15[20:12] <@VoxPVoxD> This is fine. [20:13] 14Yyeah. [20:15] 5 What are you talking about? This is not fine! 15[20:15] <@VoxPVoxD> The circle's bloodied and battered. Xu Sim's on death's door, the entire neighborhood is burning as people gather and cower and gawp at the burning animas marking the spot for all to see. Bubo never showed; assassins came instead. [20:15] 14It's a...dramatic device. [20:16] 14Iront. [20:16] *14Irony. [20:16] 14Stranger-Visits-Heaven pushes himself to his feet with his cane. [20:17] 4 von Hrolfus sits on a pavement, head in his hands. [20:17] <@Ferrinus> "This was a goddamn setup!" 12thunders Keldar, standing over the burned and battered body of Xu-Sim. "When I get my hands on - but later, later, shit, where's there a..." [20:22] "Let's not have our meltdown public, please." 13Xia Lan is rubbing at her forehead; she's got the beginnings of a tremendous headache. Are there any doctors nearby? 15[20:26] <@VoxPVoxD> Are there? Are there, Keldar? [20:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's gesturing aimlessly with his free hand, even going so far as to snap his fingers a few times. "Right! Few blocks this way then a turn. Up you go-" 12He's at least patched Xu Sim up enough that he can hoist the man up without killing him on the spot. [20:27] 4 Shaking his head, von Hrolfus clambers to his feet to help balance Xu Sim between himself and Keldar. "Lead." [20:28] <@Ferrinus> 12People are crowding in to stare, and of course to salvage valuables from the still-burning building, even as Keldar's getting his bearings. They threaten to trample the bruised and exhausted circle until Keldar brandishes his still-warm sword and stares daggers at the approaching looters, gawkers, and guardsmen. [20:28] 14Stranger will stand and stumble along behind. [20:28] 14This is humiliating. [20:29] 14This will not happen again. [20:29] <@Ferrinus> Keldar: "Outta the way! Guy's about to die! Get the - I said scram!" 12The mercenary proceeds to ford his way through the crowd, and the combination of his palpable fury, still-drawn weapon, and local notoriety is enough to draw an entire wedge of walkable space through the Nexus streets such that the others can follow. [20:30] 13Xia Lan offers a shoulder to lean on, if Stranger will take it. 15[20:30] <@VoxPVoxD> Elsewhere, a riverboat disembarks in Nexus. Among a raft of accountants and soldiers is a woman in a big hat and dusty coat. She's got a meeting, at some point, with her contact on this job. She can also get started on the job itself, or find a place to settle in. Nexus is Nexus, even with so much afoot. The boat flew thick with rumors. Raksha and madness and open Anathema. The Emissary is dead! 15[20:31] <@VoxPVoxD> The red star hanging over Sentinel Hill and the gold falcon spreading its wings over a plumes of smoke across town tell Flashing Dawn that at least half those rumors are true. [20:33] 14Stranger will take it. But there's a snarl on his face that Xia Lan has never seen before when he does, and it's not directed at her. [20:34] 7Shit. Thought that guy was bad news, so whatever took him down must be worse. Flashing Dawn shrugs to get the odd implement on her back settled, and then starts in on the streets of Nexus. Damn, but it's big. 15[20:37] <@VoxPVoxD> Keldar's able to lead the circle to a clinic that he knows does good work. There's a few patients inside, and the doctor's prepared to calmly rebut whoever's coming in that they need to wait their turn, but when the mercenary kicks the door down with an all-but-corpse in his arms, priorities change. [20:38] 5 Xu Sim is badly battered and his face is a mask of blood. [20:38] 14Stranger's going to lean near the door until and unless someone badgers him into accepting treatment. [20:38] 14He's staring into the middle distance, thinking. [20:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Burns, contusions, probably broken bones. Did the best- ...no, not yet. Here, get us a table..." 12He carries Xu Sim through the clinic and carefully lays the sorcerer out on the first treatment/operating table he sees that's open. Then he turns away, clenching a fist at about the level of his chin and frowning deeply to himself, before turning back and taking another look [20:41] <@Ferrinus> 12at the wounds. [20:42] 4"How is he? Can we use one of our abom- our abilities to help?" [20:42] 7Dawn heard the guy's a troublemaker, so she hits the dives, back alleys... where trouble lives. She's not shaking anybody down just yet, just asking questions. Have you seen this guy? Even think you did? Could be dangerous. [20:43] <@Ferrinus> 12There's got to be more he can do, here... Keldar can practically see them, the snarls and blockages and ruptures that've come from his own failures to patch Xu Sim properly already and that might be leaving Xu Sim debilitated or even insensate for weeks or months. 15[20:49] <@VoxPVoxD> As Keldar works, Xu Sim's entire body seizes up on the table, causing his surgeon to panic - is this it? Did he die? 15[20:49] <@VoxPVoxD> Instead, he merely gives up the ghost. A sickly amber-colored clot wafts from his open mouth, as a thin trail of honey trickles down from the corner of his mouth. [20:50] 13Xia Lan's crouched, leaning against the wall next to Stranger, trying to minimize herself while she thinks. Not just about the assassins, and Bubo (why wasn't he there?), but how many people might have seen her caste mark. Pointless to worry now; she'll have to shut down some rumors. Back to the problems at hand... 15[20:50] <@VoxPVoxD> There's an echo of Xu Sim's cackle as the clot drifts away and vanishes. But then Xu Sim's body settles a into regular, stable breathing pattern. [20:51] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar works like a man possessed, absent-mindedly waving away the other doctors and nurses and only beckoning them back to get them to mop up blood or pass over implements. After a few minutes' careful tending and observation, an eight-pointed sunburst has drawn itself in orange-red flames on Keldar's forehead; after about fifteen more minutes' of stony, silent surgical work, the [20:51] <@Ferrinus> 12impromptu surgeon is covered from head to toe with sunrise-colored flames. [20:51] 4von Hrolfus claps Keldar on the back. "Well done." [20:52] 14Sloppy. Obvious. They were sloppy and obvious. [20:52] 14They will have to be obvious to win power in this city. [20:52] 14That means they cannot be sloppy. 15[20:54] <@VoxPVoxD> Stranger runs over what happened in his head. The anima of the distant archer - blooded, definitely, of the fire aspect. A fire aspected assassin with hobgoblin henchmen? Bizarre. And where was Bubo? It smacks immediately of a setup, of course... but something about that doesn't fit. Bubo had multiple better opportunities to crush you all if that was his intention. Still, his absence and the coordination of the attack insist that that's the simplest explanation. [20:55] 14Never trust the simplest explanation, fool. [20:55] 14Sun, now he's talking to himself. 15[20:57] <@VoxPVoxD> Dawn asks around. People recognize the guy immediately - he's got a hard face and demeanor to miss. He's been causing a fair amount of trouble for, specifically, the Guild - someone tells Dawn a story of how he burnt an entire shipment of opium and almost lit up a whole neighborhood in the process of beating and scaring a local underfactor half to death. [20:58] 7Heaven knows she's been there. Better have a damned good reason for it. Unless anyone's reported a recent sighting of him, the underfactor seems like a good choice. 15[20:58] <@VoxPVoxD> He's been keeping a lower profile since then, for probably obvious reasons. [21:00] 4von Hrolfus looks around. "What happens now? Should we keep moving? Staying in one place may not be advisable." [21:00] 14Stranger: "We st..." [21:00] 14Stranger: "We stay." [21:01] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar frowns at the light show taking place over Xu Sim's body. "...well, that ain't actually his ghost. Gods willing he'll be up in a day or two to explain it to us." 12Then he looks down at his own hands. "Ah, fuck." [21:01] 14Spitting up blood: "We find this fire aspect. We find the way they wove their hobgoblins. We make a statement." [21:02] "And then we find Bubo." [21:03] 7Dawn meets with a few contacts, drops a few names, and the trail leads her to the roughed up underfactor. [21:04] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "First thing I wanna do is head over to the rooftop he was firing from and see if we can track him down. ...except just leaving Xu Sim here or otherwise splittin' up after an attack like that's no good." [21:05] 14Stranger: "I will join you." [21:05] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's still standing by Xu Sim's bedside, inside the private clinic, as he strategizes. "We might literally wanna hole up here for the night, see how the doctor's doing in the morning, and then go from there." [21:06] 4"If we are attacked again? It is obvious where we are. Can we take care of him in a more hidden place?" [21:06] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Not exactly a mystery where he is right now and I don't wanna walk around lit up like a torch. None-a ya saw nothin', by the way." 12That's Keldar shooting a dirty look at the other doctors, cleaners, and patients that might happen to be in line of sight. [21:06] 14Stranger: "And risk losing the trail? Ridiculous." [21:06] 14Another hacking cough; more blood 15[21:06] <@VoxPVoxD> The underfactor's easy enough to get in touch with. She finds him in Nexus proper, the financial heart of the city, specifically the big commodities exchange where the Guild turns iron into wheat into profit. Underfactor Pran is his name. He walks with a limp and there's the shiny remnants of mild burns on his hands and face, but he's alive and grateful for it. "Who're you?" he says, suddenly querulous despite almost certainly having been told to expect her. [21:06] 14. [21:07] 13Xia Lan: "We should at least send one person - Stranger, are you all right?" 13He clearly isn't, but she's not going to tell him that. [21:07] 14Stranger: "Will I live? Yes? Then I am alright." [21:08] "Pran, right? Name's Flashing Dawn. Heard you've been having a rough time lately." [21:10] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Yeah, I know, but frankly the trail's worth less to me than any of our lives, and if they've got more people and even a little prep they might be able to spring just as bad a trap for the one or two of us that go out there right now." 15[21:11] <@VoxPVoxD> Pran: "Yeah well. That's what happens when the city guard just stands there and watches someone beat the shit out of you." [21:11] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "You're in rough shape, Stranger - probably I should take a look at you - and the rest of us are some combination of hurt and exhausted. If we split up, then whether they hit us there or here, we lose way more than we want to." [21:12] 7Dawn: "Not sure they could have done much than you could. What'd the guy have against you?" 15[21:13] <@VoxPVoxD> Pran: "He pulled two swords on me and then set me on fire." [21:13] 13Xia Lan: "I don't like it." 13She shakes her head. "I think you're right, though. It's the least worst option we've got." 15[21:14] <@VoxPVoxD> "Cause he got a bug up his ass about the shipment. Who knows?" [21:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "...as to your worry, Bastian, I don't much like this clinic as a military base. But it won't be easy moving Xu Sim and, frankly, Stranger somewhere safer in a way where people can't tell where we're going or even hit us on the way." [21:15] 7Dawn scowls. "Come on, now. Swords are business. Setting you on fire's personal. How'd the bug get there?" 15[21:16] <@VoxPVoxD> Pran: "Who the hell knows?" [21:16] 4"We need to keep watch and be at our guard, then." [21:17] 14Grumbling: "I am fine." [21:18] 5 Xu Sim sleeps contentedly, restfully. Dreams of ugly, happy dogs [21:22] 13Xia Lan: "You aren't fine. You're hurt, Xu Sim is hurt, we're all exhausted, and if there's anything to find back there, it's not worth our lives. This is aside from the number of people there that'll have some pointed questions about what we were doing there and the risk to the rest of us if that happens." 13She shakes her head. "It's just not worth it. I hate it, too." [21:23] 14Stranger opens his mouth as if to say something, closes it, frowns, opens it again while raising a lecturing finger, then just sighs. [21:23] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Yep. Fortunately, we shouldn't be here much more than a day or two, unless I haven't learned nearly as much from my career as I thought." 12He pauses. "While we are here, Stranger, you should take a seat. That's gonna heal ugly by default." 12Probably not true about the Solar constitution, but still. [21:23] 14He shuffles over to a bed. [21:24] 14When he lays down, it's far more gingerly than his visible wounds would indicate. [21:24] 14There's a lot of damage under the skin. 15[21:26] <@VoxPVoxD> Eventually Dawn gets Pran to relent: "Okay, there was an altercation earlier that night. I was overseeing deliveries to the blue light district, right? So while I'm waiting I make chitchat with one of the girls, see if we can do some business. She was off duty or something - whatever, it's not the point. Anyway she's not buying what I'm selling, and I was having a bad day and I knock her around a little. Kid goes nuts, like he's never been in that kind of place before. The brothels in that part of town all double as hostels. For the turnover, right? So maybe he hadn't." 15[21:27] <@VoxPVoxD> "Anyway, the kid goes nuts and I tell him to fuck off. And he just stands there and stares at me. Creepy." 15[21:27] <@VoxPVoxD> "Then about a half hour later he comes for me. He's insane." 15[21:27] <@VoxPVoxD> "Watch your ass." [21:28] 7Dawn stays quiet. "Know where he went after that? Even generally?" 15[21:29] <@VoxPVoxD> Pran: "He got picked up by an old guy and the two of them went off together. I didn't think much of it at the time, but you know what I heard later? That old guy was one of the Anathema. From the amphitheatre." [21:29] 7Dawn: "Old guy? What'd he look like?" 7This is getting complicated fast. 15[21:30] <@VoxPVoxD> Pram: "Real scruffy. Blind, too, though he didn't walk like it. I figured he was just some beggar." [21:33] 7Dawn scowls. "I'm gonna find the kid. You won't have to worry about him." 7She spits on the road. "But if I was here when he lit you up, I'd be basking in the campfire too. Take care of yourself." 15[21:34] <@VoxPVoxD> After some intense, glowy threats, Keldar's convinced the staff and doctor at the clinic to keep mum. That said, they did cut a pretty conspicuous path here, so after an hour or so there's a weird contingent stomping up the road to the clinic. There's a tanned man with slightly pointed ears wearing the insignia of the Dawn Guard and a pair of men hidden in their Lookshyan armor. [21:34] 7Dawn's on her way after that, armed with another description and more knowledge about the kid. 15[21:35] <@VoxPVoxD> Pran: "Yeah, whatever." He mutters an obscenity after she turns and walks away. [21:39] <@Ferrinus> 12Well, Keldar's set up a few bandages and bits of gauze and stuff but hasn't really gotten into the nitty-gritty of treating Stranger's burns and bruises when the city watch comes calling. He frowns to himself, wipes his hands off with a cloth, cranes his neck from side to side, and then stands up from the little rolly stool he borrowed from another operating room. "Guess we gotta [21:39] <@Ferrinus> talk to that guard." [21:40] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "...and we probably wanna meet him in force, if he's got Lookshyans with him. They might be in on it. Uh, Stranger, yell real loud if someone goes sneaking around us, we'll just be a couple rooms away." [21:40] 13Xia Lan: "I'll go with you." 13Hopefully she can keep this from escalating. [21:42] 4"I will guard the eccentric." [21:42] <@Ferrinus> 12So it is that Keldar saunters out front, sword sheathed at his side, and hails the guardsman with the traditional greeting used throughout Nexus: "What seems to be the problem, officer?" 15[21:47] <@VoxPVoxD> The dawn guardsman stares up at the Dawn guardsman. "Don't be coy, Keldar. Pellicia wants to know what the hell happened." [21:49] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Attempted murder. We were invited to lunch at a noodle place - a former noodle place - and instead of our host we got a bunch of goblins and burning arrows." [21:49] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Fought my way clear, took the injured to the nearest physician who was still conscious." 15[21:50] <@VoxPVoxD> The Barracks of the Dawn Sergeant are the nerve center of the city's militia and police force, the Dawn Guard, led by the influential Councilor, Pellicia the Dawn Sergeant. However it's difficult to get in to see her without an appointment, since the constant disasters eat into her schedule. What's Flashing Dawn's play? 15[21:50] <@VoxPVoxD> The lieutenant: "Who?" [21:50] 13Xia Lan's out shortly behind Keldar, picture of innocence. She's left her swords behind in the operating room for appearances sake. She adds: "We're still tending to the injured." 15[21:51] <@VoxPVoxD> The lieutenant's eyes go wide when he sees Xia Lan. [21:51] 7Not much of a play. Dawn walks right up to whoever's blocking entry. "I need some information about someone dangerous who might be loose in your city. Someone told me I could find it here." [21:52] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar glances over to the two figures in Lookshyan armor before looking back to the lieutenant. "Dunno. They were a couple rooftops over and ran as soon as it looked like we'd be surviving the combined raksha attack and building collapse." [21:52] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Probably Chosen, though. There was a big fiery light in their direction." 15[21:52] <@VoxPVoxD> The guard Dawn stares down is young; she's probably a fresh recruit being broken in on easy jobs. "On whose authority, ma'am?" [21:53] "I'm a bounty hunter for the Guild. I'm not here to make trouble, I'm here to truss it up and drag it out of town. If I could have a word with the folks in charge I'll be here and gone in a flash." [22:01] 13She notes the lieutenant's reaction, smiles, and bows slightly. This is still going well - no need to play on that as yet. 15[22:03] <@VoxPVoxD> The dawn guardswoman: "Guild, you said? She's in a meeting now but if you want to wait she'll--" inside the compound the windows shatter and furrows in the earth spiderweb across the parade ground as a man bellows so that everyone in the compound and probably on the Hill can hear him. 15[22:04] <@VoxPVoxD> "WHO IS HERE ON WHOSE SUFFERANCE?" 15[22:05] <@VoxPVoxD> At the clinic: "She's not gonna like that." [22:05] 7Dawn's hat is blown back a little, and she raises an eyebrow, looking at the young guard. 15[22:07] <@VoxPVoxD> The young guard reaches reflexively for her sword, but before she can turn or speak the door slams open, blown clear off its hinges, as a living mountain of white jade and rumbling earth stomps away from the central building. He's toting a massive grand goremaul one-handed, and wearing what Dawn immediately recognizes as the insignia of the Lookshyan Seventh Legion. Nobody stops him, questions him, or makes eye contact as he strides out. 15[22:08] <@VoxPVoxD> Well, nobody unless Dawn does. [22:09] 7Dawn doesn't intentionally impede his progress, but she doesn't scramble out of the way, either. [22:10] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Yeah, well, I bet she'll like it more than I did when the place was falling to ash around me. I'm seeing to my near-dead friend at the moment but I can show you where they came from later if you people need it." 15[22:11] <@VoxPVoxD> The guard questioning Keldar: "She, ah, she wants me to bring somebody back with me. The Lookshyans, see." [22:12] 13Xia Lan: "Why would you want to bring one of them back?" 13Playing dumb is good. Usually works, too. 15[22:13] <@VoxPVoxD> The giant from Lookshy stomps past Flashing Dawn without sparing her a glance. Only his eyes are visible in his massive helmet and they look as furious as the rest of him. 15[22:13] <@VoxPVoxD> To Xia Lan: "To, uh, to, to, to- she wants someone to explain. To Lookshy." [22:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar looks at the Lookshyans, then back to the lieutenant. "What does Lookshy care if a random restaurant burns down?" [22:14] 7Dawn: "Meeting's over, then?" 15[22:15] <@VoxPVoxD> One of the armored soldiers behind the dawn lieutenant says: "We care about the Anathema you're harboring." 15[22:15] <@VoxPVoxD> The dawn guard guarding Dawn: "...yes." [22:17] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Don't you mean the ones you're harboring? Your guy, Dorma, he's already seen to the kid and the doctor. Let 'em stroll back out." [22:18] 7Flashing Dawn claps the young guard on the shoulder and walks past her, unless she's detained. [22:20] 13Xia Lan to the lieutenant: "Oh! I guess that makes sense, huh." 13She smiles again. Keeping up appearances. Keldar can handle the Lookshyans until this turns worse. 15[22:20] <@VoxPVoxD> The Lookshyan: "With the understanding that they would cooperate with local government. Now what? People are dead, buildings are burning, and everyone saw you there." 15[22:21] <@VoxPVoxD> "Are you going to bring them out or are we going to come and take them?" [22:24] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar bridles. "Are you kiddin' me? Two of the people you want to see aren't even well enough to be walking around, and you're crazy if you think I'm gonna just leave 'em here while the assassin's still at large. You can come back tomorrow." 15[22:24] <@VoxPVoxD> Flashing Dawn walks across the broken courtyard, through the broken door, and into a broken office. An orange-haired woman in silver armor and a handful of aides are working together to pick up huge splinters of wood and carefully salvage papers and ledgers. [22:24] 13Xia Lan: "There's an assassin on the loose and you want to harass their victims?" [22:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "We're cooperating with the local government just fine, but that ain't you." 15[22:25] <@VoxPVoxD> The Lookshyan: "There's a magnet for assassins on the loose and we want it where we can see it." 15[22:26] <@VoxPVoxD> To Keldar: "Is that what you want me to tell the Dragonlord, mercenary?" [22:26] 13Xia Lan: "Well, given their wounds, I don't think they'll be leaving here tonight." [22:27] 7Dawn stands quietly in the entryway, arms crossed, mouth shut, eyes open. 15[22:29] <@VoxPVoxD> Flashing Dawn is able to reconstruct virtually everything that happened here. There's rough scrapes on the floor that don't match any of the furniture (the armored man never sat down, and paced instead) and a radial splay of furniture and remnants including two mostly-intact halves of a great teak desk (everyone was sitting around it when he smashed it with his fists) and the crumpled remains of a map (a briefing on military movements; records of food stores and the most recent census. someone's planning disaster relief). [22:30] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "You can tell 'im that our friends are hurt and it's not safe to move them, and that we're not gonna leave 'em alone." 12He pauses, thinking a moment. Well, Stranger seemed to like the guy... "And if Dorma wants to hear more, we could tell him ourselves. But it can't be today unless he wants to make a visit." [22:30] 7Flashing Dawn says, in a quiet voice: "I promise to be less trouble than your last meeting." 15[22:32] <@VoxPVoxD> The silver-armored woman looks up, eyes flashing. "Who-" She closes her eyes, composes herself. "What's this about?" [22:33] "Name's Flashing Dawn. I'm a bounty hunter for the Guild, and I was told you might be able to help me find someone." 15[22:34] <@VoxPVoxD> Pellicia: "Can this wait?" [22:35] 7Dawn: "I'd rather it didn't. The man I'm after set another man on fire because he was pissed. The scumbag he did it to had it coming, but that sort of thing gets out of hand fast, you know?" 15[22:37] <@VoxPVoxD> Pellicia motions Dawn into a separate, undestroyed room, the walls lined with books (many of which are on the floor after the little earthquake) to speak privately. "The boy who set a Guildsman on fire?" [22:38] 7Dawn nods. "The same. I talked to the Guildsman, and it sounds like he had it coming... but I'm still meant to bring the boy back." 15[22:39] <@VoxPVoxD> Pellicia: "Back where?" [22:42] 7Dawn: "Lookshy. He's headed somewhere else, ultimately, but that's where I'm meant to take him." 15[22:43] <@VoxPVoxD> Pellicia: "I don't know where he is right now. But he'll be here tomorrow." [22:44] 7Flashing Dawn blinks. "I bet there's more to it than that." 15[22:45] <@VoxPVoxD> Pellicia: "He came in yesterday looking for a job. He got waylaid by the captain of one of the local mercenary companies who persuaded him to sign on. We'd just finalized a deal to contract some militia work out to them." 15[22:45] <@VoxPVoxD> "So he'll be showing up for his first day of training tomorrow with the rest of them." 15[22:45] <@VoxPVoxD> "That's all public record." 15[22:46] <@VoxPVoxD> "The rolls are..." She gestures futilely in the other room. 15[22:46] <@VoxPVoxD> "I can give you the name of the mercenary company if you like." [22:46] 7Dawn smirks. "So what isn't public record? It's never this easy." [22:47] 13Xia Lan: "Please. Our friends are hurt - we can't travel anywhere, and they need to spend the night. The rest of us are exhausted and won't leave anyway. You'll know where we are until tomorrow, at the least - give us until then. Surely one location you can watch is worth someone in custody...?" 13She's just short of begging on her hands and knees. [22:47] "Nessun Dorma trusted us to walk around freely. You can, at the least, trust us to stay here." 13It's a sound argument. Now it just depends on whether they care about the letter of their orders more than the spirit. 15[22:47] <@VoxPVoxD> Pellicia: "What isn't public record is confidential. I'm sorry. Is there anything else?" [22:49] 7Dawn extends a hand. "Thanks for your help. Who was the bruiser that wrecked the place up?" 15[22:49] <@VoxPVoxD> The Lookshyan: "You're to stay here until we come and pick you up. Is that clear?" 15[22:50] <@VoxPVoxD> Pellicia takes it and shakes. "Nessun Dorma. He brought an army into the city as the Emissary died, claiming to be hunting Anathema. Now they're just billeting on the Hill." [22:51] 13Xia Lan looks to Keldar. This is acceptable, right? [22:51] 7Dawn: "I heard about the Emissary part, at least. A little bit about Anathema, too." [22:52] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "We'll certainly stay here." 15[22:53] <@VoxPVoxD> This seems to satisfy the Lookshyans. "We're going to post someone outside the door. For your safety," says one. The other's shoulders visibly sag. [22:53] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Sure." [22:54] 7Dawn: "That Guildsman said the kid got picked up by an Anathema, or someone people thought was one." 15[22:54] <@VoxPVoxD> Pellicia: "Yeah?" [22:54] 13Xia Lan: "Great! We could use some after today." 15[22:54] <@VoxPVoxD> "That's interesting. As I said, you can ask him yourself tomorrow." [22:55] 7Dawn nods. "I'll collect that information you mentioned and be back tomorrow." 15[22:55] <@VoxPVoxD> Pellicia: "Good luck." 15[22:55] <@VoxPVoxD> The dawn guardsman and the talkative Lookshyan depart, leaving the other one behind the stand guard at the door. [22:57] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar gives the man a long look before turning and heading back inside. Once he's free to talk with Stranger, Bastian, and Xia Lan, he explains the situation. "...and one's just out there watching the place. They seem to think they'll be taking us back into custody tomorrow or whenever Dorma's got the time." [22:58] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "I say that's suicide. We've got plenty reason to believe the assassin was one of their people in the first place." [22:58] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Question is, can we trust Dorma in specific? Seems to me like he maybe doesn't realize this is going on. But I dunno." [22:59] 4"His aide seems to be the one running things." [23:00] 14Stranger raises a weak hand and wavers it back and forth -- both a yes-and-no, and wave on the ocean. [23:00] 13Xia Lan: "I'm disappointed with the guard. That lieutenant - he was a fan. Still couldn't get the others to leave us alone without a direct plea." [23:00] "We can trust Nessun Dorma as far as our strength lasts. He is...a blunt instrument." [23:00] "He did not plan this." [23:00] 4"He had us in custody. He could have had us executed at a time of his choosing. Why bother with elaborate assassination attempts?" [23:00] 13She's frowning. In past experience, once you get a policeman on your side, you get a lot more freedom than she's just bargained for. [23:00] "I do not believe his secretary planned it either, simply because it would be too much work and hinge too freely on chance." [23:01] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "That was my feeling. I think it's his guy, whatsname. Set the meeting up." [23:01] "Bubo." [23:01] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Right. Had to be. Why wasn't he there, otherwise?" [23:01] 14Stranger-Visits-Heaven is being fastidious about making sure this name remains committed to memory. [23:01] "What if he was?" [23:01] "What if we merely didn't see him?" [23:02] 13Xia Lan: "What, he saw what was about to go down and fled? Then they wouldn't be after us for the 'problems' we caused." [23:02] "There are things going on here. There is the thing, and then there is the thing behind the thing." [23:02] "He'd know already." [23:02] "We need to apprehend that second, quieter thing." [23:02] "We have not done so yet." [23:02] 14Stranger grimaces. "And I won't be much help, in this state." [23:02] "We have a meeting tomorrow morning?" [23:03] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Then he might've been watching to see if the job got done or something, but I'm not sure why he'd bother. Point is, even if we can trust Dorma, we can't trust Lookshy and I'll be damned if they're taking any of us back into custody." [23:03] 14Stranger closes his eyes. "Oh, I'm sure I'll be fine." [23:04] 13Xia Lan: "Will Xu Sim?" [23:04] "After all, any prisoner will require a representative from the Dawn Guard, hmm?" [23:04] 14He opens an eye. "Xu Sim will not be entering custody." [23:05] 4"Will we have a choice? If they send their full force against us." [23:06] 14Stranger: "Will we have the choice not to be here, certainly." [23:06] "But if they wish a hostage, I can heal just as well there as here. And if I heal there, I do it while learning." [23:07] 13Xia Lan: "I'd rather none of us were hostages, personally." [23:08] 14Stranger: "The rule of the road is that we cannot always get what we want." [23:08] 4"The disadvantaged party does not get the luxury of choice." von Hrolfus grimaces. "This is a lesson Deguo learned bitterl.y" [23:09] 13Xia Lan: "But if we try, sometimes, we'll get what we need." 13Old song of the south. "I still don't like it." [23:09] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Hostages is one thing, but if the people who came at us came from Dorma's ranks you might not last a night with them." [23:10] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Beyond that, who the fuck are they? They're not the law here. They don't get to just drag you behind bars whenever they get anxious." [23:10] 4"The sword is the law." [23:10] 14Stranger sighs. It rattles a little bit. [23:10] "You already made your point by getting them to delay to morning, yes?" [23:11] "Do you want to play out this string, and make it bloody? Because we are in no condition." [23:11] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "We will be tomorrow, push comes to shove." [23:11] 13Xia Lan: "I don't like it. That doesn't mean I can't be convinced of its necessity." [23:12] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "And they bloodied us yesterday, but we're the ones who came out alive." 15[23:12] <@VoxPVoxD> The assassin survived too. Unless they fell down the stairs effortlessly escaping, or something. [23:12] <@Ferrinus> 12Yeah, but they lost five hobgoblins. We just got scratched up. [23:13] 13Xia Lan: "Us, and the main attacker. We cleaned up their delaying troops, but they still started the fire." [23:13] 14Stranger: "If you wish to meet them as a unified front, then fine." [23:13] "But we cannot sustain slinking off much longer." [23:13] 4"We could leave. Escape the city." [23:13] 14Stranger laughs. [23:15] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "They'll be the ones saying that to each other if they keep at this." [23:16] 4 von Hrolfus frowns. "No doubt you are all very powerful and more experience at this than me. But this is a bit overconfident, no?" [23:16] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "We've got a little more of the city behind us now. My company's finalizing a contract with the Dawn Guard - they won't be able to just ignore Nexus's laws for much longer." [23:16] 13Xia Lan: "Little bit." [23:17] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "I told those guys that if Dorma wants answers we'll talk to him personally, and I think we should stick to that line. I'm willing to give him some slack, but I don't trust his command, and I'm not gonna roll the dice on living through any more days in Lookshyan custody." [23:18] 14Stranger, to Bastian: "This is about pride, boy." [23:18] 13Xia Lan: "And we really need to talk to Bubo." [23:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Sure, you lot were fine the first time, but maybe that's as long as it took Bubo to get his ducks in a row, or something." [23:18] "No one kills us without having tea with us first." [23:20] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "I'm not sure we get to see Bubo again except when someone's at swordpoint." [23:22] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "He blew his shot, right? Might not be willing to show his face." [23:25] 14Stranger: "I'd be willing to sit down with him again." [23:25] "Not on a balcony." [23:25] "Not anywhere with windows." [23:25] "And nowhere for him to hide." [23:25] 13Xia Lan: "A jail cell." [23:25] "You're describing a jail cell." [23:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Yeah, and the important thing is it's not one his people hold the keys to." [23:27] 14Mildly: "There would be tea." [23:27] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "If you play along when Lookshy shows up tomorrow, that's where you end up - in his control." [23:29] 14To Keldar: "What is your plan?" [23:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Get Dorma in a room without Bubo or any of his other underlings and explain to him that we've got reason to believe the attempt on our lives came out of his ranks." [23:33] 14Stranger: "To what end?" [23:34] 13Xia Lan: "Wonder how receptive he is to that kind of restriction. Maybe it'd just be one of us talking?" [23:36] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "I dunno, to the end of getting him to clean house or stop demanding we enter his custody whenever he sneezes." [23:41] 4"Technically, he is within his rights to do so - and many would question him for not permanently imprisoning us in the first place." [23:42] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Oh, he's in his rights to demand the sun, moon, and stars. This is a free city. What he's not in his rights to do is attempt to enforce that crap." 15[23:42] <@VoxPVoxD> Who's gonna stop him? [23:44] 14Stranger: "We should give him what he wants, and see how much he likes it." [23:44] "I guarantee you he won't." [23:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "He might like imprisoning us just fine, and even if he doesn't like finding us dead in our cells a week down the line it'll be cold comfort to our ghosts." [23:45] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "No, it's high time he stopped playing Councilor and treated with us properly." [23:45] 14Stranger smiles. "Oh, that's not what's going to happen." 15[23:49] <@VoxPVoxD> NEXT TIME: War tidings