MERC XVIII: Affordable Misdeeds and Friendly Canines

[Shadowcaller]

Primary MERC Base Entrance

As the door opens, and quickly closes behind them, on its own. On the other side is a cozy common room where a number of blue skinned trolls and brown skinned goblins are preoccupied with some kind of card game. They don't even seem to notice the guests that have arrived, having only eyes for their cards and their opponents.

Following the voice's directions, they will arrive at fully furnished office where a woman with white snakes for hair is seated, dressed in a simple business suit. Don't worry though, her eyes are covered with stylish sunglasses. "Yeah? Did one of you, or both, want membership? Wasn't exactly clear on that." She eyes the from from behind her shades, careful to not let them slip down.

[Leostales]

Xifhara's Office

"I was interested in the full membership, and she wants a license." clarifies Muun.
"I'm interested in becoming a priestess, but may want to accompany Muun on certain jobs." says Anatya.
"We're married, by the way," Muun explains. "But yeah, how would one become a full member."

[Gullara]

[An Epic Quest]

"Very well, first you need..." Astrana starts explaining but Willa might be unable to focus on her instructions as Libra starts talking at the same time.
Okay, here's my part! Just put the cage thing-y I'll send to you on the floor and open it up! You can summon any number of angels from it! Libra remarks as Willa will suddenly find a glided birdcage in her right hand.

[An Epic Quest]

Willa blinks. She’ll never get used to that.
”I’m sorry, Astrana. I have been sent an alternative method.” Willa gingerly places the cafe on the ground and opens the door. But only a little, and she keeps her hand on it in case more than one start flying out. Maybe for once she’ll summon something that doesn’t take interest in her chest or something.

[An Epic Quest]

Corvus looks on with interest as the cage appears in Willa's hand. Clearly, Libra's decided to take a more active role. Hopefully this device will summon the creature they need.

[An Epic Quest]

In a sudden flash of light, a being appears. A tall, imposing woman stand with one foot plants firmly on the thoroughly crushed cage that summoned her. Six wings fan out from her back and three lion tails flick behind her. She's musculare and very tall. She stares down at Willa with open judgement.



"Speak your demands." She says curtly, her voice booming.

[Checkup]

Astrana, whose office is in the tunnels underneath the base due to her need to a ritual chamber at the very center of it, opens up. Her eyebrows raising as she sees Kirk and even more when her attention is quickly drawn to Tina. Was that...

"Senior officer Locke, what a surprise." She remarks as she turns back to him. "How can I help you today?" She moves out of the way, gesturing for them to take a seat. There is only one guest-chair though, so one of them have to sit on the bench next to the wall.

As usual, Astrana's office is filled with weird trinkets which mostly appear to have been made from animals of various sort. It's like a exotic pet cemetery in here, if whoever owned it was really into crafts.

[Checkup]

Fettina does a blatant little double take when she sees Astrana. She'll recover well enough after a second, heading to sit at the chair provided, and without asking Kirk. Her wings have to hang over the back.

"Someone turned me into a shiny album-cover angel and I want you to change me back," says Fettina, hands folded in her lap.

[Checkup]

"We want you to tell us whatever you can. It may not be something you're knowledgeable about, but anything helps." Who else do they have to turn to anyway? Astrana is the easiest first resource by far.

[billtodamax]

A New Client - Main Base

Sorted then. Bledig says, rising from the table and putting her sunglasses back on. I'll be back when you're done. She turns to leave.

Probably she has some way of knowing when that is. Fae nonsense.

[Lord Magtok]

MERC Business With Magtok

Spoiler

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[MERC Business With Magtok]

"There's other uses for slaves, that machines can't replace. Mad science, occult rituals, that sort of thing. We'd need to find out just how many are purchased for those purposes," Dipsnig says. "As for KABAL, they're a criminal and mercenary organization that cost us our territory in Skyside and are generally making waves. They're up and coming and aren't going to stop where they are. They might not care for slavery, but they care for us even less. They'll oppose out plans simply because they're ours."

MERC Business With Magtok

"I can tell you that KABAL won't give you trouble unless someone hired them to, and if that happen's we'll protect you. Since that's another aspect I wanted to discuss. I think we need to send a few members to guard the Magcave if that's okay if you. I know it isn't in the best condition right now and people in Skyside love solving their issues with violence. I doubt anyone would really bother, but just in case something does happen I'd want a few people making sure you're safe." Dena offers as she leans back in her armchair.

"...You're offering me an armed security team," Magtok repeats flatly, failing to conceal his incredulity at the prospect of MERC just giving away an armed defensive force to safeguard the MagCave against would-be invaders. Is this some sort of elaborate trap? Is there something in his home that they want from him? Do they need their people close to the MagCave so they can set up a forward operating base for their own invasion? How dangerous are these KABAL people, exactly, and is Skyside and this KABAL really that likely to target his home over something like this? Jeez, he was just hoping to score some quick cash and then bail on MERC as soon as he's got the clones up and running again. This was supposed to be the easier, morally palatable alternative to working for Kramolagh; what has he gotten himself into this time?

"Well that's certainly an offer I wouldn't dare refuse at the current time. You'll be keeping them strictly on base defense, yes? No security team following me around the lair, tailing me in Mallside or badgering me as I go about my personal business?" It's more of a demand than a question. Magtok is absolutely not tolerating a bunch of MERC flunkies spying on him while he does his Thanksmas shopping, or watching from the bushes as he's making out with some catgirl. There's all sorts of morally questionable crimes and misdeeds we're liable to commit if we get back into the Feiadyne hunt, too, and those definitely shouldn't have any witnesses.

[Morty]

[MERC Business With Magtok]

Dipsnig isn't quite sure if KABAL will show such restraint, but he keeps it to himself for now.

"We like to protect our investments. After what happened in Skyside... caution is only prudent," he says. "But I don't think any badgering is going to be necessary."

[Shadowcaller]

[An Epic Quest]

Astrana falls silent, this was Willa's quest so she couldn't get involved.
Though she keeps an eye on the centaur, if she seemed completely clueless, she would have to step in...

[Checkup]

Astrana sits down behind her desk and seizes up Tina with her gaze. "I can tell, so how did this happen exactly? The more context I have, the more I will be able to tell. Otherwise, I can always summon an entity that will know the answers. They always ask for a price though, as you might be aware. This was likely caused by one of them though, I heard about the whole kidnapping deal from miss Xifhara. I'm glad that you managed to escape in such a good health, despite the transformation you've suffered."

Xifhara's Office

"Right." The woman nods as her snakes watching the pair wearily. "Now, this isn't common knowledge but everyone that get a license or become a member are subjected to a background check. Standard procedure considering they are going to be representing the company to some degree. Members also have to sign a binding contract that is to ensure that they follow the company's standards. It's one of those magical bindings that will inform us if you ever break it, which will most likely result in your termination from the company. Is all that clear, or do you have any questions?"

[MERC Business With Magtok]

"Yeah, we'll keep them strictly outside the cave unless you want them to be elsewhere or the situation changes. Besides, if I know you as well as I think I do, KABAL won't be the only ones trying to barge into the cave by the end of the year. You have an amazing talent of gaining enemies, Mr. Tok." Dena observes with a grin.

[Leostales]

Xifhara's office
"When you say terminated, do you mean fired? Or killed?" Muun says a little worried. "Also, what are those standards? I know you guys don't like slavery, which shouldn't be a problem, since I hate it too."

Anatya looks uncomfortable as well, "You mentioned that we'd be given background checks. I used be a priestess to and still am a worshipper of Vecna. The god of evil secrets, Vecna. I know that his followers don't have the best reputation. Will MERC view that as a problem?"

[Shadowcaller]

Xifhara's office

"Kill you? Boy, wouldn't that make us popular. No, I'm afraid we can't live up to the reputation of being that cold-blooded. As for that, good thing that you mentioned it right away. But considering you're just a license holder and your doesn't suggest otherwise, you're more than welcome." She grins. "I mean, they hired me, right? Can't get much worse than that."

[Leostales]

Xifhara's office

"Kill you? Boy, wouldn't that make us popular. No, I'm afraid we can't live up to the reputation of being that cold-blooded. As for that, good thing that you mentioned it right away. But considering you're just a license holder and your doesn't suggest otherwise, you're more than welcome." She grins. "I mean, they hired me, right? Can't get much worse than that."

Muun and Anatya both look relieved at this. "So, how exactly do I become a member?" Muun asks.
"Also, upon leaving the Vecnist cult," Anatya adds. "We made some enemies, VERY powerful enemies. It shouldn't be a problem, but I felt like I should inform you of that too."

[Shadowcaller]

Xifhara's office

'Xifarah's' smile fades. "I think I need to clarify the difference between a member and a license holder. We protect our members, which is why we put them under closer scrutiny and have them sign the contract. So while we all are being honest with one another, I'm going to ask you who exactly these 'very powerful' enemies of yours are. Since that will come up in the background check regardless. If you want to become a member, that's the very first thing you have to do, give us relevant information like that."

[Leostales]

Xifhara's Office

Anatya looks very uncomfortable. She does not want to talk about this. Muun sees this and decides to explain for her.

"When Anatya and I met, she was part of a Vecnist cult, and I was trying to join, mostly so I could steal the some of their secrets. I eventually realized how horrible the cult actually was, and Anatya, who had always questioned the cults' tactics offered to help me bring the cult down, and we did."

He takes a deep breath.

"We got married not long after that and for the next three years, we figured that we were totally safe from the cult. Unfortunately, it turned out that that was only one branch of the cult that we had defeated and that the real leader had been keeping tabs on us ever since we'd left. Eventually they contacted us and told us that they'd let us keep on living our lives if we did one last assassination job for them. And we did. About a month later, they contacted us and told us they had another 'last job' for us. Then another, then another. We finally figured that it was only matter of time before 'one last job' became 'rejoin the cult'. So we decided to assassinate the leader before they asked us to assassinate someone else. But we were caught. Surprisingly, we weren't killed or tortured, but instead offered a job to be the leader's bodyguard. We refused and shot him. To our horror, he got back up, perfectly fine, except for an arrow in his forehead and told us every atrocity he had ever committed and then told us to run as far as we could because what he would do to us would be far far worse than all the stories he had told us...I didn't doubt him."

Both of them seem somewhat stressed after he finishes.
Shaking, Anatya elaborates further.
"His name is Tymaret. I had always thought he was a myth concocted by priests to scare weak-minded acolytes, but I was wrong. Some say he's the son of Vecna. Some say he's a demi-god using Vecna's legacy for his own gain. But I think that he's the personification of death, evil, and murder...I ..I don't think I can elaborate further"

Muun squeezes her hand, and hoping to reduce the personal drama, he adds, "We're very far away from him, and I doubt this will be a problem. But in case it is, we wouldn't want to make the company a target of his. So if you think this would be too big a risk, I understand if that would make me ineligible for membership."

[Deathkeeper]

[An Epic Quest]

Oh. Oh wow. Definitely not the speed at which Willa anticipated all this happening.
She tries her best to seem in control."Transportation, for me and this man, to a specified location, and then back here at my request." is her equally curt answer.

[Shadowcaller]

Xifhara's Office

"Well... that's quite a story." 'Xifhara' admits. "Though, in your defense, it sounds like he's targeting you personally." She starts to tap her fingers against her desk slowly. "I will need you to be checked up by our warlock, just to make sure you haven't been cursed or are otherwise watched by mystical means. Does that sound alright to you?"

[Leostales]

Xifhara's Office

"I don't have a problem with that," says Muun. "Actually, I think it would help put aside any worries we might have."
"Go ahead," says Anatya glumly. "But I doubt it will do any good."

[Murkus]

[Gym]

"I'm following a set of behaviors, at the very least." Does that count as behaving? Close enough Rein supposes. Unless Tina has specific suggestions on how Rein should behave, which he would not be adverse to exploring.

"I don't know if I can do anything to save your mind, but I may be able to keep you from making any more of those very impure suggestions," It seems his intended strategy for this is to work his way up to her lips and plant his there, keeping their mouths and tongues occupied for an extended period of time via the time honored art of making out.

[Gym]

Oh! Well. Finally some action from the teasing cat. Fettina leans into it with heart, proving to be quite the skilled tongue tangler herself. This... will probably continue until Dena returns. Maybe after she returns.

[Shadowcaller]

Xifhara's Office

"It's just a curse check. That's all we can help you with right now, for free might I add." 'Xifhara' replies. "Astrana, our warlock, have her office in the basement section of the base. Think you can find your way down there? There are signs."

[Leostales]

Xifhara's Office

"Yes, I think we can," Muun responds as the two of them get up to leave.

Spoiler: ooc

Show

Who plays Astrana?

[Shadowcaller]

Xifhara's Office

"Great, report back to me once you're done there." She replies while waving them away. Maybe she could actually get things done today...

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Conveniently, I do.

[Leostales]

Astrana's Office

Muun and Anatya arrive in Astrana's office. "Excuse me," Muun says. "Xifhara sent us here to get checked to see if we don't have any curses or are being watched by magical means."

[Lord Magtok]

MERC Business With Magtok

Spoiler

Show

[MERC Business With Magtok]

Dipsnig isn't quite sure if KABAL will show such restraint, but he keeps it to himself for now.

"We like to protect our investments. After what happened in Skyside... caution is only prudent," he says. "But I don't think any badgering is going to be necessary."

[MERC Business With Magtok]

"Yeah, we'll keep them strictly outside the cave unless you want them to be elsewhere or the situation changes. Besides, if I know you as well as I think I do, KABAL won't be the only ones trying to barge into the cave by the end of the year. You have an amazing talent of gaining enemies, Mr. Tok." Dena observes with a grin.

The cyborg smiles back politely, but it's clear as day that this smile is as fake and artificial as the left side of his body. He's already made so many fearsome and powerful enemies since his return to the Nexus, and now he's even got plans to make a few more by the end of the year. It would be nice if everyone could live and let live, of course. He'd try to extend an olive branch if he thought it'd work, if the rest of his adversaries could be more like this filthy money goblin and move past all that murky history, but we all know that'd never happen. Life is never so easy for Magtoks in the Nexus.

"Sounds fine. So where would we begin? What'd be phase one of this whole slave registration campaign for MERC?" Magtok asks, as if he weren't the one who suggested the idea in the first place. To be fair though, MERC's the one with all the money and power and information. Magtok's provided the basic concept and offered himself up as a figurehead, but this KABAL thing is all on MERC's shoulders. Heck, he wasn't even sure those people still existed when he came here.

[Morty]

[MERC Business With Magtok]

"We need to probe Skyside a bit and find slavers who'd be amenable to this sort of idea," Dipsnig says. "Probably ones who put on appearances of legitimacy and high quality. Once we do find some, we need to act fast. People will poke holes in it if we give them too much time to think."

[Shadowcaller]

[MERC Business With Magtok]

"I actually have an idea regarding that. It would take a while to scout out slavers open to all this... so I suggest we claim we already have support. In Skyside, misinformation is the bread and butter. There are dozens of news sites that just tell the people whatever they're paid to say while also advertising their products. We could probably pay them to tell us whatever we want them to say. That's how we'll get Magtok on the screen either way. Others will pay other channels to dispute it, but that always happens. People will believe the person they like the most, and the truth becomes kinda unimportant at that point." She claims. "I expect it will become true either way once a number of slavers believe others are joining up."

Astrana's Office

Astrana, as it turns out, is a young woman with red skin and horns. As they enter the room she seem to have been preoccupied by watering a odd-looking plotted plant standing right behind her desk. The underground office she inhabits are similarly filled with other odd objects like shrunken heads, skeletal trinkets and several animal heads mounted on the walls. Most notably the large circle of intricate runes in the middle of the office.

"Ah, and you are? I'm afraid I can't recall your names." She greets them as she puts away the water pitcher and offers her hand to shake. "Are you customers, members? I'm Astrana Tyramera, warlock."

[Leostales]

[MERC Business With Magtok]
Astrana's Office

Astrana, as it turns out, is a young woman with red skin and horns. As they enter the room she seem to have been preoccupied by watering a odd-looking plotted plant standing right behind her desk. The underground office she inhabits are similarly filled with other odd objects like shrunken heads, skeletal trinkets and several animal heads mounted on the walls. Most notably the large circle of intricate runes in the middle of the office.

"Ah, and you are? I'm afraid I can't recall your names." She greets them as she puts away the water pitcher and offers her hand to shake. "Are you customers, members? I'm Astrana Tyramera, warlock."

"My name is Muun Jatenson, and this is my wife Anatya. We're looking for licenses, although I'm hoping on obtaining full membership." he explains.

ooc: Your imgur links don't work.

[Shadowcaller]

Astrana's Office

((Ops, stupid imgur. This should be the right link.))

The tiefling blinks. "Right, and... I'm suppose to check you for curses so you can be cleared to be granted licenses." Astrana guesses. "I could do that." She gestures for them to take a seat on the wooden bench in the room. "So who do you think cursed you and why?" She asks while reaching for a necklace made of bones that is handing off a hook on the wall.

[Leostales]

Astrana's Office
"We were mixed up in a cult at one point. We left, but the leader swore that he'd get us. He was very powerful. We just wanted to make sure that he isn't using any magic to track us." Muun says, keeping it brief.

[Shadowcaller]

Astrana's Office

"Right, let's first see if it holds up to some rudimentary scrutiny. Have you any active magical effects on you that you're aware of?" Astrana asks as she walks up to them, holding out the necklace. If they are cursed or have any active magical enchantments on them (permanently enchanted items don't count unless they're cursed which counts as a "added" effect) the bones that make it up will start to rattle.

[Nova_Eclipse]

[An Epic Quest]

Corvus nods and steps forward when Willa indicates him, but says nothing, letting Willa do the negotiating. That's how he understands things of this nature to work in Creation, what little he's learned of them, anyways. Sorcery and summoning was always a No Moon thing, and his talents lie elsewhere, after all.

[Gullara]

[An Epic Quest]

The angel only glances at Corvus for a moment before refocusing on Willa. "This is possible. Where?"

[Checkup]

"Go on and explain." Kirk prompts Fettina, his voice uncharacteristically gentle. He'd maybe spare her of this if he could answer, but only she knows exactly.

[Leostales]

Astrana's Office

"Right, let's first see if it holds up to some rudimentary scrutiny. Have you any active magical effects on you that you're aware of?" Astrana asks as she walks up to them, holding out the necklace. If they are cursed or have any active magical enchantments on them (permanently enchanted items don't count unless they're cursed which counts as a "added" effect) the bones that make it up will start to rattle.

"Well..."
When the necklace is about a foot away from them, a flaming eye symbol appears on their hands.
"The Mark of Vecna," Anatya explains. "It used to be a summons when we were in the cult. But now it serves to remind us that we are marked."

"The fire is illusionary," Muun adds. "The pain usually isn't, but its absent this time. Probably because the symbol was triggered by an outside force rather than by Tymaret himself"

After the marks are triggered, the bones stop rattling, there are no other curses on the Jatensons.