gideonpepys
Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.
Session 6 (129) - PART ONE: The Castle of the Sea Chiefs
They wrapped up their debriefing with Stover Delft, and waited for ritual scrolls to arrive (exchanging the expensive scrolls Gupta had been given for cheaper ones, and taking the balance in cash to help their railroad building). Uru sent an animal messenger to the four kids who were minding his garden, and Leon contacted his old cellmate Rock Rackus via sending, with a view to setting up some sort of performance in Ber. It included an idea for a new song. ‘18 Mile’. Inspired by Melissa Amerie, they hoped to get popular opinion on their side and thereby twist the arm of the Bruse.
Eventually the ritual scrolls arrived, along with a huge back-log of mail that Dima had not yet had time to work through. Stover also handed them a small, heavy metal ornament that had been sent to the RHC HQ yesterday, addressed to the unit. He had already had it checked to make sure it was not magical or dangerous. It turned out to be clockwork musical toy. On the outside it had elvish runes that (when the puzzle was solved) spelled out a word with no direct analogue in Risuri. It translated as ‘a debt of honour owed reluctantly’, and Xambria realised that the verb form indicated that ‘you’ (the bearer) owed the debt. When the box was opened, a lilting tune began to play as a small figure (a gnome?) turned into an object like a vase and back into a gnome again. Gupta recognised the ditty as ‘a fond remembrance’. A symbol representing a cog and a crown was worked into the inside of the lid.
They went their separate ways, with Xambria/Conquo and Uru taking Rumdoom to Renza; Leon taking Korrigan, Gupta & Melissa to Citado Cavallo. Just before they went, Stover took Korrigan aside and told him to warn Leon not to return to Flint or he would be arrested.
On arrival in Citado Cavallo, Melissa seemed to come alive and talked with youthful excitement about the time she spent in the seaside town as a child. She abandoned her trademark drollery and talked about the sea lords who served Cavallo and about his daughter Corta Nariz, who was the most respected of his inner circle and had been widely considered as a dependable successor to the Bruse. Melissa lamented that Corta had no real connection with the people, and would stand no chance while the rift between Shantus and her father persisted. She went on to add that Cavallo would take an enormous amount to persuade. He would need to save a lot of face before ever bending his knee.
Leon took his leave of the others and headed down into the town to look into the strange disease Kenna Vigilante had told him about, while the others approached the magnificent, towering fort. Figures appeared along its crenellations. Cavallo himself abused them from the battlements of his fort, calling them lapdogs of the Bruse and half-heartedly threatening to have them shot for daring to approach. “We are not your enemies,” was Korrigan’s terse response, while Gupta added irreverently, “We missed the last bit. Could you shout it again?” A half-giant woman with a powerful, resonant voice suggested that Cavallo admit them as ‘foreign dignitaries’. Cavallo agreed, but said he would meet them later after he had spent the rest of the morning teaching his granddaughter to wrestle.
They were shown to a suite of rooms overlooking the fleet. Their balcony was shared by Lya Jierre and she rose from her chair to greet the new arrivals. Fruit was laid out on a table alongside fresh, iced water. Gupta began munching insouciantly on an apple. Lya said she had no intention of playing along with the Bruse. As they would see, despite her earlier meeting with Cavallo, she had made no attempt to persuade him to attack Manhill. She pleaded with them to take this gesture as a sign of her good intentions and allow her to win. “We want to bring poor Tinker back into the fold. He isn’t well. We can bring him peace. Then, with his help, we can stop the golem’s rampage through the Dreaming. Can you say the same? Please believe me when I say that although your intentions are honourable, you are on the wrong side, and will find yourself judged poorly when the history of our times is written.” Korrigan said he was not interested in his place in history. He suggested she capitulate instead. Lya smiled and said she expected no less of him. They shook hands. Gupta asked Lya why she had attacked them if she meant them no harm. Lya apologised for Rush stepping out of line and said Merton just did as he was told by Rush. They shook hands too, and Lya clocked Gupta’s magical gloves with a sly grin. Or was it the damp from the apple core she responded to?
They wrapped up their debriefing with Stover Delft, and waited for ritual scrolls to arrive (exchanging the expensive scrolls Gupta had been given for cheaper ones, and taking the balance in cash to help their railroad building). Uru sent an animal messenger to the four kids who were minding his garden, and Leon contacted his old cellmate Rock Rackus via sending, with a view to setting up some sort of performance in Ber. It included an idea for a new song. ‘18 Mile’. Inspired by Melissa Amerie, they hoped to get popular opinion on their side and thereby twist the arm of the Bruse.
Eventually the ritual scrolls arrived, along with a huge back-log of mail that Dima had not yet had time to work through. Stover also handed them a small, heavy metal ornament that had been sent to the RHC HQ yesterday, addressed to the unit. He had already had it checked to make sure it was not magical or dangerous. It turned out to be clockwork musical toy. On the outside it had elvish runes that (when the puzzle was solved) spelled out a word with no direct analogue in Risuri. It translated as ‘a debt of honour owed reluctantly’, and Xambria realised that the verb form indicated that ‘you’ (the bearer) owed the debt. When the box was opened, a lilting tune began to play as a small figure (a gnome?) turned into an object like a vase and back into a gnome again. Gupta recognised the ditty as ‘a fond remembrance’. A symbol representing a cog and a crown was worked into the inside of the lid.
They went their separate ways, with Xambria/Conquo and Uru taking Rumdoom to Renza; Leon taking Korrigan, Gupta & Melissa to Citado Cavallo. Just before they went, Stover took Korrigan aside and told him to warn Leon not to return to Flint or he would be arrested.
On arrival in Citado Cavallo, Melissa seemed to come alive and talked with youthful excitement about the time she spent in the seaside town as a child. She abandoned her trademark drollery and talked about the sea lords who served Cavallo and about his daughter Corta Nariz, who was the most respected of his inner circle and had been widely considered as a dependable successor to the Bruse. Melissa lamented that Corta had no real connection with the people, and would stand no chance while the rift between Shantus and her father persisted. She went on to add that Cavallo would take an enormous amount to persuade. He would need to save a lot of face before ever bending his knee.
Leon took his leave of the others and headed down into the town to look into the strange disease Kenna Vigilante had told him about, while the others approached the magnificent, towering fort. Figures appeared along its crenellations. Cavallo himself abused them from the battlements of his fort, calling them lapdogs of the Bruse and half-heartedly threatening to have them shot for daring to approach. “We are not your enemies,” was Korrigan’s terse response, while Gupta added irreverently, “We missed the last bit. Could you shout it again?” A half-giant woman with a powerful, resonant voice suggested that Cavallo admit them as ‘foreign dignitaries’. Cavallo agreed, but said he would meet them later after he had spent the rest of the morning teaching his granddaughter to wrestle.
They were shown to a suite of rooms overlooking the fleet. Their balcony was shared by Lya Jierre and she rose from her chair to greet the new arrivals. Fruit was laid out on a table alongside fresh, iced water. Gupta began munching insouciantly on an apple. Lya said she had no intention of playing along with the Bruse. As they would see, despite her earlier meeting with Cavallo, she had made no attempt to persuade him to attack Manhill. She pleaded with them to take this gesture as a sign of her good intentions and allow her to win. “We want to bring poor Tinker back into the fold. He isn’t well. We can bring him peace. Then, with his help, we can stop the golem’s rampage through the Dreaming. Can you say the same? Please believe me when I say that although your intentions are honourable, you are on the wrong side, and will find yourself judged poorly when the history of our times is written.” Korrigan said he was not interested in his place in history. He suggested she capitulate instead. Lya smiled and said she expected no less of him. They shook hands. Gupta asked Lya why she had attacked them if she meant them no harm. Lya apologised for Rush stepping out of line and said Merton just did as he was told by Rush. They shook hands too, and Lya clocked Gupta’s magical gloves with a sly grin. Or was it the damp from the apple core she responded to?
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