"I am most often in the east district of Riverside. It's more conducive to my work there, even with recent events." Jane isn't referring to the riots as much as the Democracy Now movement. She saw them as being the type that would meddle.
In a city full of drow, someone who isn't quite a drow stands out. A man, wearing a hide tunic, simple pants, a jacket, and fur-trimmed boots. It's a bit cool out, but not really cool enough to warrant that warm of a jacket... anyone with a bit of know-how will be able to guess he has something hidden in there.
Beyond the odd style of clothing, his skin has odd patterns on it. Most of his skin is a very dark grey, but some stripes and blotches on his skin are more of a gunmetal grey. It's obviously some kind of natural pattern; it's too purposeful to be scars but too random to be some kind of tattoos.
He walks down a street, examining the surroundings. He doesn't seem especially curious or cautious... in fact, he almost looks disinterested. Maybe even apathetic.
It would seem most people are giving Mister G plenty of room. Despite being quite snappily dressed and appearing to be a completely normal human (you suspect nothing!) there is none the less something subtly unnerving about the fellow. If he feels inclined to try chatting with these people he'll have to be a bit more proactive about it!
Oh HO!
What's this? Now those two he recognizes from his sister's previous mention. Sszy, Endrik, and the Exalt will find themselves approached by a rather handsome fellow in a dress suit and fedora. The man's more-than-real presence should be a dead give-away of who he might be related to. "A wonderful party, isn't it? I hope you don't mind another cutting into the conversation."
Would it be wise to say no to the eldritch abomination? Probably not.
Meanwhile!
Zee seems to have fallen into quiet contemplation. She might be... distracted? Hard to tell if that's the right word. Her attention certainly seems to be split right now, that's for sure.
Also meanwhile!
Sadei has busied herself with watching the other children at the party, trying to drum up the courage to approach them. The kid is sweet, but she hasn't inherited her mother's outgoing attitude. Of all the party guests the young Matron makes her the most curious.
The disconnect between the girl's air of self-importance and occasional outbursts of childish behavior almost reminds her of Raven. Trying too hard to act too grown up all the time.
Should Ryldolin catch Sadei's gaze she'll offer a wave to the boy. Gosh is she ever clueless about how this stuff is supposed to work.
__________________
Warning! Random Encounter™ detected!
Spoiler
Zee is a perfectly normal human female. You suspect nothing!
Winifred 'Freddie' Fredrick
Souls Nommed: 657
Days Since Last Nomming: 0
"Interesting," Endrik says to Shrike. The paladin isn't much for being verbose, and never has been. "What sort of things do you mean? There is an order of people from my home who sound similar."
The rather tense looking young boy does catch sight of Sadei out of the corner of his eye. He gives her a bit of a funny look, but doesn't wave back. He has absolutely no idea what to think of her waving.
Samona meanwhile, is regarding Inala with a marked amount of wariness, but underneath it she's also intrigued. Heavy tariffs? Samona would smile if she weren't trying to keep her expression neutral. She files away that piece of information for later.
Inala laughs, smiling at the little matron the way someone would stare at disobedient niece.
"I shall keep that in mind little girl. Now run along and play with your dolls and let the people who actually work for a living talk."
With that, she turns away from Elvanriina and approaches Magtok again, all business.
"Now then. As you may or may not be aware, I'm the leader of the Custom's House. Any trade that passes into the city must go by there. Now, typically there are rather high tariffs on good from the outside. But, perhaps we could work out some sort of deal?" She smiles sweetly.
Xar'Cha Palace
Elvanriina's smile is equally pleasant and horribly faked as she raises a hand and waves snootily at Inala's continued insistence to demean her, "Despite your intentions, I find the suggestion that I leave rather agreeable. Even speaking to goblins and children is preferable to spending another moment so close to such an abhorrent hag." Epithet delivered, the young matron walks off, reaching out to snag the remaining pastry Ryldolin should still be holding for her on her way by him.
Now, which does she actually dare talk to. The pack of goblins, or the child near the refreshment table? Whichever looks to be in need of conversation more she supposes.
Sadei totally wouldn't mind conversation! The young Matron might be encouraged by a smile? Or a wave?
Clearly the child isn't at all canny to the ways of the Underdark. Probably born on the surface or something.
But!
One thing that might make a chat more interesting?
There's a subtle aura of power about the girl. Not a repressive or dark miasma of evil one might expect from a draegloth, but rather something almost soothing. An enhancing of perception around her. A pocket of space where colors are brighter, lines more distinct, and sounds more pure.
How very odd.
__________________
Warning! Random Encounter™ detected!
Spoiler
Zee is a perfectly normal human female. You suspect nothing!
Winifred 'Freddie' Fredrick
Souls Nommed: 657
Days Since Last Nomming: 0
Ryldolin was indeed holding the pastry, and now he's following dutifully behind Elvanriina once again. This whole thing is getting rather dull, but the boy mostly keeps any sign of his thoughts off his face. It takes a lot of willpower, though.
Inala laughs, smiling at the little matron the way someone would stare at disobedient niece.
"I shall keep that in mind little girl. Now run along and play with your dolls and let the people who actually work for a living talk."
With that, she turns away from Elvanriina and approaches Magtok again, all business.
"Now then. As you may or may not be aware, I'm the leader of the Custom's House. Any trade that passes into the city must go by there. Now, typically there are rather high tariffs on good from the outside. But, perhaps we could work out some sort of deal?" She smiles sweetly.
Magtok warily eyes Elvanriina as she goes, hesitant to speak up again until she's almost certainly out of earshot. That child really creeps him out.
"A near-monopoly on the retail purchases of an entire district of the city of Inside? Color me intrigued, ma'am."
But what in the world could she want in exchange? Drow never hand anything out for free, and even when they do, it's because they expect to be able to use it to rope you into a favor later, or it's because the free thing is a trap, or they intend to blackmail you with it, or...well, you get the idea.
"Interesting," Endrik says to Shrike. The paladin isn't much for being verbose, and never has been. "What sort of things do you mean? There is an order of people from my home who sound similar."
Shrike chuckles, raising her eyebrow. "Sure you want to know? Most paladins wouldn't approve," she observes, winking.
Shrike's comment elicits a grunt of a laugh from Sszinyon and puts a slight smile on his face. That quickly disappears, though, when Mister G approaches. Something about this man seems disturbingly familiar, and yet the drow could not place it. Subconsciously, he takes a step back, one foot sliding behind the other in the beginings of a fighting stance. Subtly, the crowd around the group moved out of the way. Most here knew not to get near Sszinyon when he was fighting. Still, heads turned. Who was powerful enough to put the Secondboy of House Xar'Cha on edge? Or had his time on the surface made him weaker?
At first Mister G just quirks his head off to the side ever so slightly at that reaction. And then he laughs. It isn't an altogether pleasant sound. More akin to a crackling fire than anything else.
"Well. You're a bit more on edge than I would have guessed. But I suppose that's to be expected given how many enemies you've managed to make here in the Nexus. Though believe me, I don't need to be counted among them," he offers a hand to shake.
Sszy should probably decline to return the gesture.
Touching something like Mister G may not be altogether wise. Especially if he's still a vampire. Sszy is still a vampire, right?
"My sister has told me about you. You must be quite the piece of work to earn K'rax' ire. She isn't exactly well know for being ill-tempered."
__________________
Warning! Random Encounter™ detected!
Spoiler
Zee is a perfectly normal human female. You suspect nothing!
Winifred 'Freddie' Fredrick
Souls Nommed: 657
Days Since Last Nomming: 0
Endrik stopped, for a moment, the helmet giving away nothing. There was, however, a distinct possibility that behind the visor, he had raised an eyebrow at Shrike. Turning his head to look at Sszy, very briefly, he said "I am not most. Try me."
Mr. G worried Endrik. Whoever he was, he was odd, and Sszy seemed put off by him. For now, he said nothing...
Sszy's sudden tenseness makes the Exalt's eyebrow arc a bit higher, but the conversation with Endrik takes precedence. And if he isn't sufficently concerned to end it, neither is she.
"Very well. The Night Caste are the Solar Exalts who go bump in the night. Assassination, thievery, kidnapping, salting batteries with intent to Gary Larson, that sort of thing."
And now it's time for another Xar'Cha to enter the room... Ethelay Xar'Cha, mother of Tebtranlyn and Ryldolin and younger sister to the Matron Danube. Her hair is elaborately styled, but her dress is understated - a simple gown in blue and gold. She looks around the room and her eyes light on her younger brother, who she hasn't seen in years.
"Sszinyon! How delightful... I'm so glad you could make it!" she says, not caring at all that she's interrupting conversation and a potential altercation. She reaches out both her hands to try to take his - a simple sign of sisterly affection.
To the Xar'Cha family members present, Ethelay is known to be affectionate and loyal to the Xar'Cha family - to the point of staying completely neutral in the various internecine power struggles and disagreements. She is capable of being completely ruthless and amoral when dealing with outsiders. Family first, for her.
Harnel stares at Terrowin dumbfounded for a moment, and for all the world this is obviously the organic equivalent of "DOES NOT COMPUTE".
"... It's Kail? You're sure it's not some other woman that happens to look like her? Because I'm having a hard time believing that, no offense."
Quote:
Originally Posted by Earl of Purple
Xar'Cha Palace Party- Terrowin, Cessie & Harnel
"None taken. It's not mine, anyway. I told Kail I could speak to a powerful extraplanar creature that might be able to restore her manhood, as it were, and she accepted. I let her know there would be a price to pay, and I was expecting a sacrifice- gold, gemstones, blood, the usual. The being in question asked Kail for a child, and she accepted. However, now, it's made another deal with her. Kail's unwilling to leave her child without his mother, so she's promised to ensure the boy gets a good education and he's got a guaranteed place in the Order, so he's happy. I think it knew all that when it stated its price; creatures of that sort are very cunning, and rarely state a price one is unwilling to pay." Terrowin is carefully avoiding saying the word 'demon', or 'glabrezu'. Just because they know Terrowin's on the interesting side of the alignment chart, and he knows they know, doesn't mean he should let them know he knows they know.
[Xar'cha part - Terrowin, Cessie, and Harnel]
The sorceress blinks. What? After seeing how Terrowin's faith treated it's prisoners she makes her own conclusions of what happened to Kail, which also leads her to the hasty conclusion that Terrowin is an utter monster.
Thankfully she manages to keep herself from exploding at the high priest, this was neither the time nor the place to tell him what she really felt about what he had just done.
"Sounds rather untordox but I don't know that much about her, or him in this case." She says with a slightly strained voice. She really wanted to let a earth elemental punch Terrowin in the face, but that wouldn't solve anything.
It did sound really odd though even if it had been completely innocent, what kind of sick bastard demanded a child as a gift? It made her sick just thinking about. She knew Terrowin was keeping slaves but this was just utterly despicable.
"What do you say Harnel? Perhaps we should make a visit?"
"I would like that. Thank you." Another oddity from the oddly out of place drowess. She says thank you. With a light step, she follows Irzayle down the street.
Irzayle leads her along the Market street, using some of the last of their money to buy her some traditional drow foods from vendors. They stop in front of a small stall selling carved idols of Lolth.
Sadei totally wouldn't mind conversation! The young Matron might be encouraged by a smile? Or a wave?
Clearly the child isn't at all canny to the ways of the Underdark. Probably born on the surface or something.
But!
One thing that might make a chat more interesting?
There's a subtle aura of power about the girl. Not a repressive or dark miasma of evil one might expect from a draegloth, but rather something almost soothing. An enhancing of perception around her. A pocket of space where colors are brighter, lines more distinct, and sounds more pure.
How very odd.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Morty
[Xar'Cha Palace]
Both Dipsnig and the two Underside goblins look like they could use someone to talk to. They're wandering around the hall, watching people casually.
Xar'Cha Palace
Elvanriina heads towards the Underside goblins for a few steps, then stops and turns to Ryldolin, waving a hand at Sadei as she does, "Why don't you go and chat with the young girl over there and enjoy yourself? I require no further assistance for the moment, and I'll know where to find you once I do." That said she turns and hurries off to Boss Bignose for a nice pleasant chat.
Well, more pleasant than her talk with Inala and that horrid crossdresser was, "Excuse me, I just wanted to say that your attire is absolutely adorable this evening. It drew my eye the moment I stepped into the room." She smiles viciously, but genuinely.
Asim fetches a sigh from deep within him, and rubs his eyes.
"Of course. You can't have a party without your entire family showing up. And of course, you have to play the good host." Asim looks around at the assembled guests. "Once everyone gets here, how long do you think until they all leave again? Five hours? Six?"
[Xar'Cha Palace]
Sornnolu shrugs. "It's impossible to tell. I'm sure you've heard stories of balls lasting for days on end? And the host must provide until the last guest leaves, else they would lose face. It's bankrupted some Houses. If this goes longer than we've planned, we may have to raise tariffs." He looks to the trader, wondering what he thought of that.
Elsewhere in the ballroom, Sszinyon was looking quite surprised, but pleased, to see his elder sister. In what would seem to be a lapse in character, he does allow her to take his hands. "Ethelay." The drow smiles and bows his head in respect. "You know I would traverse countless miles to see my favorite sister again." From most, this would be polite hyperbole, but Sszinyon was usually much more serious than that.
[Market Streets]
Aly'ithra enjoyed the exotic food greatly, thinking she might pay for it herself, but remembering she didn't have much to spend. Travelling so far had left her with little funds. The question of gods caused her smile to falter.
"Lolth of course. What other goddess is there?" She says her smile returning. The bluff was a good one, but a trained eye would see the lie written all over her face. Worry was there as well. What had she been thinking walking into a place like this?
Both Dipsnig and the two Underside goblins look like they could use someone to talk to. They're wandering around the hall, watching people casually.
Someone watches back. Two someones, specifically, but only one of them is smiling in a friendly manner. The other is a child wrapped in so many lightly colored clothes that one can't even identify the color of their eyes, let alone whether they're smiling or not.
The smiling one is an older drow who, by all appearances, has made a point of looking incredibly average. No stand-out emblems, garish hats, ostentatious uniforms.
Just a simple suit and neatly cut, short hair.
He's trying not to be pretentious here, as he moves closer to greet Dipsnig with figuratively open arms.
"Hello there, friend."
The smaller companion just lurks somewhere behind him, quietly watching.
((Delicious misunderstandings adjusted.))
__________________ Inner Circle
Shepherd of the Plush Flock
Avatar: Obsidian Block Feia, by Gulaghar Formspring Dealy
"Yes Illharess. Just let me know when you need me." Ryldolin bows and goes to head over to Sadei once the Matron leaves him. He tries not to look relieved, but the tension worry about screwing this up was getting to him.
But then again, here he is having to deal with another female. This'll probably be nothing but trouble. "Good evening. I hope you're enjoying yourself. My name is Ryldolin; I don't think we've met." He says with practiced politeness.
Irzayle sees the bluff and does their best to keep it from their face. Perhaps she will be too busy bluffing to notice that they saw through the bluff. They quickly turn to the vendor and purchase a small medallion depicting Lolth devouring some pour soul.
You would be surprised how any there are out there. But the eyes of our goddess are always upon us. My house once held a special place in the eyes of the Web Mother.
Irzayle holds the pendant at arms length and watches it turn slowly at the end of its silver chain. For a moment their eye goes soft, as if seeing something in the pendant. But the look passes immediately.
That was long ago, though. Please, accept this final gift in the name of Lolth. I am sure that as long as you are wearing this, you will find fortune in your endeavor.
They offer the pendant to Aly'ithra.
*The heretic scorns the web. Kill her now.
__________________
Not really here. Just an illusion.
If the fellow in the dress suit is at all offended by the drowess' sudden insertion into the conversation he certainly doesn't show it. Hadn't he just done the same thing not so long ago?
He offers the newcomer a charming smile.
Or... at least there is a very distinct impression that he offers a charming smile.
"And what a lovely sister she is, I must say. But ia, how rude of me! Here I am barging in without so much as introducing myself."
He offers a terse bow.
"My kin and I have been heaped with various descriptors, names, and titles by the people we've met. Most of them dreadfully difficult to pronounce. To avoid the verbal gymnastics I believe 'Mister G' will be a sufficient name."
MEANWHILE!
Ryldolin soon discovers that he has walked into a situation that's nothing but trouble!
Okay. Well. Maybe not. But we'll see!
"Oh!" the girl jumps slightly, almost surprised that the boy she had waved at is giving her any attention. She hastily hunts down a napkin to wipe off the mushroom sauce before offering a hand in polite greeting. "Sadei Xar'cha. I... umm... I was exploring the settlement when someone was kind enough to introduce me to my half-brother here at the palace."
This is followed by a sheepish smile.
"I was sort of born here on the surface, so I'm still trying to get use to all.... this."
Drow culture in general.
__________________
Warning! Random Encounter™ detected!
Spoiler
Zee is a perfectly normal human female. You suspect nothing!
Winifred 'Freddie' Fredrick
Souls Nommed: 657
Days Since Last Nomming: 0
"Why, thank you," Boss Flatnose says, returning the smile. Even if the drow isn't honest, it's better to play along. "I am Goldbaka Flatnose, the Boss of Underside Colony and this is General Bratznef Ridgebank, my advisor."
The goblin next to her gives a small bow. "With whom do I have the pleasure of speaking?"
Dipsnig turns to meet the new drow and nods curtly.
"Greetings."
__________________
My FFRP characters. Avatar by Kid Kris. Sigatars by Gulaghar, Kid Kris, Zefir and billtodamax, respectively.
"Ethelay Xar'Cha," she says to Mr G. Then to Sszinyon, "We must get together and catch up. Some of the strangest rumours have reached me about you, and I really should learn which you want squelched and which spread." She gives a glance over at Endrik, making it clear that the paladin has been grist for the rumour mill. "Of course one never can tell from home what sort of goings-on are occurring on the surface."
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