| Logs |
2009 March 15
| When The Bough Breaks |
| Realms |
Retired
| Reality Fault |
General Info
 |
| Realms: Bough Logs |
Second Movement, Seventh Verse
Mikal stands in the darkness before the alfar consulate. In this part of the city there isn't much light, and at the moment even fewer people; most responded quickly to the call of the fire at the granary. Meanwhile, as the others return to the hostel, they find Raphael waiting for them, looking agitated and a touch impatient.
Mikal sighs, rubbing her forehead -- she's tired, and she wishes she could sleep for a bit. Still, it's a potential emergency, and it would be bad if the arsonists tried to burn this building also. She nods firmly to herself -- this isn't so bad, really; she's been in worse spots while hunting monsters! She strings her bow and nocks an arrow, waiting silently in the shadows to see who comes out.
Tomas says, "Where is Mikal, Raphael?"
Raphael does what looks like a bit of a pantomime, in that he runs for a few steps, then inches back, then repeats, clearly wishing the group to follow him. Finally he simply trots over and takes hold of Tomas's sleeve, and starts to move away.
Tomas follows.
Norris chuckles wryly. "Okay, okays Raph, no need t' beat it in, we's coming." he assures the wolf.
Jareth follows on after Raphael, wrinkling his nose a little. He can be a bit lax about bathing, but he doesn't like smelling like burned grain.
Tomas, when he gets to where Raphael leads, grumbles, "So what's the matter, Mikal?"
Mikal sees her friends arriving and sighs in relief. She waits until Raphael brings them over to her, then murmurs quietly, "Raph and I think the arsonists are inside -- same smell of oil in there." She adds a bit tiredly, "I, um... sorry for not just taking care of it. I... sort of tired myself out helping put out the fire though..." She sounds embarrassed.
Tomas mutters, "Does that mean the arsonists are planning to torch the embassy, or were the arsonists members of the embassy."
Mikal shakes her head, "Don't know, but they're still in there, I think."
Norris uhs, and looks at the others. "Y'really think we shoul..ah mean, mebbe we shoul' tell the guard, or sommat?"
Tomas looks for a guard inside the embassy entrance. He leans inside the door and looks for a guard inside the embassy entrance. There is no guard to be seen.
Jareth asks tiredly, "Is it possible they plan on burning the embassy, too? Or are yousure it's the arsonists?"
Mikal murmurs quietly, "Raphael and I are sure, yes. We found empty gourds for oil with the same scent, at the granary fire."
Tomas says, "So there are people with the same oil here. The same as at the fire."
Norris shakes his head. "That dun make sense. From whut a member, th' fire was a protest against folks helpin Mordred. Why would they be working wi' th' Embassy?"
Mikal pushes her hair back, then says firmly, "This is ridiculous! This place is utterly undefensible, so we might as well just head in." She straightens and marches for the door.
Tomas says, "Ok, but keep your eyes open. "
Norris uhs? "Wait, Mikal, we can't jus..." He follows after her. "Dun we need a plan?"
Tomas hefts his glaive and follows.
Mikal snorts amusedly at Tomas's comment, not replying. She sticks to the shadows, but pauses when the large man follows her -- it's hard to sneak that way, after all. She looks at Norris, then back at Tomas, "Tomas, what's the plan?"
Inside, the embassy is a bit of a mess. There's a small brazier that casts a bit of a fitful light in the corner, but the rest of the floor has been gone through roughly. The desks are too heavy to have thrown but the chairs are in disarray, and parchments and scrolls are strewn about the floor. The only other light comes from the stairs that lead down to the belowground floor that Swanlinde had come out of the past few times they visited.
Raphael continues sliding through the shadows, ending up at the most western of the southern curtains.
Tomas says, "Find the people with the oil on them, stop them if they want to burn the embassy, figure out what to do next if they are embassy people."
Norris uhs, and hmms. "Okays. Yuh, that's a plan."
Mikal nods to Tomas, then smiles tiredly at Norris, "There you go. All right, let's get this taken care of. I want a bath and a nice snooze, and these guys are In My Way!" She slips through the curtain after Raphael, glancing around and shaking her head, "Yuck."
Norris stares at Mikal. And doesn't get in her way.
Jareth follows after Mikal and blinks around, voice low, "I really think the arsonists invaded here..."
Mikal leans out to call quietly to the others, "Raph says there's no one upstairs. C'mon in -- let's go see what's up downstairs."
Tomas heads for the down staircase.
Mikal eyes Tomas a bit bemusedly... then grins and follows, crouching so she can cover Tomas with her bow as he descends.
Norris finally follows, but makes sure that Jareth has gone first, so the pretty boy is sandwiched between all the people with weapons.
Tomas halts at the bottom of the stairs, and looks up and down the corridor.
If he sees nothing, Tomas looks at Raphael and says "Which way is the oil scent?"
The corridor heads left and right, with a door set in the wall of the corridor before it turns. There are sconces in the walls, but they do not hold torches; rather they hold brass rods tipped with bronze that seems to glow brightly.
From the top of the stairs, Raphael's nose twitches, and he leans down a bit. He cannot tell what direction the oil scent is from; it's likely that there were multiple arsonists and they went in several directions.
Mikal whispers down to Tomas, "What do you see?"
Jareth murmurs to Mikal, "Does he even know the layout down there? I mean... I did some wandering, but did he even do that?"
Tomas whispers back, "There is a door on either side of the stairs, and a corridor running back toward the door on either side.
Mikal shakes her head bemusedly, replying just as quietly, "I don't think so! I don't want to leave us with an open route to our backs if this place is designed anything like that tower where we found the poisoned guys either, you know?"
Mikal sighs frustratedly at Tomas's comment, then mutters, "Stupid aelfar -- don't they know how to build defensively?!" She sighs again, then says, "All right, let's see... can we somehow block one of the hallways, so we don't have to split up?"
Tomas says, "I don't think so. We will just have to be careful, and watch our backs."
Jareth looks behind him and smirks slightly, "Well, we could leave Raph or Norris... or both... at one corner while we check out the other hall."
Mikal looks mulish, sitting back on her heels, "Heck no! That's how we get picked off one at a time!"
Mikal sits there, musing silently for a bit... then she looks behind her, "Could we maybe... move a desk?"
Norris was about to agree with Jareth before Mikal disagrees. "uh. Well...mebbe we coul jam th' door closed?
Mikal glances over her shoulder at Norris, "It's the hallway that disturbs me, N-Bear, not the doors. They're good routes for someone to sneak up behind us."
Jareth shakes his head and says quietly, "Look, the hallway is shaped like this..." He draws a sort of U-shape on the stair with his fingertip, "Both of those hallways end in doors."
Tomas says, "I don't think the desk is big enough to block the hall. "
Mikal nods to Jareth, watching intently as he shows a sort of map. When he's done she sighs again, "Wonderful. So not only can they sneak out ahead of us, they can set an ambush before they leave."
Jareth taps the entrances to each of the hallways, "We put one person here, one person here, to act as watch outs and relay information and then we explore one hall at a time."
Jareth murmurs, "That way, everyone's always in sight of someone else."
Mikal blinks, suddenly brightening, "No! That's it -- Norris was right! We block the door -- that one!" She taps the eastmost northern door, "And while we do it, we keep someone at the corner, like Jareth suggested -- and that way no one can sneak out past us without being seen!"
Norris doesn't entirely follow Mikal's logic, but he doesn't argue. He's better at enacting plans than making them. "Right. Ah'll take care o' the door, then." He goes back to the door, studying the best way to keep it shut.
Jareth nods to Mikal, grinning, "Makes sense. But what are we going to block it with..." he glances back up the stairs and says, "Maybe some of those stone chairs..."
Mikal nods enthusiastically, "That'll do it! Good plan, Jareth." She grins hopefully at Norris, "Can you bring one of those down, to jam the door with?"
Norris stops in mid step. "Bring which down? oh! The Chairs...huh."
Norris goes over to a chair and tries to lift it, see how heavy it is.
Tomas moves forward as quietly as he can and listens at the door to room # 1.
Mikal blinks as Tomas disappears from her view, calling urgently, "Tomas?! Are you all right?"
Tomas hears nothing at the door.
Jareth mutters, "He's going to get himself killed."
Tomas calls back, "Just checking the doors."
Mikal whews! and relaxes a bit, then calls back, "Tomas, wait for the rest of us, please?" She nods silently, her expression worried as she listens intently.
Jareth hisses down the stairs, "Man! Wait until we're down there with you!"
Tomas Comes back to the stairs.
Mikal looks relieved, "There you are! Give us just a bit -- Norris is going to bring down a chair to brace one of the doors closed, so our backs are covered!"
Norris brings down two, uncertain of the stability of the chairs, as they are clearly wood, and not, sadly, stone. Waiting until everyone else is through, he eases things down, carefully...and then sets up the chairs, one on top of the other, to make it very hard to get those doors open...and when he pulls the doors closed, everything falls into place.
Mikal makes sure she and Raphael are at the corner of the hallway while Norris is blocking the northeastern door. She's got an arrow nocked and at the ready.
Tomas accompanies Norris to guard his back.
Mikal sends Jareth with the other two men, so he's well protected.
As the three men move along the north corridor to block the door at the far end that Jareth has told them about, they notice that there are three doors in the corridor to their right. The middle one is open, and they can hear voices coming from within.
Tomas motions the others to stop. He creeps up to the door to listen.
Norris uhs, and stops in mid step. Carrying two chairs. Tehre is no good way for him to be quiet, except by not moving.
From where he is, without looking in, it doesn't sound pleasant. There appears to be two voices, at least.
The first that Tomas hears clearly is blunt and gruff, growling out, "I will say this only one last time. Give us the keys to the records room and the consul's quarters."
The second voice is that of the alfar consular aide; he sounds worn, tired, and somewhat less than at his full capacity. "Burn in fire, bacraut."
Tomas peeks in the room.
Mikal's eyes widen, and she waves at Jareth to catch his attention, then points towards Tomas and the room, mouthing, "You go!"
Norris carefully eases the chairs down, so at least he's no longers carrying them...one, then the other.
Jareth nods and starts to move down the hall as quietly as he can, wanting to at least get close enough to find out how many are in the room.
As Jareth peers in the room, he sees two men, standing over the crouched form of the svartalfar aide. Both men are mortals, both are in dark travelling clothes; and both have long knives, one sheathed and one unsheathed. The two men exchange glances, then look back at the svartalfar. "You're only delaying this by no more than a few minutes," the one with the unsheathed knife says. "But suit yourself." He raises the knife.
Mikal's eyes widen again in worry as Raphael relates what he's hearing.
Jareth takes a deep breath and hopes his playing with juggling and other things have helped his aim.
The knife-man takes in a sharp breath as Jareth's knife thunks into him. A moment later he staggers back, as the pain of the blade hits him.
The second man gives a start as he sees his friend suddenly grow a knife. "What the--!" he blurts out, drawing his own knife.
Jareth blinks as the thrown blade hits the man quite solidly and quickly steps back out of the door. He makes a mental note to practice that particular move.
Mikal calls urgently down the hallway towards the men she's darting towards, "Cat, get the aelf away from the fighting! Wolf, protect Cat -- Bear and Badger, stop the attackers!" She draws up near the door, by the chairs Norris has put down and with her back to a wall, and draws her bow back. "I'll cover the hallway so they don't flank us. Hurry!"
Raphael bounds along before Mikal and darts into the room, trying to angle himself between the attackers and both the door and the aelf.
Norris had been pulling free his hammer from the sling, slow, when Jareth had suddenly attacked. jerked into motion by Mikal's command, he charges through the door, hammer in hand. "Mikal says yew stop." he informs them, and lashes out with his maul.
The mortal already wounded by Jareth's dagger-throw gets his hand smacked for his troubles for holding on to the knife, which he drops rapidly.
Tomas strikes at the second man, using the back of his glaive to knock him out rather than kill him.
The flat of Tomas's glaive whacks into the other mortal. With a yelp, the man, seeing he's outnumbered, drops the knife and backs away, holding his hands up. "All right, all right, Jesus, I'm unarmed now!"
Jareth wonders for a moment who Jesus is and why the man would call Tomas that.
Mikal calls out firmly, "Ask them if there are more of them here!" She doesn't look in the door at all -- she's busy covering the hallway in both directions... which is harder than it sounds!
Norris does not take a moment to contemplate the irony of Mikal yelling the question. "You heard 'er." he drawls, unfriendly, jabbing the first man with the head of his maul. "Yew got fire-setting friends?"
Tomas asks the surrendering man, "How many more are there?"
The man looks a bit in confusion at the two questioners, and clamps his mouth shut tightly.
Mikal nudges Jareth with her hip, murmuring, "Get in there and find out!"
Tomas pokes him with the pointy end of the glaive.
Jareth steps in and gently moves Tomas' blade aside, murmuring, "They're not very useful if you cut them to bits."
The man winces as he gets poked. "Three! Three more!"
Jareth arches a brow, "Where are they?"
Tomas looks at Jareth, "See all they need is a little convincing."
Norris checks on the Alefar while Tomas does to poking, and Jareth does the asking.
Jareth murmurs, "And I'd rather we not resort to rule by fear."
Tomas shrugs. "Whatever works."
Mikal continues covering the hallway, since there are theoretically three more out there somewhere. She hopes the man answers soon.
The man looks to Jareth. "Other side... trying to get to the consul.
Jareth shakes his head, "Whatever works is what got people into this mess in the same mess." He nods to the man and says, "Thank you." He then starts binding both of them, saying to Tomas, "Let Rabbit and Bear know."
Mikal glances in the door, a horrified look on her face, "Other hallway?!" She looks at the aide, snapping, "Where's the consul? How do we get to her?"
Tomas unties the aide, and uses the rope to tie up the unwounded one.
The aide coughs weakly; he looks like he's been beaten up a bit beforehand. "Consul's suite... door's opposite mine."
Norris rushes out of the room...Tomas and Jareth have the other men under control. "Les go." he says to Mikal and Raph.
Mikal is already lowering her bow and whirling -- she calls back, "Sounds good, Bear! Wolf, hurry!" She lets Raphael run ahead of her, and stays just in front of Norris, so they're as defensibly positioned as she can get -- for rushing madly down a hallway!
Jareth takes time to do what he can for all the wounded, even the one he wounded himself.
When they get to the stairs, Mikal puts an arm out to stop Norris, and calls mentally to Raphael... so the three of them can tiptoe to the corner and look around it for the expected three attackers on the consul's door.
Mikal whispers, "If we're lucky they're not in yet and we can surprise them!"
Once the two are under control, Tomas will follow Mikal, Norris, and Raphael.
On the other side of the corridor, Mikal, Norris, and Raphael can see two men in the corridor attempting to pick the lock on a door. It isn't going too well for them, however, as it appears to be a very tricky lock. The occasional apparently electric shock from the lock lightly zapping one of them isn't helping.
Mikal whispers urgently, glancing behind them all, "Where's the third?" She stiffens slightly, then whispers to the others, "Got him! He's in the room closest to us -- the door's slightly ajar." She thinks a moment, then nods firmly once, "Tomas is guarding Jareth, so they're safe. All right. Norris, you run down and whack those two men and stop them. Raphael and I will follow you, but we'll stop on either side of the door we expect the spy in, and deal with him. Sound good?"
It sounds straightforward enough to Norris, and he nods.
Norris says, "Y' want me t make a lotta noise?"
Tomas listens at the door to room 3 as he follows Mikal, Norris, Raphael. He continues to follow the others, having heard nothing untoward at the door.
Mikal nods and pats his arm, "Good plan!" She takes a breath, getting her bow ready, and Raphael crouches slightly -- then she nods, whispering, "Now!"
Norris lets out a wild war yell, and comes running at the men trying to be quiet by the door, looking like a maniac.
The mortal picking the lock looks over in shock, blurting out "What the fuuuuu--!" The other is quicker; he pulls a shortsword and shouts almost madly, "Bring it!"
Mikal dashes after him, Raphael on her heels. The big raptor wolf leaps to crouch in wait flat against the wall just west of the door, while Mikal whirls and brings up the bow, aiming at the ajar door from the other side.
Norris is slightly dissapointed...he was hoping this wouldn't turn into a standup fight. He really doesn't like hurting people. But the man has drawn a sword...so be it. He comes to a stop before the man, hammer hurtling in a mighty blow...
The man who drew his sword sees the onrushing bull of Norris swinging his maul and starts to have second thoughts. He gnrks uncomfortably as his armor softens the blow just barely enough and he counts his lucky stars. "Right, I'll cut you for that!"
The other guy, however, says quickly, "Hold up, Jake, they mean business, maybe we can get out of this..
Norris's eyes crease as the armed man faces him. "Ahm sick o' alla yew folks. Fightin an killin and burnin', annat. Yew aint cuttin' no one." He tries the disarming trick again...
Norris's maul whacks soundly into the man's sword, breaking it easilly out oof his grip while he's trying to adjust his grasp of the weapon. The man shouts, and grabs his wrist. "Sonofa...!" He mutters, wincing, and winds up for a kick...
Mikal nods firmly to Raphael, and the big raptor wolf reaches forward with one oddly hand-like paw, nudging the ajar door lightly so it swings slowly open. Both of them look in, set and prepared for someone to come rushing out.
There is nothing beyond the door but a packed storeroom, with what would probably be best termed -- for lack of a better term that just jumps into their heads -- Theban office supplies, such as tablets and blank scrolls and ink jars. There is also, opposite the door that the two are looking in, another door. This one is closed. The room is otherwise empty.
Mikal looks momentarily perplexed -- then spots the door. She frowns, her bow unwavering as she thinks... then she grins. As far as she knows, Tomas is safely guarding Jareth, so this should be fun -- she'll sneak up behind the attacker and they can make the guy surrender. She grins, tilting her head so Raphael knows he can go help Norris; she won't need back up when there's herself, Tomas, and Jareth, after all. The raptor wolf flicks an ear in agreement, and bounds past her towards Norris and the two intruders.
"Jake" winds up for his kick at Norris.
As Raphael notices the incipient attack, his hackles rise into an impressive mane, and he opens his phenomenally fanged mouth, snarling as he rushes them!
The lockpicker sees Raphael charging and shout, "OH SWEET JESUS FUCK NO!" and scrambles backwards.
The other either doesn't notice Raphael or doesn't care, as he swings his leg at Norris's midsection.
Tomas comes around the corner and takes in the situation.
Norris is astonished as he gets the wind knocked out of him. This is the first time he's been hurt by an actual person...Khidra, yes, people, no. His streak of unlost fights with people is now over.
Tomas moves forward to help Norris.
Mikal is just crouching to sneak swiftly through the room. At sight of Tomas, though, her eyes widen in shock. Her mouth silently forms, 'what the f-' -- and then she nearly rockets through the room, doing something no one here has ever heard her doing before: she screams in rage, "TomasifJareth'shurtbecauseyoulefthimI'llkillyoooou!"
Norris wheezes. "Huhwhut?"
Tomas says, "What???"
Mikal whips through the connecting door and rockets through that room too, as fast as she can run.
Raphael looks up in startlement as well, his ears pricked as he thinks a moment -- then he glances at the winded Norris and decides to stay here, where he's supposed to be helping. He bares his teeth at the two intruders again.
The door Mikal finds herself in is much the same as the other, except these appear to be things like braziers, more of those flameless-torch sconces -- all 'out' and not emitting light, however -- and a few other sundries. The opposite door, however, is open.
Mikal shoots through that door without a moment's pause, her still-nocked bow coming up as she whirls to the right and nearly slaps her back to the northern wall, aiming into the room Jareth is in.
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