Metropolis - The Weight of the World (and Found Wanting)

[GlassEye]

Continuing her pleasantries, the woman lifted the comb off its delicate bracket and handed it to Ymris. "As you can no doubt see, the shell is actually a composite of several pearls, delicately fitted onto a plate of ivory silversheen, electrum flecks decorating the frame."

She watched eagerly as Ymris studied it and tried it on, "The piece is currently valued at thirty-eight silvers." As an afterthought, or perhaps just to distract Ymris from the price, she continued, "Senor Draconis has his residence in this district, occassionally he takes visitors, as so few people of actual worth pass through these days."

"It is a beautiful piece." Reaching into the side pouch of her pack, Ymris withdraws a handful of coins and begins counting out 40 silvers. "I should like to know more about Senor Draconis," she says with the faintest of hints of a smile. "Before I decide whether he is someone I may wish to meet."

 

[Fenris]

Whale looked across at Alexi, "I'll go git the others." And with a nod of his helm he pulled his horse back upstream, leaving the Stag with the alluring woman who seemed all too familiar.

She walked slowly through the crowds, eventually raising one hand up to guide Alexi's great steed calmly past several savage dogs that were fighting over something...bloody. She pointed into the distance where a great pole rose up from the river's edge, eventually betraying the location of a large ship that was moored to an old dock.

It looked like several dozen ropes had been spiralled together and pulled tight, one end tied off on a huge metal weight imbedded into the street, the other tied off somewhere far across the river. The massive ropes ran through the vessel, as if to guide it across, it's huge sails providing the propulsion needed to move the thing.

"I hope you can afford the trip good knight, coppers and silvers won't pay your way here."

"We must cross and so we shall. Let us find the master that ship and see what he will charge us. I am sure that I or my friends can negotiate a resonable crossing price. Lead on Stephanie!" Alexi rode his horse as he watched this curious woman carefully. What was it about her that drew him to her? Her voice, her eyes, her countenance? Alexi pondered all this as he rode though the bustling streets.

 

[Komodo]

After the better part of five hours, Corbin opened an old barn door to reveal a large common. Rising into the beautiful blue sky a great tower, some ten floors tall, tentatively held its construction against the wear of time.

"Well," said Corbin cheerily as he pushed open the doors, "here we are!" He turned to smile at the group of tired soldiers. "How's everybody doing?" Still grinning, his bright eyes scanned the old courtyard with glee. He had been meaning to make the trek to the tower and see what sorts of adventure and excitement the old building held, and then these men had come along and given him the perfect excuse. Aside from the little scuffle with the land shark (of which the halfling had already mostly forgotten), this day looked to be shaping up quite well.

[sblock=OOC]Spot at +9 to look around for anything unusual or exciting.[/sblock]

 

[Scotley]

Jazick

It seemed like forever before Judith returned carrying a small wooden box in her hands. She sat down beside Jazick and trust it towards him. "Go on, open it, it's for you."

The box opened easily, revealing its secret contents to Jazick's eyes. A map, a map of the city, well...a large section of the city. He'd never seen one before, he'd never even heard of one before. There was Candlestick Lane, the Labyrinth, the Apartments, the Oracle, the Jestertan Canals, even...the Cathedral of Zsath. Resting at the bottom of the box was a strange device, something made out of glass with water inside it, and a sliver of metal. There was also a trading journal, charcoal, wax, a seal of somekind, dozens of sheets of parchment...

"It's my grandfather's things, from the old company. It doesn't help us much now, maybe you can find some use for it." Judith smiled, pointing at the glass bauble. "Granpy taught me all about that, it's like magic, but not. He called it a compass, some of his notes talk about it, I'm sure you'll be able to figure it out easy enough."

Jazick is momentarily struck dumb by the fabulous gift. "Oh Judith, this is marvelous. A fabulous gift." Implusively, his moves to kiss her cheek.

 

[Phoenix]

"Can you suggest a few good places to stay?" Jasmine asked. With things this quiet, either something was going down, or it was time to find a safe place to sleep for a bit. She knew she'd likely settle on one she recognized if she could, but she wanted to get a few names from the man, in case someone was following her. If she decided on one from his suggestions, she didn't let on. She sliped the man a little extra for his help, and headed out into the streets to see what was going on.

[sblock=ooc]Search/spot/listen, as well as a gather info if she spots people she can ask. Otherwise, she'll simply make her way to one of the inns he names.[/sblock]

The bargeman didn't even look up as Jasmine clambered up onto the docks, "No good places to stay 'round here no more..." He pushed his pole into the dock and shunted his barge out into the currents, drifting slowly away into the storm.

Rain poured through the empty streets and into the stormwater drains, emptying into the canals nearby. Not a soul wandered the cold streets this night, in fact Jasmine could not even see a single plume of smoke from the many smokestacks that dotted the neighbourhood.

The buildings were once great, displaying wealth and power comparative to the mightiest of the suburbs, but something happened not long ago to turn this place into a ghost town. Wandering down the well paved streets, doors crashed in the wind and shutters banged loudly around her. Something happened here obviously, something bad...

There was a strange noise echoing down one of the streets, a cackle? A shadow passed across a doorway, a dog of some kind, a large dog. At least something still lived here. Up ahead the great spyre wasn't far away, it couldn't hurt to take a quick look at the building before finding somewhere to rest.

Surrounding the mighty black cathedral's base was a large white mound, even from this far away the storm couldn't hide the fact that the mound was built of bones, thousands of bones left neatly in this strange formation.

 

[Phoenix]

"It is a beautiful piece." Reaching into the side pouch of her pack, Ymris withdraws a handful of coins and begins counting out 40 silvers. "I should like to know more about Senor Draconis," she says with the faintest of hints of a smile. "Before I decide whether he is someone I may wish to meet."

[sblock]Diplomacy check (DC 17) +25 - Critical Success[/sblock]

The elven woman smiled and diplomatically looked directly at Ymris, not distracted at all by the coins being counted out before her. "Well, Senor Draconis is a busy man, he facilitates a trade network with dozens of contacts in the nearby suburbs. He mainly trades in luxury items that are so hard to find for people in the more affluent regions of the city."

She thought for a moment before continuing, "If you are interested in some of his more expensive pieces, I could see if he is able to entertain guests."

 

[Phoenix]

"We must cross and so we shall. Let us find the master that ship and see what he will charge us. I am sure that I or my friends can negotiate a resonable crossing price. Lead on Stephanie!" Alexi rode his horse as he watched this curious woman carefully. What was it about her that drew him to her? Her voice, her eyes, her countenance? Alexi pondered all this as he rode though the bustling streets.

[sblock]Spot check (DC 12) +23 - Success
Intelligence check (DC 5) +15 - Success[/sblock]

Over an hour past before Whale returned with the other knights and the dockhands managed to locate the Captain of the vessel in one of the many taverns in the area. Still mostly sober, Dragon yelled at the man over the noise of the storm and the massive vessel creaking on the churning water.

The knight reached into his pouch and dug forth a handful of silver pieces and a more than a few gold, dropping them at the feet of the Captain in disgust. He pulled his mount in and approached the others, "He's charging us an arm and a leg, we're his only passengers. I'll be talking that out of our fee later."

Alexi barely heard past the first few words, for Stephanie had smiled at him and nodded a goodbye, walking into the crowd. He barely saw the Captain desperately scooping the coins off the ground, until he lifted a single gold coin and bit into it.

Alexi had seen many gold coins before in his life, dozens of them were minted in different places and times, showing no real association with each other (and sometimes varying weights as well) but each having similar buying power. The one that the Captain was biting was a rare one though, one that Alexi had found mesmerizing as a child.

On one side of the coin was an image of Metropolis, but the other was facing him and partially obscured by the Captain's teeth, though he knew what the image was all too well. It was Stephanie's face.

 

[Phoenix]

Jazick is momentarily struck dumb by the fabulous gift. "Oh Judith, this is marvelous. A fabulous gift." Implusively, his moves to kiss her cheek.

With little hesitation Judith blushed a little and tried not to shake as Jazick leaned forward. From behind her there was an almighty scream as six partially clothed children burst from the house and tumbled down into the mud in the streets, yelling and pulling each other's hair.

Judith was on her feet immediately, running down into the rain and pulling them off each other, chiding them and pointing back into the house. After less than a minute the fight was defused, but the moment was lost.

"I'm...I'm sorry Jazick. The box isn't so you can find where you're going anyway...it's so you can find your way home. Be safe..."

 

[Phoenix]

"Well," said Corbin cheerily as he pushed open the doors, "here we are!" He turned to smile at the group of tired soldiers. "How's everybody doing?" Still grinning, his bright eyes scanned the old courtyard with glee. He had been meaning to make the trek to the tower and see what sorts of adventure and excitement the old building held, and then these men had come along and given him the perfect excuse. Aside from the little scuffle with the land shark (of which the halfling had already mostly forgotten), this day looked to be shaping up quite well.

[sblock=OOC]Spot at +9 to look around for anything unusual or exciting.[/sblock]

Within the tower a massive construction of scaffolding covered the inside of the walls, hundreds of supports and ropes stretched across the open spaces, supporting a large iron pole. The pole plunged downwards into a shaft that plunged deep into the earth, down deeper than Corbin could see.

There were only three people in the tower, dressed in dirty tunics and pants, they were pouring over tablets, scrolls and what looked like metal plates joined in the corner by a great ring. Corbin and the soldiers didn't even disturb the three's conversation.

"No, you idiot! The inflection of the third chevron indicates that they intended the divine focus to be introvertial!"

"Look! If that is right, then tablet G3's entire focus alters from being of astrological significance to becoming an arcane meditative focus, which makes no sense!"

"I'm telling you, there is more to the Salt Scrolls than the cypher is telling us, if we compare the text to the tablets we'll see..."

 

[Fenris]

It was Stephanie's face.

Alexi was dumbstruck. He swore.

"Hold the boat a moment Draco!" he call over his shoulder as he wheeled Mikla to race after Stepahnie heedless of the crowd that was rapidly parting in front the the clattering of shod hooves.

His eyes scanned the crowd trying to find that bewitching face. Was she merely another vision from Metropolis? Was she a decendant of the Old Kings? Or perhpas merely one of the legendary shapeshifters. Or was he merely going crazy. In any case the puzzles were maddening. Legends and ancient peoples were springly to life around him. Something was stirring, something strange and ominous. But change brought opportunity and a merchant's instincts said to be near change to take advantage of it.

Stephanie was a key to this somehow, he had to find her, had to have her.