Czlaplon Quest

[TarlimanJoppos]

Mekhitar pouts a little. "Oh, dear. I was afraid you were going to say that." Then he brightens. "I know! You're on a quest of some sort, right? Every quest needs a Troubadour! How about if I come with you, and help out, and in return you could send me my old whistle when you get home?"

Shaliko's eyes narrow. "Dead Troubadours don't sing well," he says, "and you're more dead than most."

Mekhitar grins. "Vorst are so literal minded. If I were dead, how could I be here?"

[ToranaVameha]

"That's what I want to know...How did you come back again?" For my part, I'm not angry or accusing or anything...For the moment at least, just genuinely curious. But how are Timothy and Andine reacting to him? Is Timothy sending anything through our link that I should be aware of? I'm not exactly Astrally sensitive myself, but depending on Timothy's reaction I might tap into his sight to check for myself.

(Also, what were the LPs from the previous day?)

[arcomniflash]

"This is not the kind of quest that needs songs sung of it. At least not all of it." I'll murmur quietly, becoming ever more wary now that it has been mentioned that this man should be dead. I'll regard him with a hard stare and also attempt to as astrally perceive him, let's see how his aura looks.

- Isaac

[TarlimanJoppos]

(LPs from the 24th: 150 for the day, 100 goal for reaching the Floating City, which wasn't all that hard to do).

Isaac: Make an Astral Sight test.

Torana: Timothy seems more curious than anything else, based on the emotional vibe you're getting from him. Andine seems a little unsure about how to deal with him. There's something not right, and it's outside of her previous experience.

"Oh, all quests need songs sung about them," Mekhitar assures you. "If for no other reason than to keep scurrilous rumors from spreading, and make sure that the rumors that do spread are flattering. Oh, and do put that knife away, there, would you please?" He nods to Shaliko. "Those things tend to hurt."

Shaliko raises an eyebrow, and does not put away the throwing knife.

(I'm not ignoring your question about how he came back, Torana. Mekhitar is ignoring it.)

[ToranaVameha]

Right. There are multiple things about this that are bothering me. For instance, why wouldn't he just go to Fortetsa Hebo on his own instead of wanting to try and get me to send it? On top of not answering me, of course. "Alright, listen Mekhitar. If you want to bargain with me, then I want to know exactly what's going on. You are NOT going anywhere with us until I get answers, at the very least. If you don't want to answer me, that's fine...I can just Light Sprite the temple and make sure they lock that whistle down in magical storage somewhere, or have it thrown into Death's Sea. So answer me, and don't waste my time. I have places to be. How did you get your life back this time?"

[arcomniflash]

(16 on the Astral Sight check)

Raising an eyebrow at Torana's words and at the obvious tension that everyone is feeling, I'll put my hand on my sword. "Rumours, you say?" I'll murmur, that sounded like a threat since too few people know about what we're doing to be spreading rumours about it at this point. As Torana and Mehkitar start to discuss a whistle, I'll keep quiet to see if I can pick out what the intended purpose of the whistle actually is. Obviously Torana has handled this guy before, and can do so better than I.

- Isaac

[TarlimanJoppos]

Mekhitar's shoulders slump. He folds his arms across his chest and pouts just a little. "After all we've been through, Torana, to treat me like this." He sighs.

Isaac, you're not quite sure what you're seeing. Mekhitar isn't exactly alive, but he's also not Horror-tainted, the way you'd expect an undead to be. This is something outside of your previous experience. Whatever he is, you're not quite certain that a sword would really do much to him. His True Pattern has become static - it looks to be fixed in place.

"All right, but not out here on the docks," Mekhitar finally says, with another sigh. He turns away, picks up a bag made out of an old tapestry, slings it over his shoulder, and points off down the docks. "There's a lovely little wineshop right down there that has private rooms." Switching from Throalic to Sperethiel, he addresses Kolbeinn. "You can do the Cone of Silence thing, right? An air elemental to block sound?"

Kolbeinn raises an eyebrow. "Yes... but what's this all about? My apologies, my Throalic isn't up to following the confrontation." The word in Sperethiel he uses for 'confrontation' could be interpreted as 'prelude to a fight' or 'family argument' or 'ideological disagreement', depending on context.

"All will be revealed when its time has arrived." Mekhitar uses an old Elven proverb, that brings in the concepts of patience and of curiosity killing the cat. He makes a Grand Exit, with a flourish of his patchwork cloak, and heads off down the dock toward the aforementioned wineshop.

[ToranaVameha]

Hmm. We don't know how long this explanation is going to take, and we still need to meet up with Gudrun. Still, if he's finally going to talk, then I don't want to miss what might be the only opportunity to hear it. "Do one of you want to maybe stay and wait for Gudrun, and then the two of you can meet us at this shop when she gets here? If we're done first, we'll come back here...unless we have to kill him and then have to try and explain things to the guard or something."

[arcomniflash]

I'll raise a hand slightly to Shaliko and glance at him, trying to catch his attention and shaking my head to try and subtly let him know that the knife probably isn't a good idea. "Garsevan, why don't you wait here while Torana, Kolbeinn and I go and see what this is all about. Shaliko, why don't you come with us?" With my back turned to Mekhitar, I'll walk forward and try to draw the others away a little bit, leaning in and whispering lowly as if conveying further information on what to do.

"I see no taint on this one, but his pattern is curious, static. Something is off, we should ascertain just what that is before proceeding, I feel."

- Isaac

[TarlimanJoppos]

Shaliko nods, once, quickly. "He's not alive, but he's no cadaver man either. Garsevan, you're the least capable in close quarters. You'll wait for Gudrun?"

Garsevan frowns, but agrees. "Aye, I'll be the one to wait for her. You go off and deal with this, whatever it is."

So the four of you follow Mekhitar down the dockside, and into a narrow side street, to a quiet wineshop. It's not a big fancy place, but it's clean and well kept. Only one table of the five in the main room is occupied when you walk in, by a few merchant types who briefly glanc eup at you, then go back to quietly discussing some documents they're handing around to each other. The shopkeeper collects twelve silver from you as a deposit, and lets you into a private room, barely large enough for a table and a few chairs, and with a back window that lets in a terrible stink of fish guts. Kolbeinn wrinkles his nose and conjures an air elemental, both to get rid of the stink and to keep your conversation from being overheard. Mekhitar gives the shopkeeper three gold for a bottle of his better stock and some proper ceramic tankards, no wooden ones, thank you, they tend to hold flavors from past contents. Once the bottle has arrived, and Mekhitar has pronounced himself satisfied with it, and drinks have been poured all round, and the door has closed behind the departing shopkeeper, only then does Mekhitar begin to tell the story.

"You remember VIvane?" he asks, with a flourish of his wine cup. "Of course you do, lovely place it was, well, some of it anyway. Terribly mismanaged by the Therans since the Scourge, such a beautiful city it was once upon a time. But now it's gone, or at least you'd like to think s, now, wouldn't you?" He frowns pensively. "You do remember what happened to it, don't you?"

"It exploded," Shaliko says.

"Well, not exactly, and not to disagree with a Vorst, mind you, that would be both rude and dangerous, but it wasn't the city that exploded, but rather what had arrived at the city."