MERC XVII: You Can't Take the Pay From Me

[Nova_Eclipse]

Main Base Foyer

The old man nods several times, looking the page over.

"My name is Toji. Everything looks good. I'll be staying at the Dancing Fox Inn should you need to contact me if I'm not around the ruin site."

[Zefir]

[Dipsnig's Office]

"She might not start a fight, but if she keeps looking for our client, the job isn't done," Dipsnig points out. "Regardless, I'll leave it to you and Jacob."

[Main Base - Shooting Range]

"Sometimes," Dipsnig says. "It's the more powerful crossbow that have external mechanisms. Some are just pulled with both your hands, while your foot is in the hoop at the front. It all depends on the size and strength."

[Dipsnig's Office]

"I make sure she can take a look at the dead body and proofe that he is dead." Fade says. "I will convince her that I'm a hired assassin and will need the dead bbody for my client."

[Shadowcaller]

[Foyer]

"Perfect. Lead the way." Cait smiles happy she came to the right place. It seems like she might be able to get this done with and then go try some skiing.

[Foyer]

Astrana will guide Cait down into the tunnels underneath MERC where her office is located. While the tiefling has attempted to tidy up her office, it is still filled with exotic items such as shrunken heads and strange wooden masks. There is a huge hyena chained up to the rock wall and a circle of intricate symbols carved into the stone floor.

The warlock carefully places the hair within the circle and then takes a step back. "So if he had been in Inside, was it? Nothing else?" Astrana asks as she moves over to the wooden masks on the table.

[Deathkeeper]

Shooting Range

Koshal thinks about this for a while.
"I don't know if this sounds like a very practical thing to try shooting someone with." he says simply. Krayger winces.

Main Base- Foyer

"Good night, Mr. Toji. We'll keep in touch." says the minotaur, who lets Toji leave so he can finish filing the paperwork.

[McBish]

[Astrana's Office]

Cait pays close attention to the path they take to get to Astrana's office. She counts her steps in her head without thinking about it. The only outward sign being her steady even steps, always the same length even when a shorter step would be more appropriate. She steps on each step they take never taking them two at a time.

When they get in the office she lookss around curiously, avoiding being critical. She doesn't consider using a bit of her own magic to try and spot any magical auras, though she is curious. She doesn't take a closer look at the runes to see if any are familiar, though she has studied such things. No she is playing the part of a young professional business woman, who has only a little knowledge of magic.

When she spots the chained hyena she stops paying much attention to anything else in the room. She slows her movements as if afraid of startling the animal. She looks back to Astrana as the warlock speaks.

"Could we do all the sides? I guess the Nexus as a whole. He comes from a different world and travel her isn't easy. I just want to know about the last couple of months."

[Morty]

[Dipsnig's Office]

Dipsnig shrugs.

"As long as it works."

[Main Base - Shooting Range]

Dipsnig's ears dip slightly, but he keeps his tone level.

"It's habit for me, I suppose. I've trained with a crossbow ever since I enlisted in the special ops. I've never used a crossbow that heavy, mind you. They're not that practical without a tower shield to hide behind."

[Shadowcaller]

[Astrana's Office]

The hyena stares at her and sniffs into the air, taking in her scent. If she has violent intentions, it will get really aggressive so hopefully she doesn't have that.
If she had studied ritual magic, Cait might realize that the majority of the items Astrana had aren't magical in themselves, it's how they interact with outsiders that make them useful tools. The masks for instance actually scared some lesser entities while hiding the identity of the summoner.
Still, some of these items, such as the masks, have faint magical auras.

"Of course." Astrana replies as she sits down on her desk to pull her skirt off. She pauses, realizing that Cait might not realize what's going on. "Need to change into something better suited for the ritual. It involves a fair amount of dancing." She explains with a faint smile.

[McBish]

[Astrana's Office]

No violent intentions from Cait. A slight twitch of the hand is the only sign that she wants to reach for a weapon as a first instinct when seeing a large beast. She doesn't have a weapon on her and she wouldn't actually reach for one once she noticed it was chained. Plus Astrana obviously thought it was safe here. Safe enough to start to undress. She blinks in surprise not looking too upset. "Um sure makes sense. Do you want me to step out. Or I can just study these masks." She says pointing at the wall behind her hoping she is right about having masks, she didn't look to check. She figures spinning around could be rude and the surprise of seeing Astrana undressing made her forget what she was just looking at.

[Nova_Eclipse]

Main Base- Foyer

Toji nods, and slowly pulls himself to his feet, leaving the massive gem on the table.

"I look forward to hearing from you soon, gentlebeings." With that, he takes his leave, back out into the cold of the mountains surrounding the base. After a few moments of walking away from the base, a puff of wind swirls some of the snow, blurring him for a moment, and when it clears, he is gone completely.

[Deathkeeper]

Shooting Range

Koshal realizes his mistake at this point.
"Well it's just, what do you do when they're two guys? How do you reload it fast enough to shoot both? Uh, and I don't think I can use the big ones, 'cause uh..."
Koshal looks down and holds up a foot. Indeed, hooves are not the best shape for crossbow rings.

[Morty]

[Main Base - Shooting Range]

"You need to ensure you have enough time to reload, by hiding or putting some distance between you. Or a backup weapon. Or someone to have your back," Dipsnig explains. "Or a really tricked-out crossbow. My personal weapon can be loaded quite quickly. But it's been loaded with upgrades."

[Shadowcaller]

[Astrana's Office]

No violent intentions from Cait. A slight twitch of the hand is the only sign that she wants to reach for a weapon as a first instinct when seeing a large beast. She doesn't have a weapon on her and she wouldn't actually reach for one once she noticed it was chained. Plus Astrana obviously thought it was safe here. Safe enough to start to undress. She blinks in surprise not looking too upset. "Um sure makes sense. Do you want me to step out. Or I can just study these masks." She says pointing at the wall behind her hoping she is right about having masks, she didn't look to check. She figures spinning around could be rude and the surprise of seeing Astrana undressing made her forget what she was just looking at.

[Astrana's Office]

The hyena lays down on the floor again, its gaze still lingering on Cait.

"Do whatever you want, I don't really mind. It's not like I'm getting naked here." Astrana replies, waiting a moment for Cair to do something, then she will start changing clothes, changing into a dancing outfit, which basically just mean a longer, more colorful, skirt and black tube-top. She reaches out to grab one of the masks off the shelf. "Okay, I'm ready to start now. You should stand back."

[McBish]

[Astrana's Office]

Cait turns her back as Astrana changes. She keeps shooting glances at the hyena as if she is worried that it silently slipped its chains in the last minute. She studies a shrunken head wondering what the person looked like not shrunk. When Astrana tells her to stand back she moves near the door her back pressed against the wall. She stays quiet not wanting to be a disruption.

[Deathkeeper]

Main Base- Shooting Range

"Well, one thing that's important for me is that everything I use should be able to be used on a horse. So if I used one it'd need to shoot a couple times or be drawn really easy. That's one reason I never learned how to use those big bows the humans made. But learning how to target-shoot with one is fine. I still practice my bow sometimes." the teen explains to Dipsnig.

[Morty]

[Main Base - Shooting Range]

Dipsnig nods.

"Some people use crossbows while mounted. There are light crossbows you can pull by hand while sitting in a saddle. Others use mounts for mobility, and dismount before shooting. I trained for it, even though I ended up... not finishing."

[Nova_Eclipse]

[Dipsnig's Phone]

The phone begins to ring, but not just any phone, the boss's in particular. If the phone has caller-ID, it comes up with a number Dipsnig might not recognize, unless he's memorized the phone numbers of every license-holder who has one listed.

[Zefir]

[Dipsnig's Office]

Dipsnig shrugs.

"As long as it works."

[Main Base - Shooting Range]

Dipsnig's ears dip slightly, but he keeps his tone level.

"It's habit for me, I suppose. I've trained with a crossbow ever since I enlisted in the special ops. I've never used a crossbow that heavy, mind you. They're not that practical without a tower shield to hide behind."

[Dipsnig's Office]

Fade just nods.

"I will proceed then." he says in his usual voice. "Should there be any task I can help you with, even if it is just to accompany you to a meeting, please don't hesitate to ask."

Fade seems to be well aware about his lack of social skills, but he won't learn it without a guide or in this case a boss to tell him when he acts wrong.

[Shadowcaller]

[Astrana's Office]

Cait turns her back as Astrana changes. She keeps shooting glances at the hyena as if she is worried that it silently slipped its chains in the last minute. She studies a shrunken head wondering what the person looked like not shrunk. When Astrana tells her to stand back she moves near the door her back pressed against the wall. She stays quiet not wanting to be a disruption.

[Astrana's Office]

The tiefling puts on some music and starts a slow ritualistic dance around the circle as she starts chanting to it. Putting herself into a form of trance as she dances. If the ritual works correctly she should start getting answers to the questions that Cait have asked, which she have inscribed in the middle of the circle together with the focus (Cait's hair).

[McBish]

[Astrana's Office]

Cait watches fascinated, she has never seen anyone do a magical dance before. Part of her works on remembering the chant, not that there is any chance she could repeat it accurately, but she could do something that would sound sort of close.

All answers are negative. Her father has made no appearances in the Nexus in the last 6 months.

[Deathkeeper]

[Main Base - Shooting Range]

Dipsnig nods.

"Some people use crossbows while mounted. There are light crossbows you can pull by hand while sitting in a saddle. Others use mounts for mobility, and dismount before shooting. I trained for it, even though I ended up... not finishing."

Shooting Range

"That's too bad. I could always give it a try. The shape is good, at least. Won't need changes like the human's guns and their tiny guards." he says. Dipsnig is likely aware of Krayger's need to modify his weaponry for his odd-shaped hands.

[Morty]

[Main Base - Shooting Range]

Dipsnig's ears flick in amusement.

"That's one problem I didn't have. Goblin hands are like human hands, just differently-proportioned. I can have my personal crossbow brought here, if you want to see what can really be done with them."

[Shadowcaller]

[Astrana's Office]

Once she is done, Astrana slowly sinks down on the floor into a sitting position. "All your questions have turned out negative. As far as the spirits are aware, your father hasn't been in any of the places you asked me to check." She says as she slowly seem to come back to her senses, that was some intense dancing there, the tiefling is all sweaty.

[McBish]

[Astrana's Office]

Cait steps forward looking impressed, and thinking she needs to exercise more. If she had tried to do all that she would have probably collapsed halfway through. When Astrana tells her the answer her body relaxes just the littlest bit. She didn't know she had been that worried about it. Some part of her mind had been convinced he was here, even when there was no evidence. "Good, thank you. I needed to hear that. Can I ask how accurate the information you get from this is?"

[Shadowcaller]

[Astrana's Office]

"I has never failed before, so you have my guarantee that its accurate. I can't promise that he hasn't been anywhere else in the nexus though, as your questions didn't cover that." Astrana explains, having crossed her legs on the floor.

[McBish]

[Astrana's Office]

Cait nods in understanding, she absentmindedly strokes one of her upperarms as she speaks. Almost like she has a itch but doesn't want to scratch it to hard. "It's fine. As long as he was in the city he couldn't have- I mean if he was he was in the nexus he would be in one of the cities. That is the way he is. The goblin had said you would know how much this would cost, based off of how difficult it would be. Does that mean I could pay you?"

[Shadowcaller]

[Astrana's Office]

"Of course, this required no special reagents, but the offer and the services itself will of course cost a bit..." She gets up from the floor and walks over to her desk, where she fills a MERC form, filling in the estimated prince of her services which she then hands to Cait.

I'll let you Cait's player decide the most interesting price for Cait to pay.

[McBish]

[Astrana's Office]

Cait takes the form and nods, not one to be surprised by a price tag. "Reasonable, but I have an offer I'd like you to consider. I came here ina nearly brand new elven sports car. You could get a nice house for cheaper than you could get this car. Several times more than this bill. I would like to trade it to your organization to cover this and a warning. If you are approached by anyone to come after me, you tell me before accepting the job. Just a warning and we would be even."

Cait isn't sure if this kind of thing is done, the warning or the trade, but she figured she had nothing to loose by asking.

[Deathkeeper]

Main Base- Shooting Range

Koshal pauses, and just for a moment his eyes dart to Krayger. He was supposed to be spending time with his uncle, but he can't be rude to his boss. And it's not like this isn't interesting...
"Yeah, sure, that sounds pretty neat." the teen replies.

[Shadowcaller]

[Astrana's Office]

Cait takes the form and nods, not one to be surprised by a price tag. "Reasonable, but I have an offer I'd like you to consider. I came here ina nearly brand new elven sports car. You could get a nice house for cheaper than you could get this car. Several times more than this bill. I would like to trade it to your organization to cover this and a warning. If you are approached by anyone to come after me, you tell me before accepting the job. Just a warning and we would be even."

Cait isn't sure if this kind of thing is done, the warning or the trade, but she figured she had nothing to loose by asking.

[Astrana's Office]

"I'd need to contact the Chief Executive before I can accept that deal, miss. Let me quickly give him a call." Astrana replies before she walks off behind the desk to make a quick phone call.
"We'll accept your deal, miss." The tiefling declares once she gets off the phone. "You can leave the keys on my desk if you want."

[McBish]

[Astrana's Office]

"Excellent. Honestly I have never driven a car like that before and if I had to drive it back home I probably would have killed myself, or at least ended up in the ditch. If only because that car just begs to speed. If you like driving I wouldn't miss the opportunity to take it for a spin." She sets the keys on the desk, then she pulls out a business card from her jean pockets. She checks the number to make sure it is the right one. No name on the card only the number.

"Now since you confirmed the good news that dear old dad hasn't been around yet I have some more time to enjoy myself. So I am going to call a car to take me to a nearby ski resort to try out skiing. I assume it will be ok to wait in your lobby?" Cait seems to be in an excellent mood as everything came together nicely on this trip. Plus she is genuinely excited about skiing for the first time.