Dr. Si's Curse of the Crimson Throne - Escape From Old Korvosa

[Neurotic]

Edmond turns toward "the emperor":
"So, no chance of actually hiring him out for a job? I thought we stated as much as we came in."


In celestial language:
"Mr Scream if you understand, join us in the discussion. Team, I can teleport him somewhere close, lets say back into the hallway with one of you to talk to him while the rest of us keep the emperor busy. Or dead."

 

[Kaodi]

"If we were going to do that," says the ifrit in Celestial, "I would have as soon just torched the viewing box. A public demonstration would have been nice. But here this 'Emperor' was smart to keep himself in between us and the door." Ignatius flashes one of his broad, jovial smiles to reassure those who cannot understand the conversation. "Unless perhaps you can give Mhairi an angle to stick a dagger in the back of it."

 

[Axel]

After the game of blood pig finally ends, Mhairi cleans herself up as best she can in the time, staring daggers at the poo flinger and surveying the ruins of what had been quite nice clothes. Torn, dirty and missing at least 2 buttons...she would be exposing herself if it were't for the fine mail shirt underneath. Still, they had got what they wanted now, and a pair of clothes was a small price to pay.

In the "private" room Mhairi looks embarrassed at the conversation being held in a strange language. "Your Majesty, our apologies. We still had some disagreement over the final phrasing of our request. If you don't mind my asking, what sort of creature is this?" She indicated the spidery thing, adding "Chittersnap you called it? I don't think I've ever seen one before."

 

[Dr Simon]

"Oh, you can hire him for whatever commission you want," says the Emperor to Edmond, "just so long as it's remembered that I'm his sole agent." He places a hand on Scream's shoulder in what starts as a friendly seeming gesture, but then his grip tightens, crumpling the artist's tunic. "He works here, or not at all."

Letting go of the artist again, the Emperor gives a brief smile, then, seemingly unconscious of the action, runs his tongue over the sores around his mouth.

"Of course, his work's not been as good lately. Keeps going on about the losing the 'blue dreams', don't you Scream? You should see the work he used to produce. Real scary stuff."

Scream swallows hard, and looks to the floor as he nods slightly.

After Mhairi interjects after the brief conversation in Celestial (which neither Scream nor the Emperor show any signs of recognising), Pilts gives a harsh laugh.

"Chitters here is what's known as an ettercap, my girl," he says. He gestures in the direction of Devargo. "But ask your friend there. Yes, don't think I didn't recognise our erstwhile Spider King, even with his hood up. What brings you here Devargo? Come to talk to your old friend?" He turns back to Mhairi. "Chitters used to work for Devargo here, until he saw which way the wind was blowing. At least I don't keep him locked up the bilges of a dank old ship. And thanks to him and his dream spiders I now control all the production of Shiver in this city. Poor old Devargo, left with nothing. Still, it's right that a king should bend the knee to an emperor, is it not?"

 

[Axel]

Mhairi

Mhairi shrugs at the "Emperor's" response. "Hard times makes hard men and women, your majesty. Even I'm careful around hard people... Never know when they'll whack you with hard bread," she adds with a smile that doesn't reach her eyes. She draws a deep breath and launches in...

"Scream, I hope I can call you that. We are thinking about asking you to paint a mural onto an outside wall of the orsini... Pah! Sorry, some of that pig crap must've got into my mouth. The orphanage. Something inspiring, we think. A master of swords, maybe a huscarl or some sort of exotic dress? Is that the right way to say the word? Any inspiration that could build on our idea??"

 

[Neurotic]

Mhairi shrugs at the "Emperor's" response. "Hard times makes hard men and women, your majesty. Even I'm careful around hard people... Never know when they'll whack you with hard bread," she adds with a smile that doesn't reach her eyes. She draws a deep breath and launches in...

"Scream, I hope I can call you that. We are thinking about asking you to paint a mural onto an outside wall of the orsini... Pah! Sorry, some of that pig crap must've got into my mouth. The orphanage. Something inspiring, we think. A master of swords, maybe a huscarl or some sort of exotic dress? Is that the right way to say the word? Any inspiration that could build on our idea??"

Edmond lets better talker talk, he remains in the background silently focusing his will.

OOC: hypnotic pattern ready action, if violence erupts it will appear in front of the Emperor, catching him and the ettercap (hopefully, they are lower level then we are )

 

[Dr Simon]

There is a flicker of recognition at the mention of "orsini" on Salvatore Scream's face, and he glances briefly at the Emperor, who seems oblivious. The artist quickly resumes his cowed stance again.

"Well Scream, anything to say to the nice lady," says the Emperor in mocking tones. He shrugs and smiles at the group in a "what can you do?" kind of way.

"Uh..," begins Scream in a dry voice. "I... uh..." The Emperor snickers.

"He don't talk much these days," he says.

"I.. uh..." continues Scream, struggling. "I think so. I did something like that for Glorio Arkona a while back. Maybe he'd let you see it?" He meets Mhairi's eye as he says the name.

"Heh! Fat chance!" says Pilts. "The Arkona's have been locked away in their palace since the plague began. Left their pets high and dry, eh Devargo? Doubt they'd let you in to see a painting." He turns to the group. "Well, you've had your five minutes, time for you to go. I'll let you know if I decide to let my pet artist paint for you. Come back tomorrow."

 

[Kaodi]

Looking from Scream to Mhairi to Edmond, Ignatius asks in Celestial, "So, do we go and come to destroy this pig another day, or should we do our best wolverine impressions now?"

 

[Neurotic]

Celestial:
"Lets see what the noble has to say, we can come back better armed and simply offer him to surrender. Or bring The Maidens upon him."

 

[Axel]

Refusing to be drawn into the conversation in another language, Mhairi carried on as the front "man". She smiled sweetly at Scream (although it never reached her eyes again), and mock curtseyed as the Emperor dismissed them - not so as to mock the man himself but more because of a lack of skirt to grasp handfuls of. "Thanks for your time, Scream. If you want to know more about this commission, well, you can find us without too much trouble. Otherwise we'll be back tomorrow to hear your answer."