Re: Meido (Play Thread)

[LightOfDawn]

Fortunately, the questions gave Builder a moment to collect his thoughts. “I’m Mouse,” he said. “I’m nobody important.”

Trying to think quickly, he added, “I, uh- you’re a Steward? I don’t mean you any harm. I was just looking for a quiet place to pray.”

[Ji]

"Stew- okay, better question, what are you?" said Glass, no less on guard by the flimsy explanation. He'd never known people to duck into random people's wagons to pray, after all. Especially on a day like today where all the locals would undoubtedly be enjoying their state sanctioned heretical prayer to their long dead king or... whatever, Glass hadn't been paying that much attention.

"If I like the next few words out of your mouth... you're welcome use my wagon for your prayer? To someone I assume would not be legal if it was seen by the immaculate monks?

[LightOfDawn]

“I’m no friend of the Dragons,” Builder said by way of answer. “And you’re right: the Monks would not be terribly happy about this.”

Seating himself and pulling out his small calligraphy kit, Builder pulled a prayer strip from his robes and began mixing ink. “What’s your name, Steward?”

[AlaskanWyvern]

Meanwhile, Flipper was almost completely undetectable, hanging around outside the soldier's window, like a fly on the wall. In this case, rather literally. He watched and waited from his vantage point just outside, waiting for the soldiers to either pass out or get unruly enough to haul off.

[CodexGigas]

The soldiers' room was littered with bottles, empty bowls, and raggedy newspapers. They were both well in their cups by now, singing a bizarre mix of martial hymns, bawdy tavern songs, and some Realm ditty about Cynis parties.

It wasn't long before the officer passed out, leaving the slightly stouter enlisted man slumped on a chair, humming softly as he finished the last of the sake. He blinked, made a rude gesture at his superior officer stretched out on the floor, and promptly fell headfirst into an open wardrobe.

[Ji]

"Just uh... call me Glass." said, well, Glass. He didn't fully trust this 'not a friend of the dragon's', and a single noun in his name would hardly be worth much if Glass found the newcomer less than friendly. But of course, that intent was likely obvious by not sharing a full name, though his new acquaintance Mouse had done that same.

"What're you writing..."

[AlaskanWyvern]

Flipper entered the room through the window and returned to human form. He looked about the room and in the soldiers' pockets, looking for anything that might shed some light on why the soldiers were there in the first place. Once finished, he picked up a couple spare sashes and belts, took the officer's arm over his shoulder and carried him across the way into his own room, He tied and bound the officer, then repeated the process with his subordinate. From there, they could get them down into the wagon and cart them wherever they chose easily. That bit done, he descended the stairs and headed back to the wagon, his face hidden.

When he opened the flap and almost ran into the newcomer, he paused and started to duck back out. "Sorry, if I was interrupting something?"

[eagle788]

Seeing the door open, Shadow readies his bow to stop the Soldiers if need be. Instead of the soldiers he sees Flipper leave the room, carrying one of them on his back. shaking his head wondering how Flipper got in the room with out him noticing. He shrugs it off and decides he will ask him later, and wanders into the room to see what he can find.

[CodexGigas]

((Perception+Investigation will be a full search, about 15 minutes. If you just want to glance around quickly, Wits+Investigation.))

[eagle788]

(Wits+investigation) (aka wits)

[The_GM]

The member 'eagle788' has done the following action : Dice roll

'd10' :

[LightOfDawn]

Builder was not terribly surprised by the single-word answer. The young Sidereal wouldn't be able to do much with the name until he had the rest of it, but it was a start.

He started to write, brush quickly drawing symbols in Old Realm, but was momentarily interrupted by the return of one of the men who'd gone into the Wok. "No, but I'm afraid you'll have to wait a minute before I can introduce myself properly," Builder muttered, intent on his work.

GM + Anyone who speaks Old Realm:

Then, taking hold of the lamp, he closed his eyes and prayed as he set flame to the parchment.

[ooc]Have 6 dice, so spending 4m 1wp to convert all the dice to successes, just barely making my Diff 6 prayer roll.[/ooc]

Opening his eyes, he turned back to the other people in the wagon. "Call me Mouse," he said to the newcomer. "I was just borrowing your friend's wagon for a moment."

[AlaskanWyvern]

((per/inv, +1s from 2nd excellency))

[The_GM]

The member 'AlaskanWyvern' has done the following action : Dice roll

'd10' :

[CodexGigas]

The soldiers were both low on the totem pole, despite one clearly being an officer--combined, their goods would fetch maybe half a dozen obols. The newspapers were typical Scavenger Land rags, cheaply printed in Riverspeak. The handful of letters and a worn-out book or two were in Low Realm.

Both soldiers had a handful of coins on them, mostly small silver pieces, although the officer had a hidden pocket with jade scrip.

[AlaskanWyvern]

Flipper had chosen to take the letters with him; he didn't speak any of the Realm languages himself, but someone around would, and they might shed some light on things.

~~~~

Flipper looked back and forth between Glass and the stranger. Glass' expression wasn't making him feel any more at ease with this strange person. "Friend of his...?" he asked hesitantly.

[LightOfDawn]

Builder had two choices, at this point. First, he could leave, and vanish before they had time to follow him. Second, he could stick around, and try to get them on his side... the problem being, he didn't know if the second fellow was also a Steward, or if there were any others. Who knew what kind of Circle Glass had, and whether Builder would be able to gain their trust now that he'd been evasive.

Some information that would help them, then, perhaps? Builder turned back to Glass. “Look, let me prove I’m on your side. Those Monks? There are six or seven of them in this city. The abbot’s name is Tripitaka, and he’s an old old Fire Aspect of good pedigree. There are two other Dragons among them, an Air and an Earth, both of lesser pedigree. The Earth is from the Realm, and the Air is from Lookshy. They would be dangerous opponents, but could probably be turned against each other easily so long as the one talking isn’t obviously Anathema.”

Pulling his hood down so they could see his bespectacled face, Builder spread his arms a little to show he was unarmed. “I believe the city may be in some danger. Would you and your Circle perhaps be interested in helping me prevent its destruction?”

[Ji]

"Wait, what monks?" said Glass confused by the mention of several monks, some from the realm. "Do... do you mean the immaculates? I wasn't terribly worried about the immaculates." Honestly, Glass wasn't sure why this Mouse had chosen to talk about such things, and he wasn't sure why giving some names, origins, and elemental affinities implied someone was on his side. But no matter, either Mouse was on his side or Mouse was going to need to never speak of this incident.

[AlaskanWyvern]

"Was one of them named Bobo, by any chance?" Flipper asked. "They seemed relatively harmless to me."

Flipper was glad that he hadn't decided to bring the soldiers straight here, otherwise this would have gotten much harder to explain on all sides.

[LightOfDawn]

“Yes, the Immaculate Monks that just went into the restaurant,” Builder said, a little annoyed by the lack of effect. “Telling you how many there are and how many are Dragon-Blooded is not something I would do if I were on their side.”

He took a deep breath and calmed himself before continuing. “Perhaps a little quid pro quo, then? I help you with something, you help me with something?”

[AlaskanWyvern]

Flipper leaned on the side of the wagon and put up a hand. "Well, let's back up for a second, make your case. There's Immaculates about, but that doesn't necessarily mean they're up to something. Perhaps if you presented your evidence - not just mailing addresses, actual information, mind you - we might be more inclined to help. You're probably a good person, or at least you think you are; I don't doubt that. I think what we're really getting at is that you can't expect us to put down our own business for some wild goose chase."

[LightOfDawn]

Builder looked over at the man leaning on the side of the wagon, and then back over to Glass. This wasn’t a Steward and his friend. This was a Steward and someone he trusted to bargain for him.

That meant it was probably two Stewards, which meant there was probably a Circle nearby. That meant that getting them on his side was suddenly very, very worthwhile.

“I'm not saying that the Immaculates and the threat to the city are related; I'm just telling you information you can use against them in case they discover you are Anathema,” Builder shrugged. "Regardless, I don’t see how my offer to help you - before you help me - is a wild goose chase, Steward. I may not be Chosen by your patron, but I am Chosen nonetheless, and I can do things for your circle."

[AlaskanWyvern]

Flipper nodded. "Fair enough. That's useful, though I pray we'll never need it. Though if we're talking quid pro quo, you've seen something sensitive of ours, if you wouldn't mind showing your own?"

This person had a point, and he could be useful; that said, deathknights were also Chosen of a sort, which meant in Flipper's mind that Chosen could mean a lot of different things. Though the newcomer didn't look like a deathknight, at least, that still left a lot of variables he would have liked to find out. A simple display of a caste mark wasn't too much to ask, in his mind, and it would clear up most concerns then and there.

[LightOfDawn]

Builder hesitated. Up to this point, he'd given away information that would not be terribly easy to abuse. This... might be different, depending on how connected they were to Lunar Elders. A Sidereal ally would be very useful to the Silver Pact, and Builder had no desire to become some Lunar Elder's pawn.

"I've seen one caste mark,” Builder said, holding up a cautionary finger. “And what I saw was his, not yours. If you want to see mine, show me yours.”

Then, once Flipper had done so, Builder followed suit, Mark of Secrets glowing softly on his brow.

[AlaskanWyvern]

Flipper stepped the rest of the way into the now-crowded wagon, igniting the silver semicircle hovering over his forehead.
"I've seen a similar mark before, but yellow," Flipper said. "Good friend of mine."

He extended a hand to the stranger. "Call me Flipper. Shall we talk details?"

Now that he tried to recall, he didn't remember necessarily what the yellow mark had looked like, though it was definitely some sort of squiggly thing, rather than a part of a circle, but that wasn't terribly important. The similarities were sufficient that he could guess that his sifu and this person were of the same group.

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