Tsuiraku-town, part 3

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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Jack Rothwell
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Re: Tsuiraku-town, part 3

Post by Jack Rothwell »

OOC The posts been tweaked. Ok, so both wagons are at the vineyard now, right? And the women are converging on the safehouse where Layla is? Ehh, here's some more./OOC

Unlike the Blacksmith shooting visual daggers in his direction, Leo did notice the supply wagon driver taking a tumble. He felt a surge of sympathy for the poor bastard, who was now clutching parts of herself and making pained noises. Leo hadn't noticed the security devices earlier in the day when he'd been parked further away from the vineyard on his, now lost, rental horse. The fact was his mind had been on more pressing matters at that moment. Matters like tracking down a certain redhead with a temper who...

The corner of his vision which had been tugging at his brain like a puppy hanging onto a stick finally got through to the dirt-encrusted merc. He turned sharply in his seat and locked eyes with the woman who was staring at him. His heart leapt in his chest.

'Oh Thank Luminosita, she's alright! Oh... uh-oh.'

The way Jade was storming her way over to him (the effect rather spoiled by her periodically stopping to cafefully pick her way around the various pitfalls, tripwires and other defenses measures that adorned the perimeter of the safehouse) Leo guessed she wasn't as happy to see him as he was her. He reflexly drew his legs back into the confides of the hack.

'She's going to whack me, I know it.'
Last edited by Jack Rothwell on October 5th, 2010, 7:08 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Tsuiraku-town, part 3

Post by Hours »

[OOC: The Hours crew is as follows:

Gault: Left the clinic to head for where his men set up shop in rinkaiel earlier in this thread.
Meha: Took the wagon to the vineyard to deliver information from Wallace to Gault, unaware that Gault wasn't there, had the Queen Anne's supply wagon as transport.
Wallace: Has taken Gault's ship and extracted it from Rinkaiel's waters to wait at a shore rendezvous point.
Seishi: Is resting up while looking for his new dead drop orders.]

Meha:

Meha stood there annoyed while some people who clearly knew the people here stopped and talked to one another, and by the looks of it were soon to have a romantic reunion while she calmly tried to free her boot from the snare that she'd stepped on.

'Ergh... Is Captain Shadriel inside?' She called out.
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Re: Tsuiraku-town, part 3

Post by Graybeard »

[OOC: Thanks for the resets. Layla and Zachary are at the vineyard, obviously, and Faye, Joe and Ace are arriving there via various routes. Maya is presumably still around there somewhere. The two Gewehr low-lives Stevo and Oskar were still getting patched up at the Divine Dwarf clinic the last I knew. With Jasmine at the vineyard, and Jamie and Nera still on the lam in the other thread, I think we're all found. Incidentally, it was my intention that the wagon Layla heard be the one with Meha, not Joe, Ace and Martin/Leo, but it all works. So:]

'Ergh... Is Captain Shadriel inside?'

Layla had to pause and think a minute. Gault and Captain Shadriel are the same person, right? I think so... "No, we haven't seen him in a while," she answered neutrally. "Incidentally, mind that punji-stick pit to your left." She tried to smile apologetically. "We've had a lot of problems with burglars."

Ace stepped gingerly out to Meha's wagon as Joe went inside with the "financial records," and helped her with the snare. "Last we saw him, he was getting patched up at that crazy clinic the Temple of the Divine Dwarf runs," he told Meha. He gave her directions, having no way of knowing that Gault wasn't there any more, then turned back to Layla -- only to discover that his girlfriend's attention had been diverted by the arrival of Faye, Jade and Jasmine.

"Luminosita's sacred nuts," Layla gasped, as she recognized the Yuuki staff Jade was carrying. "Where did you get that?"
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Re: Tsuiraku-town, part 3

Post by Sareth »

"There's some sort of camp full of crazed mercs on the other side of the portal. Most of them were armed like..." all of you people here, she stopped herself from saying. "Like people from Farrel. But there were also some running around with those things." She sighed, then turned to Faye. "And then there was that other bunch. The ones who carted off my daughter and granddaughter. You spoke like you knew them and my family would be safe with them?"
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Re: Tsuiraku-town, part 3

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"Luminosita's sacred nuts, where did you get that?"

Jade stopped in mid-stride and turned back to Layla, remembering the importance of the information her and the other women had acquired. An aggrivated reunion could wait for now, preferably away from witnesses.

"We took this off a patrol that was wandering around the perimeter of a weapon cache run by those rebels." She said, holding the damaged staff rigidly and fumbling for a lethal looking blade with clasps on it like it was designed to sit on an oversized arm. "This is the tip of the iceberg Layla, there's a tonne of stuff through that gate, dangerous stuff designed to make things explode. We were lucky to get out of there alive, truth be told."

She stole a glance back at Leo, who had drawn himself up defensively in the confides of the hack.

'I'll get to you later, you bastard...' She thought, and went over to the vineyard owner with a grim look on her face.

"They're churning out these things by the boatload." She said, holding up the yukki staff. "And this bad boy..." She indicated the blade. "...was hooked up to a blue golem with extra armour plating and a really lousy attitude. On top of that there were explosive devices being thrown around by Jasmine's kid, airships in the sky and, for some reason, chickens flying around and terrorising people." She managed a smile despite herself. "Although I doubt that had anything to do with their invasion plans."

...........................................................................................


Leo watched the scene from the safety of the hack and breathed a sigh of relief. After a moment's consideration, he hopped down from his perch and meandered over to Ace and the man he'd freed.

"Would that be Ms. Sorensen over there? The one talking to the redhead with the evil looking weapons?"
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Re: Tsuiraku-town, part 3

Post by Graybeard »

"Would that be Ms. Sorensen over there? The one talking to the redhead with the evil looking weapons?"

"Yes, that's Layla," Ace smiled. He called over to his girlfriend. "Hey, sweetheart, could I interrupt you a minute? There's someone who --"

The look Layla shot back at him definitely said not now, if you value your life ... because Layla had just heard something that Ace hadn't.

---------

"And then there was that other bunch. The ones who carted off my daughter and granddaughter. You spoke like you knew them and my family would be safe with them?"

"Safe?" Faye answered. "I'm not sure I'd go that far ... but safer than down on the ground, for sure. They're from one of the mercenary guilds that more or less run this country, if I interpret what I saw on the side of the airship right. They must have got hired by somebody to rescue your daughter, I have no idea who or how or why." And I'm not going public with how I know. "You might have heard of them, though. They're called the Eisenfaust."

And suddenly Layla's attention wasn't focused on the weapons any more.
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Re: Tsuiraku-town, part 3

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"You might have heard of them, though. They're called the Eisenfaust."

Jade broke off her monologue and nodded, she'd heard of the organisation and the type of work they did, her hometown wasn't far from Port Lorrel after all. Although what that group had wanted with the tomboy she could only speculate. It was best to leave it the other mysterious-guild-in-disguise to elaborate on that situation and stick to what she was best at. She jerked her head at the safehouse and left the women without another word.

Once inside, she parked herself at the same table she was sitting at the evening before with the yukki staff lengthways in front of her. She rummaged through her pockets and retrieved her toolkit, then her hunting knife, and laid them down with the air of a surgeon about to perform a tricky operation. The last time she'd poked around her new toy she'd gotten a shock for her trouble; Jade was determined to be more careful this time.

"Alright my beauty, let's see what makes you tick."
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Re: Tsuiraku-town, part 3

Post by Sareth »

Graybeard wrote:And suddenly Layla's attention wasn't focused on the weapons any more.
Jasmine had gone quite pale. "Eisenfaust?" Her voice made it a sibilant hiss out of the name, her eyes narrowed, and her hands tightened on the stock of her rifle enough to make the wood creak. "Luminosita's testicles... I can't believe they would have waited seventeen years just to kidnap a dead rival's daughter... Those BASTARDS!"
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Re: Tsuiraku-town, part 3

Post by Hours »

Meha seemed to be completely unable to hide the fact that she had already formed an incredibly negative opinion of pretty much everything within a hundred miles from this one snare trap. There was a few moments of cursing and hopping about before she finally managed to remove the pins from the device and smash up a few other springs and their housings before she could walk over to the supply wagon and open up the compartment under the driver's board to pull out a fist sized crystal ball.

'Clinic... Huh.' Meha said, getting a look as if she was mentally ticking off a very large point on a list. She looked back down to the ball and activated it. The one who picked up on the other end was unmistakeably Gault.

"Meha, sorry I'm not where I said I'd be. Unforseen circumstances came up, take notes."

Meha looked around at the others, 'Yes, Sir. It looks like everyone you mentioned is here, though. Should I return to shore base and report?'

"No. Not yet. Anything happening?"

'The older women are talking about someone going missing.' Meha lowered her voice a little so no one near the wagon would be able to hear, 'I can't hear very well, but I think I heard "Eisenfaust" in there somewhere.'

There was a bit of a silence there, and on the other end of the crystal ball there was a faint scratching noise, like a pen on paper. "Interesting. I'll want a full report on that when you get here. Is there a skinny younger man there, dressed up pretty fancy but slightly crispy?"

Meha looked around, taking in the appearance of the others around her and quickly getting a bead on Leo/Martin: 'Yes, Sir.'

"Okay... Sea route to Gintelle Harbour in Lorenzel, Eleven months ago, but you're me, and I'm you. That one'd be the Prime. Give it untill about two and I'll meet you there soon."
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Re: Tsuiraku-town, part 3

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Leo looked around as he chatted away with Ace; making small talk about the weather, entertainment in the city and other miscellaneous crap designed to pass the time in the absense of anything to do. Jade had vanished a minute before, all that seemed to be left besides himself and the older man were women of varying ages with varying degrees of rage spread across their features. A suicidal urge to make 'time of the month' jokes was rising in his gut. He was putting off the inevitable, he knew it. He took a deep breath, asked Ace for permission, and went inside.

The big, open room was empty of people except for the Blacksmith, who was tinkering away intently at a weapon as he'd seen her do many times before. Despite the 'doghouse' feeling that had settled over him he still took a moment to stare at her. She ignored him, prying open the casing of the weapon to reveal the intricities inside.

Leo walked over slowly and sat down next to her. Jade stopped her work, seemingly now gazing at the blank wall in front of her. Leo leaned towards her ear as tentatively as a circus performer putting his head in a lion's mouth.

"There's a feather in your hair."

In the silence that followed Jade's head moved as if on a hinge, finally locking eyes with the merc. Her voice had knuckles in it.

"Well you look like hammered shit."

Leo winced, remembering the acrobatics an hour ago that had caked in him in... well... Tsuiraku town.

"Are you mad at me?"

"Am I that transparent?" She sounded dangerously calm. "How long were you following me this time?"

"Me, personally?"

"Don't dodge the question. How long?"

"I heard you were here a week ago. I made it into town the day before last." His eyes dropped to his lap. "I'm sorry. I should've made myself known sooner."

Jade tilted her head at this information, then wheeled in her seat and hit him. Not a ladylike slap of affront, but a full-blown boxers hook which caught the young man squarely on the side of his jaw and knocked him backwards off his chair. Leo hit the ground with a groan and tried to blink the stars out of his vision. Jade shot to her feet, the second chair clattering to the ground behind her.

"Sooner?" She snarled. "Bloody sooner? Try four months sooner, you bastard! 'Head to the next town' you said! 'I'll catch up with you' you said! And where was all your sweet talk and promises then?" She paced, as if she had too much energy suddenly. "You know, I actually believed you gave a shit about me. So, come on, tell me. How many stupid women have you pulled this trick on?"

"Jade..."

"Better yet, did you think you'd just stop off here and get a piece before you moved onto the next one?"

"Jade, there's a lot of things that..."

"More excuses? Let's hear it then."

"My father's dead." He said quietly.

Jade froze in mid-stride, for a moment the only sound in the safehouse was silence. Her mouth worked, then the blacksmith walked over to the crumpled merc, grabbed his arm and hauled him back to his feet. When she spoke again her voice was at something approaching a normal level.

"When?"

"A week after you left. I recieved word from Lorrel that he was sick, so I went to him."

"How?"

"You remember when I told you he was drinking himself to death? He succeeded."

Jade couldn't bring herself to look the man in the eye, she tidied up the furniture in disarray and sat back down on her chair. Leo rubbed the sore spot on his jaw where the blacksmith had clocked him, experiencing deja vu as he did it.

"We reconcilied before he went at least. Well... as close to reconciliation as the two of us could get." He crouched in front of her. "He told me he didn't approve of the choices I'd made, but I was still his son. He told me to stop hanging around with the wrong people and build something positive."

Jade stiffened. "Is THAT why i haven't seen you?"

"No! No, not at all. By the time I'd dealt with the aftermath and sent a message out you were gone. There were a lot of vultures circling and men with paperwork to placate."

She shook her head; a gesture somewhere between irritation and disbelief.

"So your old man 're'-owned you? And then it was off to play with his money, right?"

"Not exactly. Like I said, a few things have changed." He took her hand, she tried to pull away but his gaze held her still. "I ran into someone at the funeral you might want to know about."

"Unless it was Luminosita himself, I doubt it."

"Rufus Lamenter."

Jade's head sank wearily until it nearly touched her lap, Leo felt a tremble run through her arm.

"I'm too fucking tired for this." She whispered. "Yesterday I was walking home with a bullet in my ribs. Today I've been doing nothing but fighting. I just start to think the worst is over and then I run into an arsehole of a man who's such a arsehole he succeeds in making me feel sympathetic towards him, and then he tells me my old employer is alive and well. Well I'm done. I've reached my capacity." She yanked her hand free and forced herself to her feet.

"Good day, Mr Landau." She pivoted and walked to the doorway.

"Would it cheer you up if I bought you a forge?" He called after her.

Jade stopped.

"Is that your trump card? To win me over with gifts?"

"It was Rufus' idea. When I told him I was coming looking for you. He said 'buy the grumpy bitch a forge and tell her she's got a lot of work coming her way'." He shuffled his feet. "And then he said 'If that doesn't work, grovel at her feet and tell her you can't live without her. Women are soppy for that romantic bullshit.'"

Jade turned back to look at the merc, who had now dropped to one knee dramatically and touched a hand to his forehead.

"Sweet, sweet Jade." He intoned, as if he was delivering a performance on some grand stage. "The apple of my eye, the cream in my coffee. Please rain your forgiveness upon me, for I am just a man, a fuck-up in a dirty shirt who knows not what he does, and I can't live without you."

Jade may have been considered cold by some people, but she wasn't made of stone. She'd crossed her arms to keep up a sense of sternness but a smile was forcing it's way through to her lips.

"You been practising that speech?"

"Twenty times in front of a mirror. Did it work?"

She paced slowly back over to the long-haired fop, took his hand, pulled him back to the feet and into an embrace. Leo went with it, wisely deciding to keep his mouth closed.

"I bloody hate you sometimes."


EDIT- Expanded to avoid double post.

OOC Sorry for the overlong post but no-ones been doing much over the last 24 hours. Now would be an excellent time to send someone into the safehouse btw./OOC
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