Rinkaiel

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4uk4ata
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Re: Rinkaiel

Post by 4uk4ata »

Can you ask this 'Vikor' to meet with us when we come back in an hour or so?"

I tilt my head to the side. "I could, ma'am, but what's the point? He should be right here in the house. If you want to speak to him, you can do it right now; I can come with you. Only... with this thing that happened to me, I'm starting to think this man may be dangerous. Would you mind if we came by the shack?"

As I say this to the woman, I feel a twinge of guilt. If Vikor was behind this, and I think he was, we may get in trouble, and I'm not really comfortable with bringing her with us. She's probably not some screaming noble girl, but still... "If you prefer, me and your companion can speak to him for you?"
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Graybeard
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Re: Rinkaiel

Post by Graybeard »

"If you prefer, me and your companion can speak to him for you?"

Veracians, or at least Luminosita-nuts, Faye thought as she and Joe exchanged quick glances. Over there they think women are for doing the chores and sleeping with, and otherwise to be kept out of harm's way like some family heirloom. (Well, in fairness, so do large parts of Farrel -- but not the Gewehr.) I don't think this 'Vikor' will eat us... "I'd rather you just let him know we'll be coming back in an hour," she replied. "My daughter is probably getting antsy. As you can see from this little fellow on my back, she's a new mom, and being separated from her son for very long is uncomfortable for both of them." That wasn't strictly true -- nothing seemed to discomfit Zachary for very long -- but the "antsy" part probably was, so may as well get some use out of it. "We'll retrieve her and then come back here."

Ten minutes later, they were meeting a pensive-looking Layla in front of Kinabalu's lab/school. "We had kind of an odd encounter while you were in there," Faye started. She described the exchange with Kalin and the artifact he'd found.

Layla was too busy showering Zachary with mommy love to react immediately, but it didn't take her long to make the connection. "That's interesting," she said. "I ran into something similar with this Kinabalu guy, another thing with old runes on it that I didn't recognize but could easily have been old Tsuirakuan. He got tetchy when I showed interest in it. Wonder if there's a connection? ... Nah, probably not. Anyway, let's find a place to stay, and then go back out to the vineyard."

The hack set off in the direction of a flat that Joe had identified previously ... but Layla's denial of a connection between the two Tsuirakuan artifacts wasn't fooling anybody, including herself.
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AdamZero
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Re: Rinkaiel

Post by AdamZero »

(graybeard, you gonna give jamie and Marcus an inn idea?)
"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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Graybeard
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Re: Rinkaiel

Post by Graybeard »

OOC:
AdamZero wrote:(graybeard, you gonna give jamie and Marcus an inn idea?)
Actually, if I read this item correctly, Lucas and Ayiee are already getting rooms for everybody -- which, of course, the Seeadler don't know. Just invent a room there and run with it. I don't think Lucas will mind. ;)
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Sareth
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Re: Rinkaiel

Post by Sareth »

"Gimmie," I sighed, scooping Nera from Marcus' arms. She immediately grabbed handfuls of my hair and began happily pulling them, trying to stuff them in her mouth. "OW! That hurts... darn it!"

Marcus and the Fishy Fellow both arched an eyebrow.

Fighting to extract my hair from Nera's hands, I glared at them both. "What?"

"Nothing," Marcus wisely replied. Boris, who I had thought was asleep, smirked.

"I'm going to go find mother," I commented to Marcus. "You see if you can find Lucas and Ayiee, and maybe an inn."

I walked out. I had to find mother before she could cause something unfortunate to occur. Knowing her, I was already too late.
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AdamZero
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Re: Rinkaiel

Post by AdamZero »

"Right, I'm just supposed to find one blue golem person and her boss, master, liege in a huge, bustling, hub of trade and commerce." I say to Jamie's back. She doesn't stop as she travels on.

"I swear we might as well be married already..." I grumble. An idea hits me and I turn to the Seedler boss, recalling the name of an organization as one of the few that operated at sea. "Captains at sea CAN still preform marriage ceremonies, right?"

After receiving a response, I left the office without further inquiring upon the matter.

Jamie had gone one way after leaving the office, and I chose to go to another, one with shops and stands that specialized in supplies and sundries. Odds were that Lucas was still looking out as the 'guide' of the group and would be looking out for our well being in that regard.

I passed through, catching no sight of said 'Guide' or his Blue golem (with dark-stone hand). I wondered quietly how she was able to adapt the stone to her being. The simplest answer was she was a more powerful than the slab, so she had dominion over it. I left the thought at that as I noticed a familiar face in the crowd. However the smile upon the face was not the passive smile I'd often seen upon it up until then. It was the same sort of conspirator's smirk her daughter wore whenever she came up with a 'plan'.

"JASMINE!" I called over the throng of merchants, consumers, and passerby. "Over here!"
"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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Graybeard
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Re: Rinkaiel

Post by Graybeard »

The flat was okay, nothing approaching Faye's house back in Kugelheim, but comfortable enough, close to the shop and Kinabalu's lab, and apparently in a "safe" part of town. However, it wouldn't be available for another week. That was fine, since the Sorensens wouldn't be making the move until then, but it did leave a minor, temporary issue to deal with. "What are we going to do tonight?" Layla asked Joe. "I'd rather not fly through two consecutive nights. That's more than we should really ask of Ace."

The Gewehr man-on-the-spot nodded. "I've made reservations for you at an inexpensive-but-quality hotel near the edge of the beach. They'll be expecting us around dinner time."

"Do we have a stake in it?" Faye asked, really meaning is it under Gewehr control?

Joe got the hidden meaning, of course. "We don't have enough people in town yet for anything like that. Maybe when we get well established; it's outside the Seeadler zone of control, and I don't think any of the other guilds have their thumbs on it. For now it's just a place to spend the night."

Layla smiled. "Well, I hope they don't mind a group moving in with a small child," she said. "Let's get back out to the vineyard and sort out what's happening there."

---------

Meanwhile, Jasmine Porter was also heading for the "inexpensive-but-quality hotel near the edge of the beach," with Marcus in hot pursuit ... along with several other interested parties.
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4uk4ata
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Re: Rinkaiel

Post by 4uk4ata »

For some reason, I think the woman was displeased by my suggestion as she and her companion leave. Strange... I think he tried to kill me, basically. This hasn't happened all that often before, but I would consider it natural to take precautions. Even if it were an accident, what would be the harm? She asked me to do the same. I guess her daughter is in charge anyway. Still, if they want to leave a message for him, why do it through me? They could at least take a look at him, for all it matters. Was it for the baby? Little tyke was as quiet as it could be, he's probably not that hungry.

We exchange short goodbyes and I head for the farm. First thing first though... I pass by the shack and hide an old, worn and still extremely useful axe within my robe. It is not exactly easy to conceal, but I think I've done a good enough job. I bid Sharo to be quiet and head towards the house discreetly. I don't enter through the main door, however - instead I stop by the window and sneap a peak in. Vikor seems to be writing something hurriedly on a ledger. Oh well, I shrug noiselessly, that's why they are keeping him around.

I guess I will have to enter after all. I open the door quietly and sneak in. I am fairly confident in being able to avoid notice, and with good reason - Vikor does not notice me until I am nearly on top of him.

"Vikor, those folk came to see you. They'll come back shortly to talk business".

He nearly jumps when he hears me, and his eyes bulge as he sees me standing near him. "How the hells did you get... what are you doing here, you oaf! Don't you have nothing better to do? L-leave me, I need to finish, uh, checking our last month's revenue."

Well, I think he is being dishonest here, for all it matters. Still, that's not my place right now. "They said they will be here in several minutes, you will be here right?"

"Yeah. Kalin, did you check the fense as I told you?"

I try to keep m voice emotionless " Yes, it's fine.We need to clear that bloody nettle, though.
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Graybeard
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Re: Rinkaiel

Post by Graybeard »

Layla (and Zachary), Faye and Joe seemed to be getting into the middle of something as they arrived at the vineyard.

What's going on here? Layla thought. Her expert eye for concealed weaponry, developed through long experience (it was one of those survival skills for a Wraith), had detected that Kalin was carrying something most uncharacteristic of a Veracian priest, even an eccentrically monastic one. This Vikor fellow didn't look exactly relaxed, either. Well, at least their body language suggested that it was each other that they found threatening, not the three visitors. If either of them had even glanced at Zachary, now snuggled in his grandmother's arms, in a menacing way, they'd have been dead before they turned around ... but they didn't.

"Oops, we apologize, it looks like we're interrupting you," Joe said; he'd seen the weirdness too, although not the concealed weapon. He faced Vikor, careful not to turn his back on Kalin. "We wanted to find out whether you'd been able to talk to the owners about selling out. Some of the buildings are beginning to get run down, and the place might not be ... safe." He let that sink in for a moment. "We'd still give you a good price, and fix the place up ourselves, but our -- backer's patience is running out. There may not be much time left to make a deal."

Vikor gulped, hard; he'd caught the second double entendre too. He took a step sideways, to place Joe almost between himself and Kalin. "Yes, it might be possible to work something out..."
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Graybeard
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Re: Rinkaiel

Post by Graybeard »

[OOC: Sareth tells me he's in a mega-crunch with grad-school stuff for the next couple of weeks, so in the interest of keeping things moving, let me step in, with his permission, and do a guest appearance as Jamie:]

Swearing under her breath, Jamie headed for the waterfront, out of the ship-building part of town and toward the beach. Jasmine had to be there somewhere. At least it seemed like the one place in Rinkaiel that her mother would gravitate toward -- half in the hope of finding Jamie a matrimonial alternative to Marcus, half in the hope of finding a boy toy of her own.

Yep, there she was all right, striding resolutely toward a beachfront hotel that Jamie had passed earlier. (Jamie realized, now that she thought about it, that the place had had a scantily-clad, blue figure sunbathing out back, and attracting, it would be fair to say, a certain amount of attention...) "Mother!" she called, in a voice that would cut glass. She was starting to say something else when Jasmine turned...

... And pulled a small item out of one of the shopping bags she was carrying. An item that Jamie recognized all too well from her leash-bound childhood.

A child-tracking bracelet. And definitely not in Nera's size.

The hunter became the hunted, as a look of glee crossed Jasmine Porter's face and she took off in pursuit of her daughter.
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Because old is wise, does good, and above all, kicks ass.
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