A Rose In The Wind: A Saga of the Halmae -- Updated June 19, 2014

[Ilex]

23x02

Can I do it now? Now? Now? Now? Now? Now? Now? Now? Now?

"You seem distracted," murmured the raven-haired woman Tavi was dancing with, offering a little pout.

"Forgive me," Tavi said.

Now? Now? Now?

Phoebe, stoppit!

"Oh!" the woman cooed as the hummingbird – who had been zooming around Tavi's head in such a fast, tight loop that Tavi suspected he looked like he had a blurry halo – landed on Tavi's shoulder. "What a darling tiny bird!"

"You would think so." With a supreme effort of will, Tavi unclenched his teeth.

The music spun to a stop. Tavi bowed farewell to the woman and looked desperately around the room. When was Aga Aki-san going to go where they needed him to be? They had waited long enough just for him to arrive. The next step shouldn’t be the hard part …

Um, Tavi? Just one teeny little question?

Fine, one question.

…Now?

"Thank the Gods," Tavi breathed, as he caught Nyoko's eye and followed her meaningful gaze to where Savina was receiving the attentions of the obviously oafish Sovereign. Aga Aka-san had taken the bait, at last.

A feathered hair ornament loomed up in front of Tavi, interrupting his view. "Signor Octavian," said the woman beneath it, "I understand you have sought my hand for the next dance?"

"Um, of course." Where are all these women coming from? "One moment, Signora… Signora-san…" Tavi scanned the room's perimeter and spotted the other key player in this upcoming little drama: Lord Endo, the austere Head of Borders. Tavi strode over to him and bowed his head. Lord Endo gave a faint nod in return.

"Lord Endo-san,” Tavi began, “not long ago, you honored me by asking for a favor." Tavi glanced slightly toward Aki-san, who appeared to be asking Savina to dance. "I thought you would like to know that my friends and I plan to do you that service imminently."

Tavi thought he caught a flash of interest in Lord Endo's narrow, solemn face, but it might have been only candlelight on the man's glasses. Lord Endo nodded again. "Very well," he said.

Tavi glimpsed the feathered hair ornament bobbing in his direction through the crowd.

Now? Now? Now?—

—Soon! Fly high, above the crowd, would you? Make yourself inconspicuous.

Tavi and the hair ornament were reunited just as the orchestra struck up again. They swirled onto the floor. Halfway across the room, Savina and Aki-san were dancing, too. Tavi peered past the feathers and saw Twiggy's eyes closed and her lips moving as she cast a spell.

Tavi sensed the surge of Twiggy's arcane magic pulse through the room to the tiny quivering bird above them. He risked a glance. Phoebe was gone—invisible.

Pheebs? Guess what?

NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

There was a rush of air as she whizzed over Tavi’s head, too small for anyone else to notice.

The room danced on.

"Isn't Signora Savina lovely?" boomed Kormick's voice above the music. The Justicar was gesturing expansively toward Savina and Aki-san. "A beautiful young woman, and she moves with such grace! Look at her!" Heads turned; faces smiled at Savina as she twirled. The dancers nearby parted to give her special space.

Signora Feathered Head spared a glance before pinning Tavi with her gaze. "My father owns most of the Lowland Marsh of the Dun-Colored Mudflats," she commented. "Perhaps you've heard of it?"

Out of the corner of his eye, Tavi saw Aki-san flinch violently.

Perching on his nose!

Aki-san jerked his hand free of Savina's and slapped himself in the face.

Hopping on his head! Hopping on his head!

People stared. Nyoko gave Aki-san an exaggeratedly shocked expression and immediately turned away, gesturing to the people around her not to look, not to stare. Of course, such an example of an Adept's decorum only made them stare harder.

And looping! And ear-buzzing! And more looping!

Aki-san was still dancing, sort of, but he was also twitching and jerking and fluttering his hands like…well, like a man under assault by an invisible hummingbird, Tavi thought. People were now laughing. Some of the drunker ones were pointing.

Savina performed perfectly, acting more and more flustered but struggling to keep dancing as her partner flailed and ducked. Never breaking stride, she danced right into his wide-open hands—

—emitted the sweetest, most ladylike shriek Tavi had ever heard—

—and startled backward like a fawn, eyes wide, mouth open, hand fluttering to her bosom.

Aga Aki-san, third son of the Governor of Cauldron, stood with both hands frozen in mid-air, the object of the room's gaze. The music died just in time to let everyone hear him clearly: "I—I didn't mean to touch your—oh my!"

Phoebe was laughing uncontrollably in Tavi's head. He fought to keep his own face straight. Get out of there, Pheebs. Back to me, quick. And… well done.

In the sudden stillness, Savina stared at Aki, giving him nothing—no reassurance, no help. The thought crossed Tavi's mind: She's… really good at this.

Arden edged closer to her mistress, apparently quaking with horror-struck fear. Mena got there first, pushing her way in as if to defend Savina bodily and spitting at Aki: "Sixteen! She's only sixteen!"

"I'm sorry! I—I didn't—there was—I don't know—I'm sorry!" Aki looked even more terrified faced with Mena. Tavi bowed curtly to the feathered hair ornament and stalked over to the scene himself, gripping the hilt of his wakizashi for good measure while Phoebe came in for a safe landing in the folds of his cloak.

Tavi arrived at the same moment as their host, Lady Funaki. Aki stammered new apologies to her, but she cut him off with a glare and a raised hand. Her cheeks were flushed with anger. She bowed to Savina. "I am heartbroken at this unseemly disruption," she said, "but, in the spirit of the holiday, might I dare beg you to grace my unruly guest with your forgiveness?"

Savina drew herself up very straight, swallowed, and said, "You are an incomparably gracious host, and the fault is not yours." She cast a cool glance at the abject man beside her, then turned back to Lady Funaki. "I trust that the offense itself was unintentional, but I—I'm quite shaken. Perhaps you might show me to a room where I could collect myself?"

"Thank you for your great courtesy," Lady Funaki bowed. "Come with me—I shall lead you personally. This way." Mena put her arm around Savina protectively, Tavi quickly fell in beside them, and Arden followed behind. The crowd parted. This was it—Savina had smoothly accomplished not just the fall of Aga Aki-san, but a private audience with the Head of the Ring of Peerage.

Oh! More fun!!!

You were perfect, Pheebs, but I really need you to be quiet for this one.

As they were about to leave the ballroom, Lord Endo waylaid Tavi. They stepped to one side. Lord Endo opened his mouth to speak, paused, pulled his glasses off, and frowned at the floor.

…Uh, oh…

Endo raised his stern-as-stone face to Tavi. "I have not laughed that hard in a long time," he stated flatly. "You have my support."

Um, Tavi? I'm not sure he knows what "laughing" means.

Tavi gave Lord Endo a farewell bow—and gave Phoebe a mental I'm with you, but let's take his word for it—before jogging to catch up with Lady Funaki and the others.

The noblewoman escorted them into a small private parlor.

"Now truly," said Lady Funaki to Savina, "are you all right?"

Savina nodded. "Actually," she began, "though the cause is unpleasant, we're very glad to have the opportunity to speak with you privately about—about another matter entirely."

Lady Funaki blinked, faced with the suddenly intense expressions of four heathens.

"I don't know if you've heard of our becoming Inquisitors," Tavi began, "or of the group calling themselves the Restless Tide of the One True Path."

Now Lady Funaki looked distinctly wary. "We come to ask for your assistance," Savina resumed. She explained what they had learned about the Tide so far—and the threat such terrorists represented to Cauldron's peace—concluding with the revelation that the Head of the Ring of the Priesthood was the leader of the Tide in Cauldron.

"And Lord Ono recruited you—a team of heathens—to go the long way around the Circle for him," Lady Funaki surmised. "Lord Ono is playing a deep game." She studied Savina and Tavi's faces. "Perhaps too deep for the Peerage to support, especially since we have seen no serious manifestation of the threat you say exists."

"Blessed Daughter, if I may be bold to speak?" Arden murmured.

"Would you allow my servant to speak?" asked Savina.

At Lady Funaki's nod, Arden began. "May it please you, my Lady, I've infiltrated the Tide, spent time with them, talked to them. They're revolutionaries. You should hear them mock the peerage. They think you've surrendered your old prestige, that you don't deserve your power. They want it for themselves."

Lady Funaki stared. "Infiltrated the… Lord Ono is playing a very deep game," she repeated. "You are prepared to bear witness to this?"

"In Kettenek's name I swear it, my Lady," said Arden.

"Kettenek is holy to us," said Lady Funaki, continuing her piercing stare at Arden. "What is holy to you?"

Arden looked back at her. "Kettenek," she answered shortly. "Also the three others." The slave was convincing, Tavi had to give her that, but her tone had become cool enough to be insolent. Savina interjected immediately. "What my servant means, Lady Funaki-san, is that we worship all four gods, and that we share in common with you the belief that Kettenek is the arbiter of truth, justice, and honesty."

"In other words, Arden has spoken the truth," added Mena. "In addition, we have a great deal of testimony and evidence of acts by the Tide subverting the power of noble houses that has been formally Witnessed by the Adepts."

Lady Funaki gave Mena a quick nod and returned her full focus to Tavi and Savina. That was good, Tavi thought, because otherwise she would have seen Mena roll her eyes at what the noblewoman said next: "Signor Octavian, Signora Savina. Like me, you bear the honor and burden of the high blood in your veins, and you have proven it by your bearing in our city. For your sake, and to defend the pride of our houses, The Peerage of Cauldron will support your mission."

"You are as wise as you are gracious, my Lady," said Savina.

"Thank you," added Tavi, "on behalf of the di Raprezzis as well as the Inquisition."

"Do not thank me," she said. "If you are correct, then the Tide mocks the Lord High Regent. The Peerage must respond. And I must return to my guests. I congratulate you on your resourcefulness in this matter. Take your time composing yourself, Signora Savina."

With that, she swept out of the room.

Savina sank into a chair. "Tavi?" she asked. Her voice wavered, and Tavi saw that she was shaking all over.

"You were great," he told her.

"Indeed you were," said Mena. Savina could only nod.

Eventually, they returned to the party. Not long after, as the hour of sunrise approached, the dancing grew sporadic, the final song was played, and the guests said their good-byes, drifting out into the cool pre-dawn dimness.

The party's carriage let them off in the silent street before the Inn. As the horse's hooves clattered away in the gray light, Kormick surveyed Savina. "Lying," he said, "has given you a lovely glow."

Tavi chuckled as Savina stammered, "Well, I—I shan't make a habit of it. But thank you!"

As she walked on ahead toward the Inn, Kormick leaned toward Tavi. "You laugh, you laugh," he said. "But if you'd pursued things with her, she would have eaten you alive."

Up ahead, suddenly, a man stepped out of the shadows, blocking their way into the Inn's gate. He wasn't Sovereign. And he was raising his hands to cast—

"Ambush!" snapped Mena, as footsteps on the cobblestones heralded several more dark figures running up behind the group. "Rose! Behind me!"

Oh wow, Tavi, I didn't think this night could get any more exciting…but it just did!

 

[Kuritaki]

Perching on his nose! Hopping on his head! Hopping on his head! And looping! And ear-buzzing! And more looping!

Um, Tavi? I'm not sure he knows what "laughing" means.

Oh wow, Tavi, I didn't think this night could get any more exciting…but it just did!

Pheebs is glorious and GREAT!

Kormick surveyed Savina. "Lying," he said, "has given you a lovely glow."

Kormick is also great.
As always a wonderful update

 

[Ilex]

The recent delay in updating is entirely my fault... I'd like to say I've exclusively been working super hard but I have also, let's face it, been spending my free time on some delightful summertime naps.

Unlike yours truly, here in the story hour, our characters are feeling pretty seriously sleep-deprived.....

 

[Ilex]

23x03

It was not the first time Kormick had faced the prospect of a street brawl after a night of carousing, but he was both uncharacteristically sober and uncharacteristically hungry after his performance as Tavi's servant at the party. This made the prospect less exhilarating.

Three attackers—two men and a woman—were closing in from behind them. Next to Kormick, Mena drew her sword and narrowed her eyes at the man wearing glasses who blocked their way forward. "You," she said. "I know you from somewhere…"

"Excellent. Let's find a bar," Kormick said. "Friends should have a drink before murdering each other in the gutter."

There was a yelp from behind him. Nyoko had just shot the female attacker, a fashion-plate blonde whose expression of fury read, "You got blood on my dress, you bitch." On cue, energy began to crackle between the spread hands of Glasses.

Sober murder it is, then, Kormick sighed.

One of the other two male attackers—slight, dressed all in black—appeared like a shadow at Tavi's side, threw a cord around Tavi's neck, and pulled. "Hit him, Tavi!" yelled Mena, and in response to this unquestionably solid advice, Tavi jammed his sword straight backward and grazed the grappler, who grunted but didn't let go.

The final combatant—a burly man—charged Arden, bashing her with a flaming mace, just as the blonde flung out her hands and shot two lightning bolts. One bolt jittered over Nyoko's skin and the other one similarly convulsed Twiggy.

So now Nyoko and Twiggy were shocked, Tavi was being strangled to death, and the murder slave was concussed or on fire or both.

"You really don't want to make this more unpleasant," commented Glasses, letting loose with some kind of rippling energy that made both Savina and Twiggy scream and collapse to the road like puppets with strings cut.

Seeing Savina drop like that reminded Kormick of his sister. His sister at the end. Limp on the floor. The strength of fury began to overtake him.

"And you really, really shouldn't have attacked the Alirrian priestess," he answered. He strode forward with a warhammer in each hand and saw fear behind the glasses.

He slammed Glasses in the side of the head and, as the man slumped, caught him on the other side with a hammer to the ribs. Now he saw fear and pain, and that was even better. He crossed the hammers together and snapped his sister's name – "Elizabette." A surge of brilliant wrath leapt out between the hammers and engulfed the man before him.

Suddenly Mena was beside him, a furious gorgeous avenging angel. Her sword took Glasses in the leg as he dodged backward.

DM’s Note: That attack by Kormick, by the way, was something like at least one crit plus an action point, for a total of 60+ points of damage in a single round. Yet another beautiful moment where jonrog1’s dice decided to back up his role-playing.​

Savina dragged herself to her knees and, from there, prayed down Alirrian's wrath on the man grappling with Tavi. The man hauled Tavi around and used the kid's body to absorb the strike. "No!" cried Savina. Tavi looked close to unconsciousness.

"Wake up, Tavi!" yelled Mena. "Your duty isn't dead unless you are!" Tavi's eyes cleared and his knees looked less buckle-y. So spectacularly… terrifying… Kormick thought, fondness for Mena welling up amidst his rage.

That was when the girl in couture blasted both him and Mena with lightning. The shock hurt like Gert the Bloody Auntie’s time-honored pliers procedure back home, but worse, it screwed up Kormick's brain's ability to issue various fairly important orders to his body – orders like, "Take a step," or "don't go limp." Mena reeled sideways and Kormick felt his limbs quivering. He couldn't move. He was barely hanging onto basic sphincter functions.

He could watch, though, as the guy with the flaming mace hammered Arden some more, then—chillingly—turned his attentions to Rose. Rose screamed as the mace wielder grabbed her by the hair and dragged her away from the fight. So, Kormick realized, though helpless to do anything about that realization, they're here for Rose.

Arden slashed at Rose's would-be abductor as he went, but it was shaping up to be a horrible, horrible day until, in an eyeblink, Tavi teleported away from his attacker's arms and landed next to Rose. He tore the man away from his sister, growled, "You're mine," and almost sliced the man's arm off with a flash of his flaming sword.

Kormick was so inspired that he successfully lifted his foot to take a step—

—but Glasses hit him and Mena with a shockwave of magical something-or-other. Suddenly it wasn't dawn, it felt like high noon, how time flies when we're having fun, and the summer sun plummeted down, developed fangs, and bit off the top of his skull.

So… that hurt.

Kormick shook the psychic vision from his eyes and saw Rose follow her brother’s lead and teleport away from her would-be captor and into an alley beside the Inn. The man who had tried to strangle Tavi glimpsed Rose, too, and took off after her. Twiggy flung out a hand holding a gleaming orb and knocked the man off his feet with a blast of invisible force. Kormick could guess how the guy felt as he slammed to the pavement, but that didn't mean Kormick pitied him. Twiggy, apparently feeling as irritated as Kormick, spun around with a firm gesture and ignited her flaming sphere. It swallowed both the blonde girl and the mace guy. They staggered out of the flames. The blonde girl's fancy clothes were now satisfyingly charred. The mace guy, though, seemed untouched. Damn fire resistance, Kormick thought.

Kormick didn't feel strong enough for the warhammers yet, but he yanked his dagger out of his belt and threw it, murder-slave style, at Glasses. Glasses hadn't been expecting that: Kormick heard him grunt "Ehkt's Balls!" as the dagger grazed his cheek. There was a flash as Glasses teleported, reappearing farther away down the road. "Don't go!" Kormick hollered after him. "I'm not done murdering you yet!"

"I've seen this coward before," Mena said, still looking a little dizzy as she stared down the road at Glasses. The sight of her swaying body unnerved Kormick, but then her voice grew stronger. "At the Questors. That's where."

"Which Questors?" Kormick asked. "Here in Cauldron?"

"Yes. I'm sure of it," she spat. Then she wheeled around, saw Tavi locked in a fierce battle against the mace-wielder, and yelled, "Hit that hateful man, Tavi!"

Kormick grinned. There can't be too much wrong with the world if Dame Mena still has time to get angry.

The mace-wielder swung, sending ripples of fire toward Tavi. Tavi was unhurt. Two could play the fire resistance game.

The mace guy looked peeved about that.

He looked a little more peeved when Arden stabbed him in the back.

And he looked unconscious when Tavi seized the moment to clobber him over the head with his sword's pommel. "One down!" Tavi called.

A rush of chaotic energy—it was high noon again—and that gods-damned toothy carnivorous sun came dropping down from a desert sky on another mission from its gods-damned glasses-wearing master. The leering fireface licked Kormick's eyeballs and left him blind.

It wasn’t just Kormick, this time. "I can't see!" he heard Twiggy scream through the searing pain and all-consuming white-hot glow. "Me neither—Alirria!" He heard Savina begin to pray, but he also heard the ragged edge of agony in her throat. She was hurting as much as he was. He was grateful to hear her voice grow clearer as she finished the prayer, and from Twiggy's shout of thanks, he knew they were both healed.

In his case… the world still consisted of searing white light. Still, Kormick figured that Glasses must have sneaked back to the front lines while he and Mena had been watching Tavi duke it out with the mace-wielder. That meant that Glasses was probably still nearby. Yes—he could practically hear the coward snivelling. Kormick heaved up a hammer, and swung blindly once. Nothing.

Again.

"Oh, you wouldn't hit a man with glasses, would—?"

Slam. The hammer found flesh.

"I do, in fact, hit men with glasses," Kormick said. He swung again but found nothing: the wiseguy had probably teleported again.

Kormick listened, hard. He could hear the others still tangling with the blonde girl and the grappler. He heard lightening bolts, grunts of effort, Tavi's sword spinning with its characteristic flamey crackle, cries of pain, Mena shouting instructions, Twiggy incanting.

He didn't hear sniveling.

He waited, hands gripping the hammers.

He heard the blonde girl scream, "Catch me if you can, then!" and the sound of bespoke shoes racing away on the pavement. The sound of boots went after them. A scramble and second footrace suggested that the grappler was bolting, too, with someone in hot pursuit.

"Ah well. Not today, then," said the voice of Glasses, very close. Kormick spun in a circle with the hammer—still blind—but got nothing. He heard the man's footsteps as Glasses began his escape.

With spectacular timing, Savina's voice rang out over the running footsteps, praying for healing. In an instant, Kormick's eyes were clear and his strength returned. He charged after the robed man.

"Stop running!" he yelled.

"No!" returned Glasses.

"Jan! Hit Four-Eyes for me!" added Mena, and Kormick put on a burst of speed and walloped Glasses in the gut.

Glasses grunted, staggered, and then returned with a punch so adorably telegraphed and slow moving that Kormick didn't even bother to dodge. The man's fist wavered closer to Kormick's jaw—and then turned into that blazing gods-damned head-biting—and set his teeth, jaw, nose, and eyes on fire and filled his sinuses with magma.

Kormick fell back, hands clapped to his skull. He heard Glasses say "Tsk-tsk," before sprinting away. He dimly saw, down the road, the others returning from footraces empty-handed. The mace guy was their only prisoner, and Kormick's head was going to explode. He leaned forward and puked stupendously.

And this, he concluded, is the problem with brawling sober. You still get the hangover, but you never savored the buzz.

 

[coyote6]

Hey, belated congratulations to Fajitas on the Leverage ep. Great fun!

But, man, GMing for your boss has got to be hard. "Uh of course Kormick crits on a 16. Any word on raises?"

Sent from my MB860 using Tapatalk

 

[Fajitas]

Thanks, Coyote! Glad you enjoyed.

GMing for the boss isn't too bad. The harder part is not geeking out about the game while at work...

 

[ellinor]

24x01

A breeze ruffled the torn jerkin of the beaten Questor at Tavi’s feet. The sun was rising.

Staring at the Ehktian holy symbol hanging around the man’s neck, Tavi was sure he knew what was going on here . . . but he wasn’t ready to admit it, even to himself.

“Should we take him back to the Inquisition for questioning?” Twiggy asked.

“Or there’s an alley right there,” Savina replied, pointing.

“Savina, my dear,” Kormick said, “are you suggesting we drag an unconscious man into an alley to interrogate him? How far you’ve come.”

Tavi grabbed the man under the shoulders, pulled him into the alley, and threw a bucket of something – it was water, once – over the man’s face. “Wake up,” he barked.

The man gurgled and opened his eyes.

Time for answers, Tavi thought. “Why did you attack us?”

“For the bounty.”

Tavi’s bad feeling about this instantly grew worse. “Who offered the bounty, and what are the terms?”

“Some Hennan family. Di something. Offered fifty thousand gold for the capture of . . .” the man propped himself up on an elbow and looked around. His eyes finally settled on Rose. “Her. Capture her, bring her to the Temple of the Questors in Pol Henna, ask for ‘Lira.’ ” He slumped back down and closed his eyes. “The notice said not to kill anyone. We didn’t kill anyone. —Did we?”

The man passed out again. Tavi, his bad feeling confirmed, squelched the urge to kick him—this man wasn’t the real target of his anger.

“Fifty thousand gold. Wind’s ,” Mena swore and smacked the wall beside her, mirroring Tavi’s feelings perfectly. “So every Questor from here to Pol Henna is looking for us.”

“Probably on the other side of Pol Henna, too,” Kormick pointed out.

“Diego said our mother was under control. He must have been wrong,” Tavi told Rose.

“This bounty was set by your mother?” Nyoko gasped. “What kind of sick woman would put a bounty on her own child?”

Tavi had asked that question, or variations on it, many times himself. He knew the answer. “A desperate one, who thinks it is the best way to protect Rose. She’s wrong about that, but she doesn’t know it.” He reached in his mind for a memory in which his mother let anyone else make a decision about Rose. He couldn’t find one. “She probably never will.”

In retrospect, Tavi couldn’t be surprised that their mother had taken such drastic steps. When she had herself left home at 16, trying to escape the marriage her father had arranged for her, her father had done the same thing to try to bring her back. Tavi had hoped she would avoid emulating her father’s heavy-handed abuse. He now saw that she was beyond caring about heavy-handedness.

Tavi put his arm around Rose’s shoulder and squeezed.

For a moment, all was quiet. But the sun was up now, and carts clattered in the distance. They had their answers. They bound the Questor and brought him to the Hall of the Inquisition to be dealt with.

As they explained what had happened, Lord Ono sat behind his desk, his head in his hands. He pressed his thumbs against his temples before looking up.

“Some Inquisitors are capable of going their entire careers without being attacked. You’ve been attacked twice in three months.”

“We understand how unusual this is, Lord Ono-san,” Tavi replied, as deferentially as possible. “It appears that our mother has set a reward for Rose’s return to Pol Henna. But we understand the importance of our work here in Cauldron and wish to continue it. We do not want to create any inconvenience for the Inquisition.”

Lord Ono got a far-away look in his eyes. “I long for the days of mere ‘inconvenience.’” He paused. “But we must put a stop to this at once. An attack on Signora di Raprezzi-san is an attack on the Inquisition, and it is unacceptable.” Lord Ono rang a bell near his shoulder. In a few seconds, a runner appeared. “Fetch Yudai and Mawu,” Lord Ono said.

###

Savina recognized the first of the two names. Prime Inquisitor Yudai had led the initial Inquest into the Hillside District, and had allowed the Alirrian heresy there to continue.

“I don’t know where Yudai-san personally comes down on the Affirmation,” Lord Ono said, as if reading Savina’s mind, “but he is a servant of the Inquisition and Kettenek. When it comes to ending an attack on the Inquisition, he’ll be helpful.”

“And . . . Mawu?” Savina asked.

“Mawu-san is exceedingly good at her job,” Lord Ono replied, cryptically.

“What is her job?”

“Torture,” said Lord Ono.

At that moment, the two Inquisitors arrived. As Lord Ono discussed the situation with them, Savina took in their appearances. Prime Inquisitor Yudai was in his late 40s or early 50s, with salt-and-pepper hair and a goatee. He seemed almost to blend into the environment, with a look as gray and nondescript as his robes. Chief Questioner Mawu was an older woman, short and rounded, with deep wrinkles, steel-gray hair, and intense, heavy-lidded eyes. From her shoulder hung a folded leather case, which she stroked in an apparently absent-minded gesture.

Yudai bowed. “I am Prime Inquisitor Yudai.” He turned to Savina. “Signora Savina-san, I understand we are indebted to you for two reasons: your work in Hillside and your role in last night’s drama. I am sure you did not enjoy being groped by Aga Aki-san, but I assure you his embarrassment was enjoyed by many of us.”

Savina was surprised by his genial nature. She was not ready to warm up to him, but it was a start.

Mawu made no introduction, but continued to stare and stroke her leather case. Occasionally she whispered something inaudible, as if comforting an unseen pet.

Savina didn’t doubt that she was good at her job.

Lord Ono waved them off. “Go. Find the perpetrators. Do what you need to. Send a message that this will not be tolerated.”

###

Outside Lord Ono’s office, they hesitated. How does one stop an entire city from pursuing a bounty, and apprehend the attackers, all at once? Finally, Kormick voiced what was hiding in everyone’s mind: “We need to get more information from our prisoner. He passed out before we really got going.”

For the first time in their acquaintance, Mawu spoke. Her mouth smiled, but her voice was hard and even, like a spade dragged against rock. “Would you like me to ask him some questions?”

Twiggy shivered. It was a question to which every answer was wrong.

As they descended the stairs to where the Questor was being held, Yudai peppered them with questions about the Questors’ practice of pursuing bounties and rewards.

“We’re not trying to stop them from pursuing bounties generally, just from attacking the Inquisition,” Twiggy said. The Affirmation protected legal Ehktian activity, including the pursuit of appropriate bounties. After his errors in Hillside District, however, Twiggy didn't quite trust Yudai to understand that they weren’t here to prosecute Ehktians for being Ehktians. “We bear no ill will toward the Questors.”

“Ill will is irrelevant, Twiggy-san,” Yudai responded. “Sometimes we show mercy by cutting off hands and feet.”

“Hands and feet,” Mawu repeated, softly, stroking her leather case.

Twiggy wondered what they had gotten themselves into.

###


Tavi watched the cage as Kormick cranked it up into sight. Inside, the Questor was awake, and pacing the two-step diameter of the cage.

“What else do you want to know?” the Questor volunteered. Tavi wondered if Mawu’s assistance would be necessary, after all.

“Your name, who you were working with, how you met them,” he snapped.

“I’m Tavek. The boss man – he’s the one with glasses – we never got his name. The woman is Odelette. We met at the Questor chapter house. Boss man said we could share the bounty if we worked together.”

Kormick strode over. “That’s three names. There were four of you.”

Tavek crossed his arms. “I’ve been very cooperative,” he said, and shrugged.

“And you think you can stop now?” Mena stepped forward. “You put our friend in danger for a paycheck, and you lost. It’s over. You want a challenge? Try being honest.”

Tavek cocked his head defiantly. “I have been honest, I assure you.”

Kormick stood very close to Tavek. “Understand: you need to tell us everything you know.” He gestured at Yudai and Mawu. “I’m from the murder capital of the Eastern Continent and these people terrify me.”

Tavek made no move to speak.

Kormick waved to Mawu with the international gesture for “he’s all yours.”

Mawu unfolded her leather case. Inside there was a series of shiny metal instruments. Mawu purred at them like pets. She pulled out a few long needles, so thin they were difficult to see. “Tavek-san,” she said, “you had better come with us.” She unlocked the cage and turned the needles so they caught tiny glints of light. “My friends and I have some questions for you.” She walked slowly toward a nearby door and—eyes wide—Tavek followed. Nyoko, following Mawu’s nonverbal signals with a look of resignation, followed as well. Tavi recalled one of Nyoko’s early descriptions of the Adept’s responsibilities as Witnesses: “see everything, hear everything, be prepared to testify.” Tavi wasn’t sure he had realized, fully, what that entailed until this moment.

“She’ll find out what he knows,” said Yudai, after they’d left.

The minutes passed slowly as they waited. Eventually, Nyoko emerged, pale, from the side door. Mawu and Tavek followed immediately after her. “Such a dramatic response from such tiny instruments,” Nyoko whispered to Tavi, quiet enough that Tavi thought no one else could hear.

“It is a technique based on acupuncture,” Mawu answered, as she slid the needles back into their spaces in the leather case. Tavi tucked “super-sensitive hearing” away in his memory.

Nyoko reported the answers she had witnessed. The name of the fourth attacker was Ellisen, and he and Tavek were romantically involved. At sundown, they had planned to escape through tunnels in the North of the city and rendezvous with the other attackers at a place in the Ketkath known as the “silent waterfall.” Odelette had her own so-called “foolproof way of evading the law,” which Tavek did not know, but he knew that she had been staying at the Inn of Opulent Luxury. The man with glasses had not described an escape plan at all: he’d said he planned to “walk out the main gate of the city.”

“That is all he knows,” Nyoko said. “Truly.”

 

[Fajitas]

In the interests of full disclosure and general amusement, I should probably mention that in this session, Yudai and Mawu were played by my father and mother respectively.

I should also say that nothing I have ever done in the campaign freaked my players out as much as my mother's role-playing of Mawu...

...until very, very recently, that is.

 

[StevenAC]

“This bounty was set by your mother?” Nyoko gasped. “What kind of sick woman would put a bounty on her own child?”

I really hope Nyoko gets to meet Lira at some stage -- with spyscribe playing both parts...

The Rose in the Wind Story Hour page has now been updated with the latest five chapters. 44 pages of Skill Cascade goodness... enjoy!

 

[spyscribe]

I really hope Nyoko gets to meet Lira at some stage -- with spyscribe playing both parts...

The "What kind of maniac...?!?" line was all kinds of fun. Nyoko doesn't have any living blood relations that she knows of, and the idea that a women would send bounty-hunters after her own children... Nyoko doesn't have emotional outbursts frequently, but when she does, she makes them count. Between that and witnesses Mawu at work, it was an emotionally fraught evening for the poor girl.

While I wouldn't be surprised if Nyoko and Lira were to someday meet, I handed Lira over to fajitas at the beginning of the new campaign. So no chance of double-duty on that front. Not that it won't be weird enough to have fajitas playing her. (For both of us, I suspect.)