jkason said:
Ru cracked the knuckles on those 'possibly deadly hands,' cocked his head to the side, and smiled.
"Nice of you to have noticed," he says with a little pride. The fact was, though, that the gnome wasn't likely to be much more use at the present. The only reason Ru could manage to be more intimidating than a cult of death priests was pretty obviously because he was the only one in the room. No, if he wanted more information, he wasn't going to get it by trying to play Who Scares You More. He'd need to find a way to make the gnome feel safe, and that was, annoyingly, a trust game. Damnable thing about trust was how long it took to earn.
Ru reached into his bag again and snagged another orb. Trust took time and, more annoying, money. He flipped the coin over to the gnome.
"For your time and the risk. Should be enough to keep this little exchange private, yes?" That, and the knowledge he'd face that discipline he was talking about should he reveal what he'd told Ru.
"Before I get you in any more trouble, I'll go." At the door, Ru stops and turns around. "You get yourself in anything and need a place, head down to the Kanji and ask for Ru. You got a name, anyway, or they just call you Librarian?"
OOC:[sblock]Next bit assumes there's no more need for exchange beyond getting the gnome's name.[/sblock]
A name and potential ally left behind, Ru heads back home. Gantou's used to having Ru gone periodically on missions for Ari, so he should have the regular collection route covered for the day when Ru doesn't show. He'll need to send a message to Ari, though, catch him up on things.
The death priest puzzle's back burner now that he's exhausted the obvious avenues. Time to get back on the trail of the Key. Which means following his current best lead: hitting the newspaper and finding out where to locate this Ghost character.
"They call me Gerry, I'm one of the Loremasters around here." And with that, Ru was gone.
The Metropolis Herald was located within The Apartments, its main office high in the Salisan Spyre closest to Ashstone, high up on the forty-eighth floor. The damnable thing about the Spyres, was that there was no way to climb the stairs within with any actual speed or comfort. Ru shook his head, there was over a thousand stairs to climb today.
The Spyre was packed full of people, with the poorest dregs of society paying the pennies to sleep in the corridors, of the silvers to have their own chamber with a secure door, but little else.
As people climbed higher the rooms and corridors got better, though not by much. People just weren't interested in climbing so high from street level, but of course there were those that were not interesting in climbing down either.
Twice Ru had to slip into a corridor as a group of what he thought were halflings ran down the corridor chasing a stray cat. Once they past he knew his mistake, bloody kobolds, they'd live anywhere there was a chance of food, little more than vermin with opposable digits.
On the thirtieth floor he spotted an orc with wings, something he'd never seen before, but the Spyres of the Apartments were legendary, a world of their own actually. The flaming sword the creature had in one hand, and the body that he was chopping at that he held in the other, was enough to keep Ru walking the other way.
The door to the Metropolis Herald finally appeared before Ru, after hours of walking and avoiding psychotic residents. The door was well constructed, heavy to avoid intrusion, and even had a guard at the door!
The guard, standing a little over three feet tall, looked up at Ru. He was short, fat, and really ugly. There was something ambiguous about his race that confused Ru, he was kindof a dwarf, but not...
"Keep it walkin' sunshine, you ain't got no bisnus 'ere today..."
The man pointed a dagger in Ru's direction, waving it through the air as if drawing a pattern on Ru's chest.
