Metropolis (Slaves to the City) - Chapter Two

[hafrogman]

Quoth hops across the floor to look at Nikolai, "There's someone outside shooting at you!" All is silent for the moment, with only the slight noise of feathers being rustled as Quoth walks around on the floor in his own little world.

Nikolai sighs slightly at his familiar. It was so easy to forget that the bird, while far more intelligent than a normal raven, would still loose a battle of wits against a stuffed iguana. He keeps his wand at the ready, but relaxes his grip on it. He reaches out with one hand and fastens the lock on his window. Catching his breath he makes his way down the stairs into the front room of the antique shop.

 

[Fenris]

[sblock]OOC: Not unless you keep buckets of water lying around for any practical purpose...
Intimidate check (DC 10) +14 - Success
[/sblock]

The children look at each other in confusion for a moment before lowering their blades, though not dropping them completely. Wasp glances back at the others before addressing Jovik once more. "You are our...father?"

Jovik drops to his knees, crying out "Yes, of course I am!" he beckons Lotvis and Squeeker, the two children who first came to their senses to him, "Come here, come here my boys, I will make things alright for you" As they approach Jovik reaches out to embrace them. "Don't you see how much you all mean to me?" he says to the remaining boys plantively.

 

[Phoenix]

Ru smiles, the tension in his shoulders already easing as he takes a bite of the biscuit. He'd always been one to gulp everything down, worried about filling up while he had the chance rather than savoring the act of eating. Like so many other things in Ru's life, studying under Master Gis has changed this, as well.

Ru takes his time finishing the biscuit, sipping the tea, letting their flavor wash through him, indulging for these few minutes. When he's done, he returns the cup and saucer to the waiting Gis, then bows his head deeply in respect. Only then does he speak.

"As usual, Master Gis, you seem uncannily aware of what I need. Thank you."

Despite the newfound bubble of calm within him, Ru presses on, grimacing slightly. "I've gotten myself in trouble again. I'm sure you're not surprised. Ari's set me the task of somehow backing the Killi-kelli-hek out of the Red Lamp district. Obviously, no brute squad I could put together would take them out. And you can't just throw money at them.

"But there has to be ... I mean, they're people, right? There has to be some way to communicate with them, to win their respect or their fear or ... there has to be something that drives them beyond madness. Otherwise, they'd have done themselves in ages ago. I just don't know where to even start looking to find that out.

"I'm open to advice or contacts you might have, though I also wouldn't blame you for sending me on my way for getting myself in this mess in the first place."

Ru cracks a smile, adding "I don't suppose you have a rare, herbal cure for cannibalism hidden around here anywhere?"

Master Gis smiles as Ru displays his thoughts, before his training Ru may have attempted a frontal assault on the matter, using brute force instead of his mind. He was glad things were different now.

"To eat one's own kind is a disease of the mind. But do they do such a thing you should ask yourself. All creatures have a motivation, a need, a cosmic soul that drives them onwards. Why would these creatures seek other food if their numbers are so many? Why not simply eat each other?" He pours himself a cup of tea and sits, nibbling on a biscuit and watching Ru's reaction.

"Perhaps what you need is not a way to defeat these creatures, but a reason why they stray from their homes?"

 

[Phoenix]

Nikolai sighs slightly at his familiar. It was so easy to forget that the bird, while far more intelligent than a normal raven, would still loose a battle of wits against a stuffed iguana. He keeps his wand at the ready, but relaxes his grip on it. He reaches out with one hand and fastens the lock on his window. Catching his breath he makes his way down the stairs into the front room of the antique shop.

[sblock]Spot check (Nikolai DC hidden) +10 - Failure
Spot check (Quoth DC hidden) +18 - Failure?
[/sblock]

Making his way down into the shop, Nikolai has to duck as Quoth flies into the windowsill that looks out into the street. The raven turns in circles, looking all across the street squaking, "He's over there, he's over there, he's over there!" The fact that he never looks in the same place twice does little to help.

 

[Phoenix]

Jovik drops to his knees, crying out "Yes, of course I am!" he beckons Lotvis and Squeeker, the two children who first came to their senses to him, "Come here, come here my boys, I will make things alright for you" As they approach Jovik reaches out to embrace them. "Don't you see how much you all mean to me?" he says to the remaining boys plantively.

Lotvis and Squeeker shuffle away from the stranger children, embracing Jovik and staring back across the room at the others. "We remember him," Lotvis calls across to Wasp.

Wasp looks back blankly, "Then why is it that we do not?"

"Because you have just met him Wasp, Squeeker and I are coming back from the other way, we remember him from the first time."

Wasp looks confused, "How is it that we have only met him just now? I am...confused."

Lotvis looks sadly at Jovik, "I'm sorry sir, but there is nothing I can do..."

 

[jkason]

Master Gis smiles as Ru displays his thoughts, before his training Ru may have attempted a frontal assault on the matter, using brute force instead of his mind. He was glad things were different now.

"To eat one's own kind is a disease of the mind. But do they do such a thing you should ask yourself. All creatures have a motivation, a need, a cosmic soul that drives them onwards. Why would these creatures seek other food if their numbers are so many? Why not simply eat each other?" He pours himself a cup of tea and sits, nibbling on a biscuit and watching Ru's reaction.

"Perhaps what you need is not a way to defeat these creatures, but a reason why they stray from their homes?"

"But how do I find out--?" Ru stands suddenly, eyes lighting up as he's struck by a sudden inspiration.

"That's it. I've been thinking too big. I keep thinking about how I'm going to take on the entire Killi-kelli-hek, which is ridiculous. But if I could just get ahold of one of them..."

He cuts himself off before going further. Master Gis accepted that Ru had obligated himself to this life as an enforcer, and he believed a man must always live up to his obligations. He had, however, expressed his ... distaste for the specifics of Ru's work on more than one occasion.

Ru bows instead.

"Thank you again, master. Now, I need to make some preparations."

With that, Ru heads for the street. Ari's got boys good at nabbing folks. Since this was a charge directly from Ari, it shouldn't take much to get them on board. Once that was done, he'd just need a translator, since Ru himself didn't speak Dwarven. And if that translator was big and intimidatingly troll-shaped, why, that certainly couldn't hurt, now could it?

Ru hooked a right. First he needed to conscript the Ysnek twins. Sneaking and snatching was their specialty. Then maybe Scrab and Wos; they could do both ranged and up-close support pretty quiet. Then to see if the Vein's troll was willing to help with a little questioning.

And if he managed to make it through all that in one piece, Ru just had to track and capture a killer dwarf so he could ask it a few questions.

Ru slowed down. No, not the brilliant plan he'd first thought. But, well, he didn't have anything better, so he'd go with this until something else came along.

 

[Fenris]

Lotvis and Squeeker shuffle away from the stranger children, embracing Jovik and staring back across the room at the others. "We remember him," Lotvis calls across to Wasp.

Wasp looks back blankly, "Then why is it that we do not?"

"Because you have just met him Wasp, Squeeker and I are coming back from the other way, we remember him from the first time."

Wasp looks confused, "How is it that we have only met him just now? I am...confused."

Lotvis looks sadly at Jovik, "I'm sorry sir, but there is nothing I can do..."

Jovik's mind races to sort this out. "Lotvis, I am confused as well, where are you and coming back from? What in the nine hells did that guy in the yellow robe do to you boys! Wasp, remember! Remember how it was that you have the clothes on your back and the food in your belly. It was I who taught you what you know, it has been I, Jovik who has protected you in the alleys. Remember that big troll who wanted to take you home as a plaything? Who killed him? Me. You must remember these things all of you. We are a famility here,all of us, and we must always remember that and remain true to each other! Wasp, look at my eyes, as I have always taught you. See the truth in my eyes. Lotvik and Squeeker have remembered, fight back as I know you can, you are tough, you can beat what ever foul enchantment he has place on you. Fight it and remember!" Jovik is almost beside himself for Wasp to remember. If any of the boys wanted to leave, fine, but in this state how would they survive!?! They had to remember this, they had to remember him! Jovik silently swore a painful vengence on the yellow-robed man for this.

 

[Phoenix]

Jovik's mind races to sort this out. "Lotvis, I am confused as well, where are you and coming back from? What in the nine hells did that guy in the yellow robe do to you boys! Wasp, remember! Remember how it was that you have the clothes on your back and the food in your belly. It was I who taught you what you know, it has been I, Jovik who has protected you in the alleys. Remember that big troll who wanted to take you home as a plaything? Who killed him? Me. You must remember these things all of you. We are a famility here,all of us, and we must always remember that and remain true to each other! Wasp, look at my eyes, as I have always taught you. See the truth in my eyes. Lotvik and Squeeker have remembered, fight back as I know you can, you are tough, you can beat what ever foul enchantment he has place on you. Fight it and remember!" Jovik is almost beside himself for Wasp to remember. If any of the boys wanted to leave, fine, but in this state how would they survive!?! They had to remember this, they had to remember him! Jovik silently swore a painful vengence on the yellow-robed man for this.

Wasp simply looks at Jovik with pity and says: "Goodbye father."

The windows shatter inwards, spraying the room with dirty glass and scattering the boys. By the time Jovik recovered from the initial shock it was a simple matter to see that the men that had broken into his home had all the exits covered...the thieves' guild.
There were at least ten of them, all with their dirtied leathers and rusty daggers and swords drawn. By themself, hell even a small group of them, Jovik could easily deal with...but ten??

 

[Phoenix]

With that, Ru heads for the street. Ari's got boys good at nabbing folks. Since this was a charge directly from Ari, it shouldn't take much to get them on board. Once that was done, he'd just need a translator, since Ru himself didn't speak Dwarven. And if that translator was big and intimidatingly troll-shaped, why, that certainly couldn't hurt, now could it?

Ru hooked a right. First he needed to conscript the Ysnek twins. Sneaking and snatching was their specialty. Then maybe Scrab and Wos; they could do both ranged and up-close support pretty quiet. Then to see if the Vein's troll was willing to help with a little questioning.

[sblock]Diplomacy check (DC 12) +8 - Failure
Knowledge-local check (DC 8) +13 - Success
[/sblock]

The daylight that filtered through the clouds of dirt and smog that hung over the city began to fade as Ru tracked down the men that he required one by one. Unfortunately no matter what he managed to say, the thrill of hunting a cannabalistic dwarf seemed to increase the price of their usual services. Thirty golden crowns for the four men's services was required, and once their palms were lined with gold (half now, half later of course) they agreed to meet with Ru at Ari's compound later the next day, giving them plenty of time to prepare for the job ahead.

With the sun down on an...eventful day, Ru now had the option of heading to the Throbbing Vein now, when its clientelle was the rowdiest, or calling it a day.

 

[jkason]

[sblock]Diplomacy check (DC 12) +8 - Failure
Knowledge-local check (DC 8) +13 - Success
[/sblock]

The daylight that filtered through the clouds of dirt and smog that hung over the city began to fade as Ru tracked down the men that he required one by one. Unfortunately no matter what he managed to say, the thrill of hunting a cannabalistic dwarf seemed to increase the price of their usual services. Thirty golden crowns for the four men's services was required, and once their palms were lined with gold (half now, half later of course) they agreed to meet with Ru at Ari's compound later the next day, giving them plenty of time to prepare for the job ahead.

With the sun down on an...eventful day, Ru now had the option of heading to the Throbbing Vein now, when its clientelle was the rowdiest, or calling it a day.

[sblock]Is that 30 per man, or 30 total?[/sblock]

Without Ari's gift, the cost of doing business today would have been a painful hit. Certainly Ru wished he'd done better in negotiations, but if this all panned out, Ari's donation would still put him well ahead of the game, so he put it off as the cost of doing business.

As Ru's big selling point to the troll would be the way his efforts would make business run smoother, interrupting the man's rush hour would likely undermine Ru's position. No, best to leave the Vein to its affairs for tonight, and hope a good night's profits would leave the troll amenable to an early afternoon visit from Ru.

A hectic but productive day, Ru decided to end it before something new could crop up. He headed to the solitude of his own quarters to rest for what promised to be yet another crazed day tomorrow.