. These characters weren't part of it.

But there was another language derived from the elven one that might fit. "Tsuirakuan," she said, handing the stone back to Kalin. "More precisely, ancient Tsuirakuan -- very ancient. They stopped using these hieroglyphs centuries ago. I'm not absolutely certain that that's what this writing is, but I think so. Where did you find this, and what does it do?" But truthfully, she wasn't all that interested in the stone itself any more; she was more interested in what her daughter was doing in an ethnic enclave that might have left things like this lying around -- and might have secret societies using the old language.

---------

Faye had no way to know it, but Layla was idly looking at a remarkably similar object in Kinabalu's laboratory at that very moment, as she awaited the return of her mother and son.

---------

"Wicked gills, dude."

I've killed men for less than that, Gryffyd thought as he stared coldly at the cheeky young man who'd joined Jamie. If I guess right, though, this is the other guy we're supposed to be keeping an eye on, and keeping safe, not killing. Waste of resources if you ask me, but they didn't ask...

"Ms. Porter, perhaps you could illuminate your ... partner ... here on the business proposition that we have been discussing," he said, his voice as neutral as he could make it.
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Sareth
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Re: Rinkaiel

Post by Sareth »

"Sure," I responded, smiling. I then turned and slapped the back of Marcus' head. "Be nice," I hissed. I really wanted to be out looking for mother, not in here. If these people had lost track of mother, she was probably in trouble. Or causing it. Either way, I did *not* want to be here.

"They're willing to give us a boat to head back up river. All they want in exchange is loot when we raid the people that raided the trolls." I smiled. "Oh, and Ayiee, which I told them isn't a possibility. I told them instead they could have mother, who you were supposed to be keeping an eye on and is probably in mortal danger right now!"
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Re: Rinkaiel

Post by Graybeard »

"As long as she stays on the waterfront, she probably isn't in too much danger," Gryffyd observed. "We have certain, shall we say, security measures in place in the ship-building district. The rest of town, now ... not so much. She shouldn't wander too far from here."

He started to say more, but was interrupted by a beeping coming from a desk drawer; a crystal ball, apparently. He decided to ignore it and have the caller leave a message (a serious error, as he would later find out), and continued, "It is also not entirely accurate to say that we will 'give' you a vessel, but I think you'll find our lease rates entirely reasonable. Meanwhile, why don't you go find your mother? Perhaps you can leave your child with her as well, enjoy a little couple time as you sail. We can even arrange for one of the cabins to be soundproofed ... for greater privacy." He winked conspicuously, an odd expression on the face of what was coming to resemble a six-foot-tall, bipedal fish.
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Re: Rinkaiel

Post by AdamZero »

"I meant no offense by it, sir." I noticed the man's sour expression. I ignored the strike, it was barely par for course with Jamie. "It's incredible to see a person with such a stable balance of land and aquatic attributes. But I'll shut up." At Jamie's admonishment I rounded on her.

"BULLSHIT. I was supposed to, and did, keep Nera safe. YOU are the one trying to ditch your mum at every damn turn. Don't blame ME when you actually succeed and it bites us in the ass!" The 'offer' she mentions registers.

"Yeah, like Lucas is gonna let that happen. We need Aiyee to FIND the damn Island of.... whatever the hell it was." I didn't think it would be a good idea to mention the location before we were well out to sea. "Your mum though... yeah, that MIGHT happen. If we can knock her out first."
"Now he's gone too far. NOONE ATTACKS AMERICA'S FOOD COURTS!" -Deadpool.
"Don't be so naive. I've got ulterior motives. MANY. Two, maybe three. Probably Four. I am one BIG ulterior motive." The Great Teacher, Onizuka Eikichi.
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Sareth
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Re: Rinkaiel

Post by Sareth »

I winked back at the SeaAdler I was negotiating with, not interested in correcting his assumption. Instead I turned to Marcus. "We *have* managed to knock her out once. We just need to get enough rope, and..."
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Re: Rinkaiel

Post by Graybeard »

"Very well, then," Gryffyd said. "I'll have one of our business people accompany you back to your lodging to work out the lease agreement. You do have lodging arranged, don't you?" Jamie and Marcus looked at each other...

--------

"We gonna go ahead an' hit her?" Fritz asked, hoping for the best; his brother Louie had been part of the carnage at the docks in Kiyoka.

"Of course not, you tool," Weed sneered. "We hit her now, she don't get the chance to lead us to Jamie, an' she's the one we really want to hit. 'Sides, this is still fish turf. We don't do anythin' here until we're strong enough to take 'em on. That's why the Golden Girl's in town." (Layla would have disputed this assertion, if she didn't just kill Weed outright for using a term she'd come to associate with people who wanted to kill her.)

"If you say so," Fritz said. "Mebbe, as I think about it, we wanna do it somewhere where we can have some fun with 'er first, anyway. For a gramma, she's pretty damn hot." They resumed watching as Jasmine emerged from the shop with two bags on her arm and a smirk on her face, unaware that they themselves were being watched, by two very dissimilar watchers in different places, one with webbed fingers, one not.

----------

"What's this?" Layla asked Kinabalu, pointing out the poker-like artifact with the unfamiliar runes on it.

Kinabalu's demeanor changed abruptly, from bland cordiality to something considerably less comfortable. "I must warn you, Miss Sorensen, that being a student in this laboratory does not grant you unlimited access to Tsuirakuan thaumato-technology, nor does it offer infinite means to indulge your curiosity. There are things that it is not meant for you to know. And now, let us consider the problem of setting up a course syllabus..." He gently but firmly steered Layla back to the outer, beginners' laboratory, as Layla thought, that struck a nerve, didn't it?...
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Re: Rinkaiel

Post by AdamZero »

I looked back at the Seedler. "Ah... well. We were in the midst of our post-arrival breakfast when Jamie received your summons, invitation, whatever... so we really haven't quite found a place.... Any suggestions?" I asked, figuring it'd be better to stay at a place owned by the people we'd be working with. Less money changing that way.

Boris was getting rather bored at this point, but his position meant he got to doze off, such as an animated skeleton does. He wasn't complaining yet, but I couldn't hold him to that for long.
"Now he's gone too far. NOONE ATTACKS AMERICA'S FOOD COURTS!" -Deadpool.
"Don't be so naive. I've got ulterior motives. MANY. Two, maybe three. Probably Four. I am one BIG ulterior motive." The Great Teacher, Onizuka Eikichi.
4uk4ata
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Re: Rinkaiel

Post by 4uk4ata »

Graybeard wrote:But there was another language derived from the elven one that might fit. "Tsuirakuan," she said, handing the stone back to Kalin. "More precisely, ancient Tsuirakuan -- very ancient. They stopped using these hieroglyphs centuries ago. I'm not absolutely certain that that's what this writing is, but I think so. Where did you find this, and what does it do?"
Now that my eyes cleared, the woman did not look particularly young... actually, she might soon be a grandmother if her children were quick enough on the eh, uptake. Maybe she was an aunt or mother of the other one - that Layla person? She had a nice smell. A bit tricky, but nice. "Tsuirakuan? Thrice-dam... darned witches. Figures. Heretics. Uh, anyway, I found it here, under the plank. When I crouched and touched it, it almost killed me. That's why I shouted." I felt somewhat better now, and looked around at the house. "I think you - we - can get more answers in the house. I hadn't seen any witchin' charms the last week or so - I don't think it's a coincidence I find one when Vikor tells me to check this place."
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Re: Rinkaiel

Post by Blackmail »

Zander had never been to Rinkaiel. Not until today, at least. And he was here on a job, no less.

It had taken him a bit of traveling since his last job (one that he would have preferred to put out of his mind forever), but he had managed to locate and actually speak with an agent of the Eisenfaust. He had been assuming it would take longer, but he wasn't complaining. The man had actually offered him a position in Eisenfaust. Which was perfect. He was closer to finding out about Tyson than he was before. Or at least, he was assuming. If Tyson had never actually gone back to the Eisenfaust, or if they hadn't accepted him back, then Zander could have possibly been doing this for nothing. But he didn't think of it that way. Besides, he had nowhere else to go. He really didn't want to return to the headquarters of his previous organization and tell them that he'd bungled a mission and gotten his handler killed. It wouldn't turn out well for him. The Eisenfaust could be able to offer a new chapter for him, and they were certainly much bigger than his last organization. If he proved himself, good things could start happening. Tyson or no, Zander was glad he had contacted them.

He wondered if the man he had spoken to had noticed that he was a half-elf. He doubted it, as he made sure his hair did a good job of hiding his ears whenever he wasn't wearing his hood, but it was possible. He didn't know the Eisenfaust's policies on half-elves, but he was going to keep the fact to himself for as long as humanly (or half-elfly) possible. No sense in sharing unnecessary information. It saved him trouble in the future.

His job in Rinkaiel was simple: observation. Apparently someone who was in favor with the Eisenfaust was here in Rinkaiel, a girl named Jamie. At least, he thought it was a girl. It was Zander's job to make sure that she remained intact. Simple. Or at least, it was supposed to be simple. But he'd been told that the Gewehr were after this girl, and soon realized that they were actually quite close. Zander had first located the girl at a bar and trailed her to the docks, but he'd noticed the presence of two others watching as well. The Seeadlers had already revealed themselves openly to her, so he doubted it was them. That left a likely chance that it was the Gewehr, or possibly someone else. The two watchers had left shortly and Zander had taken it upon himself to follow them. If they were the Gewehr he needed to keep tabs on them. If necessary he would take them out.

Which is how he found himself stealthily trailing the two men from the rooftops as they walked at street-level. He could tell that they were following a woman that had been with Jamie earlier. Zander might have thought that she was their initial target, but after eavesdropping on their conversation he was sure that they were after Jamie. Apparently they didn't know that Jamie was still back at the docks. That was good in Zander's book. He would wait until the assassins found another hiding place, or at least got off of the street. Then he would hit them before they had a chance to attack Jamie. He lightly fingered the hilt of one of his knives. Time to prove that he could still do his job right.

This time he'd been doing a good job of keeping his tic under control. By now he could usually feel it start to surface, and had learned to beat it back down with an iron hammer. Last time it had caught him off-guard. That could not and would not happen again. Not only would the Gewehr notice him, but he might draw other attention to himself. Like the men, Zander wanted to avoid the eyes of the Seeadlers. If he was spotted by one he ran the risk of his mission getting complicated. He couldn't tell yet if one of them had noticed him or the Gewehr, and was keeping one eye out for any sign of them while focusing the other on the men he was following. He tread silently on the rooftops, knowing that some buildings had living quarters directly under his feet. As far as he knew he had control over the situation. All there was now was to watch and wait.
Last edited by Blackmail on August 28th, 2009, 11:44 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Graybeard
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Re: Rinkaiel

Post by Graybeard »

The Seeadler operative's eyes narrowed as he watched the two Gewehr thugs. It looked like they'd picked up another tail, someone he hadn't seen before. That was interesting. In general, outside the shipyards, the Seeadler adopted something of a live-and-let-live approach to the other Farrelian guilds; Rinkaiel was a decent-sized city, there was room for some oddities in their midst (how else to explain Tsuiraku-town?), and as long as they kept their noses clean, the other guilds were potential business partners more than competitors -- not that any of them would be stupid enough to horn in on the sea-going action that kept the Seeadler in the clover. Still, it looked like there was another player in the Jamie game. Well, his job was to keep Jamie safe from the Gewehr goons; anybody else in the picture was a complication, but neither an ally nor a target. If the other man had the same interest in keeping Jamie safe as he did, he was actually an asset; who knows, the other man might feel obliged to pre-empt on the goons, and that would give himself some "plausible deniability," which was never a bad thing. He kept watching as Jasmine Porter headed for an inn outside the shipbuilding zone, followed by the two men tailing her, and their own tail.

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"I hadn't seen any witchin' charms the last week or so - I don't think it's a coincidence I find one when Vikor tells me to check this place."

"I wouldn't know," Faye said, wondering what she'd gotten herself into. "Magical Tsuirakuan gadgetry is generally beyond me. I just happened to recognize this thing because of a -- collection I took an interest in. My daughter might know more about it than I do; she lived in Tsuiraku for a while. Speaking of which, we'd better retrieve her. Can you ask this 'Vikor' to meet with us when we come back in an hour or so?"
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