Merchants of Elm (IC)

[Sornas]

William

Gasping for breath, William took a moment to regain his composure, glancing around him. Noticing the other boys, he sighed inwardly, he hadn't wanted to hurt anyone, and this is what ended up happening.

Looking towards the woman, he struggled for words. "Um...Thank you..." He said quietly, avoiding eye contact. Now that the excitement was over, it was not quite so easy to speak.

"I'm William...but we should get going before that other guard brings more..."

[Lonna]

Lonna

"I did warn you." Lonna says, addressing the fallen guard, before sheathing her dagger. Then the boy's words register.

"I'm Lonna," she replies shortly, examining her still bleeding arm, "and I'm the one who should be thanking you. If you hadn't taken down one of those bastards for me, I sincerely doubt I would be in as good condition as I am."

Satisfied that she won't bleed to death as long as she moves slowly, Lonna retrieves her rapier, carefully wipes the street muck off on her pant leg, and returns it to its proper place by her side. Finally she examines the ragged child in front of her with a critical eye. He's thin but not starved; clothed, but poorly.

"Did your gang leave you to face the guards alone? Or are you outside your normal territory?" she asks abruptly. "On second thought," she adds, "tell me as we walk. I need to find Bert the Cripple, then I'll drop you with your gang. That should keep the guards off both of us for a while."

[Another_Poet]

((I'll assume that you two take a winding route, keep to sidestreets and generally stay out of the public eye - for now - and that you manage to bandage up Lonna's wound with something. Also, since he is a contact of Lonna's and doesn't happen to be lying low at present, I'll assume you can find Bert.))

The long walk and all the asking around leaves Lonna feeling drained by the time the pair walks into a little cobbler's shop in the neighbourhood known as the Rear Three. The name originally referred to three blocks of relatively straight street where trees had managed to grow to maturity and provide a shady canopy for pedestrians. The road there is a little wider than most, but the trees now stretch little more than one of the original three blocks. Neglect, abuse and illegal logging has laid low the rest. These few have been saved partly by the efforts of local druids and partly on account of the stiff sanctions imposed after the angry petitions of a chief from across the river. The chief only lives in Elm two months out of the year, but he is one of the primary landlords in this part of town.

It would be easy to walk past the cobbler without meaning to. An alley cutting off the Rear Three has an unusal feature: a makeshift roof has been built over it, just one floor up between the three-story tenements. Stubs of candles line the "hallway" and booth-sized shops open off of it. It is in this alley, about three doors in, that the cobbler can be found.

The cobbler is a woman, name of Jonae to judge by the sign, and she's cutting patterns out of leather behind a messy counter when the pair walks in. The door is propped open but she doesn't make any gesture of greeting or welcome. Off to the left, seated on a worn old wooden chair is a heavyset man in his early fifties, his skin weathered but his belly showing signs of city life. He is in mid-sentence when you enter:

"So I said, you better not get in front or I'll pop you so hard your ass can't find your head. Ha ha, she sure wasn't expecting that. She shut up them, she sure shut up." He looks toward the door, right at you, then a little bit off to the side. "I think you have a customer, Joan."

[Sornas]

William
((William has ranks in heal, so he can do the bandage ^^))

As he walked, William remained silent, unsure of what he should say to the woman. On the one hand, if he was to tell her everything, she may be a target too, and he couldn't expect her to help him.

On the other hand, she deserved an explanation, at the very least. It wasn't like she wasn't going to find out when she tried to drop him off...

"You should run!" He blurted out suddenly, betraying his own sense of subtlety.

Looking sheepish, he withdrew, lowering his voice. "I mean...you don't have to help me, if you do, they will be after you too. It's not safe."

----
((After arriving))

William glanced around the shop curiously, but tried to stick close to Lonna, careful not to knock anything over.

[Lonna]

Lonna


Lonna is tired from the fight (and subsequent blood loss) combined with the frustration of trying to find Bert the Cripple. She doesn't want to spend energy worring about who "they" are that will be after her for helping a scrawny gang boy like William, so she seems to ignore his comment, only urging him to keep up.

Nevertheless, his words stay in her mind, hovering on the edges of her awareness until she is distracted by the sight of the older man. Her gaze catches his eye movement, and she puts her hand on her hip as she takes a casual stance between him and the door.

"Ah, there you are 'Blind Bert'." she says, putting a slight emphasis on the alias the fraudster used when pretending blindness. "I've been looking for you. I need to call in that favor you owe me from last May Day."

Looking at the cobbler she adds, "Please pardon the intrusion, Mistress, this should only take but a moment."

[Another_Poet]

Lonna:

Jonae shrugs slightly when you speak to her. Bert, however, laughs openly.

"Favour? I owe a lot of things to a lot of people but I sure don't owe any favours to little Lonna the paper-doctor. Don't come in here and try to leverage me, girl." He wears a smile as he talks, but his voice is stern.

**************

Rustin: you get the same story rom all of your contacts, which is unusual. There were lots of jobs available on the yawl route, but they've all been filled up. It sounds like just about everybody in Elm who makes trouble their profession has signed on, which severely reduces the need for your services in town. Even the wealthy are too busy for backstabbing, with competition from a new company based out of Elm, Arconauts Company.

The only person you haven't tried is bert the Cripple. He's never gotten you a job himself, but he always seems to know the latest leads. You heard he's been spending his days at a cobbler shop in the Rear Three lately.

[Duke of URL]

Garrin

Garrin sighs and lets Draego ramble on...

[roninkelt]

Draego

and ramble on he does. For someone who spends lots of time alone, he seems to talk a lot. Perhaps it's just compensation....


OOC: don't forget about us. :(

[Another_Poet]

Roninkelt/Duke:

Spoiler

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Sorry, I haven't forgotten you. I keep thinking of having the bungalow catch fire or something just so ya's have something to do. Or maybe an earthquake. But I guess I'd say if you two want to head out and catch up with Natsume/Acanthe, you'll run into Saker as well... which would be a good thing since Seeker (Natsume) has disappeared for the past couple of days and Acanthe seems unwilling to explain Orikedes' death herself. If need be we can NPC Natsume for the time being and she'll follow you guys.

[Psionic Dog]

Saker

The man looks questioningly at the silence of Natsume and Acanthe, and decides he must have been mistaken about being invited into the conversation.

"Ok, ok, I'll leave you alone to talk business and just go on up to the cottage. We aren't getting any drier out here."

With that he turns and resumes his walk up to the cottage while calling one last thought over his shoulder as he goes: "Oh, if you happen to see your dad before I do be sure to tell him that I'm in town and need to talk with him before he leaves."

((Sorry it's taking so long to get fresh blood, er Uncle Saker, into the cottage))

[Duke of URL]

Garrin

"Enough, GoGo. It's time we followed after Natsume, or the gods only know what kind of trouble she'll get us into. Oh, and leave her trunk behind, there'll be plenty of time to get it later."

[roninkelt]

Draego

pouts for a sec then decides to share his dastardly plan, hoping that Garrin won't ruin the 'suprise'.
"I was going to take it down to the yawl before the loading starts and put it in the cargo hold, since she asked so nicely... then stack everything else on top of it." He starts laughing wildly, stopping abruptly when Uncle Saker walks in.

[Lonna]

Lonna


"Leverage?" says Lonna innocently. This is a ploy Bert would always try when she came to call in a favor, but she knew how to play his game. "Who said anything about leverage? I just want to hear a bit of friendly gossip. Certain words in certain ears have been known to put an innocent man in jail or" she paused, letting the barely noticeable hesitation emphasize her words, "keep a guilty man free." Again, Lonna paused slightly to let Bert think about exactly what she meant, then continued with a friendly grin. "Of course, I'm not looking for anything as dangerous as that. I just want to know what the Kite family has been up to, and I happen to know that you make it your business to know everything that happens in this town. Just a little free gossip, and I promise, next time I need something I'll come prepared to help out a poor cripple."

Now, let's see if he bites. Lonna thought, keeping the false smile on her face so that Bert could not guess her thoughts. Considering how I pulled his fat out of the fire last year he should be grateful that I'm willing to clear the debt with just a little information.

Spoiler

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Diplomacy_Check - (1d20+7)[20]

[McMindflayer]

Rustin sighs as he walks. All his normal contacts were almost stonewalling him. He has seen times in which there were no jobs that he wanted. But no jobs at all. It just seemed wierd. It sounded like Karr again, except this time, there wasn't one job hanging in the air.

He walked through shantytown, heading for Bert. It seemed like the best thing to do. He could find out if there are any jobs out, while also asking about any news from Karr.

[Psionic Dog]

Saker

Something strange is going on the Uncle muses as he reaches to open the door...

Door?

With a start he blinks and pulls his thoughts together. His walk up to the door had been a blur, in fact he couldn't remember anything from the moment he left his niece up until now.

Ah well, there will be time to worry about that latter.

With a mental shrug he pushes open the door and steps into the cottage.

"HELLO! ANYONE H... Draego! Garrin! Why the whole families here! What is the occasion?"

[Another_Poet]

Bert sniffles, then covers his mouth and begins coughing raucously. Whether it's a stalling tactic or the man is really having a coughing fit is hard to say. He leans over and goes on for a moment, adding a lot of phlegmatic noises you'd rather not have heard. Finally, gasping for breath, he shakes his head and looks up.

"The Kite family again, huh? Always after the Kite family. I wonder what they'd say if they knew they were being stalked by some gangly little creature with no manners. Ah-hack-cough!" He wipes his nose on the back of his arm. "It's enough to make my heart stop. That doesn't take much mind you, I havea heart murmur, but still, it's a burden knowing so much about so many good people."

"Hey kid," Jonae cuts in, "Come around the counter here." She looks at William as she talks.

Bert goes on: "Well, I'll assume since you're so clever that you already know your old man, hee hee heh, I mean the old man of the family passed away. And the wife ran off home. That was a little after your last visit as I recall."

[Lonna]

"Actually, that was a little before my last visit," replies Lonna patiently, ignoring the not-so-subtle hint at her presumed lineage, "but I don't know anything that's happened since the widow left." She keeps one eye on William as she listens to Bert's reply. She's aware that the older man probably won't get directly to whatever the juiciest new piece of news is, but now that she has him talking, it is only a matter of time. In the meantime, she intends to make sure William remains in one piece until she can dump him back with his gang. She owes him that much, at least.

[Sornas]

William

Unsure of himself, but not wanting to be rude, William slowly skulked over to the counter, looking more like a scared rabbit than anything else. Getting to the edge of the counter, he looked over, and managed a shaky "H-hello Mrs. Joan."

[Another_Poet]

Jonae doesn't take the slightest heed of the boy's demeanour, instead producing a large leather hide from beneath the counter and thrusting it into his hands. "Grab and pull," she instructs, and with William's help she begins the dance-like process of stretching the hide. Each party grabs their side and leans back, pulling the leather; then they rotate it 30 degrees or so and repeat. This treatment, done long enough, ensures the hide will be supple and flexible for years to come.

Bert doesn't really care about the quality of leather (as evidenced by his battered and filthy bag-shoes) and he pays the two no mind. "Let's see," he muses. "Well, shame and embarassment, that's what. Half the family didn't show up for the funeral, the other half tried to act like the man deserved a proper eulogy. Guess everyone does, but it must have been hard to come up with anything good to say. The man was found in a tub of his own caca, that's what I heard. And the only reason he was found at all is because his pipe almost burned down the house. No other reason to go in his study unless you want to get yelled at."

At this point a man comes down the covered alley outside the shop. He has the look of a foreigner and a dangerous air about him. (Rustin, that's you're cue.) Bert keeps talking.

"Bad for the baby, batter for the butter, that's what they always say, and you know it was true with that man. You thought they had debts before, you should see it now. Cost of a funeral, inheritance taxes, and investors don't like to see the head of a company die. Not that they had many investors to start with. So Asterix is gone, child. It closed up. It shut down. They couldn't pay all their debts and I won't say anything bad about that. I can't pay mine either. I can't work because of my leg and my back. And that really puts the spit on a collector. Their big thing is to threaten to break your leg, but mine's already lame. I told 'em they can have it, and take a finger too, they just got angrier. Well the Kites don't have no gimp leg but they had a house, a nice one. So what did the collectors take? You guessed it. They're out on the street now. What's left of 'em."

[Duke of URL]

Garrin

"Now that is an idea I can get behind," he says to Draego. The door opens and his uncle comes inside.

"Occasion? We're taking delivery of our new yawl today... say, why weren't you at the funeral?"

[roninkelt]

Draego

hops up from his chair and goes to give Uncle Saker a big giant hug, lifting him off the floor. "I haven't seen you in ages!" He holds him back, looking up and down. "Have you shrunk or have I grown?" This last is said with a big smile... Which dies when Garrin brings up the funeral.

Draego has grown into a well build young man, dressed in soft buckskin leathers. Judging by the hug and handgrip he's quite strong as well.

[Psionic Dog]

Saker

With a clatter Saker drops his spear and returns the embrace of his nephew.
*Oof* "Boy, I'd say that your the one that's doing the growing. I have to say Draego, you've turned out pretty well, same for you Garrin. Last I time I was in town the two of you were getting a great start on your careers: Magic and hunting wasn't it? Let me be the first to say I'm so proud that neither you haven't turned out as a worthless drifter like myself."

At this Uncle Saker gives a wild laugh. As this fades he finally notices the quiet that has enveloped his nephews, a quiet that all to closely resembles Natsume's.

"Funeral? Err... why would I be at a funeral? Was it someone important to the family or someone I should know?" He asks cautiously after sharing the silence for a moment.

[roninkelt]

Draego

steps back and looks right into Saker's eyes - "Father died, then mother left town..." He's not putting any softness into it, evidently things are still a bit raw.

"Things went to hell in a hurry after that, and now we're squatting on what used to be our own house." Anger boils in his voice, contained fury just beneath the surface. He stalks across the room, kicking a chair out of the way. Then takes a deep breath before turning around to face Saker again. "You came just in time to see our last grasp at keeping afloat." His jaw muscles jump, teeth clenched around the thought of the family going down.

[McMindflayer]

Rustin entered the cobbler's shop, finding that Bert was already predisposed. He is rather well known, Guess I'll wait my turn He thought, since he didn't really want to make a scene.

Rustin gave the girl and Bert a second look,but then just walked into the shop and started to wander around as if an interested shopper, not paying either of them any more attention. Or at least, that is what he appeared to be doing.

[Lonna]

Lonna


Only years of practice controlling her expression kept a look of polite interest on Lonna's face, rather than the shock she felt at hearing that her family was in the streets. She had known that the debts were heavy and the collectors impatient, but she hadn't imagined they would take the mansion. I should have known better. Collectors throw poor folk out of their homes all the time, and like it or not, my family's debts make them- make us poor in the eyes of the law. Lonna is so dismayed that she fails to notice the stranger until he is in the shop, apparently examining the half-finished items strewn along Jonae's workbench. Examining him from the corner of her eye while Bert rambles, she pegs the man as a sword for hire, and not one she would want to tangle with if it could be avoided. Nevertheless, he does not seem to be an immediate threat, so Lonna returns the majority of her attention to Bert, gently guiding the conversation back to the Kite family.

"That's awful," she says sympathetically as Bert winds up a lengthy complaint about sleeping on the street with his gimp leg and bad back aching in the cold. Carefull to keep her tone conversational she adds, "I bet the Kites have their own set of aches to match yours, now that they're living on the streets."

[Duke of URL]

Garrin

"You didn't know? Well, that would explain why you didn't come." He sighs. "If you were looking for a pleasant stay with family, I'm afraid that isn't possible anymore. The estate has been seized for past debts, and we all have barely two coppers to scrape together.

"Natsume came up with the idea of risking what little we have left on one big trade expedition. I'm not sure it's such a good idea, except for the fact that I don't have any better ones. So, we got ourselves a yawl, and we're getting ready to go for all or nothing."

[Another_Poet]

Rustin/William/Lonna

Jonae ignores Rustin at first, which perhaps explains why her shoemaking business is in such a depressed part of town.

Bert, however, takes a break in his complaints to Lonna to look in the mercenary's direction and asks, "Who's the quiet one what came in just now?"

[Psionic Dog]

Uncle Saker

"But, Mom and Dad have been dead for years..." Saker starts before the reality of the situation finally squashes his refusal to acknowledge the truth.

"You mean my brother, Orikedes." He then asks the room and those in it, and his face falls as he sees truth reflected back.

Automatically Saker drops his back pack and jerks himself across the room to the kicked chair. By the time he rights the chair and collapses wearily into it the uncle has been transformed: His eyes seem to have lost focus and shrunken into his now pale and sagging face as years of hardship and anguish rush to the surface to embrace this new catastrophe. He doesn't quite cry, but anguish and morning are clearly twisting his features.

"Dead, but... no, no he couldn't have, ... why now? Why must life mock me!? ... I ... he... but ... then who can... who will I... my trip... all in vain... I can't... then... but... now? ...? ..."

[roninkelt]

Draego

his anger drains away as he watches uncle Saker hit with the realization that his brother is dead. Not sure what to do he just puts a hand on Saker's shoulder, offering support without words.

[McMindflayer]

Rustin

Rustin turned to look at Bert the blind begger and put a curious look on his face. "Err." He thought quickly. Real name or fake name... "Rustin... Sir." He adds the sir at the last minute. Feeling it was better to be polite to someone he doens't know as of yet. Just because he was playing innocent, doesn't mean that he should be impolite about it. He hoped Bert didn't call him out from memory. It's not that he didn't trust the others in the establishment, but he always felt that safe was better than sorry.