Constable Pal'dun takes a roundabout route on purpose, heading well west before circling around and approaching the Artists' Square area from the opposite side. He also takes a lot of detours to avoid the main routes. It is late afternoon (well past lunchtime) by the time the van rolls up the narrow street behind Mon'Fargret's home/studio.
"The triasks promised they'd watch the place," says Mey'Luskar. "I'm sure it's okay!"
"Even triasks can be bought," retorts Dabid flatly.
As he says this, a girl can be seen walking along the narrow, empty street with the characteristic swaying gait of a triask not far away. Considering the street is little more than an alley, she looks a bit out of place.
"He does have a point," says Constable Pal'dun.
"Her heart is true," says Bina quietly. "There's no betrayal...and no danger."
"Of course!" says Mey'Luskar pointedly, glaring at Dabid. "Never underestimate Yangae honor!"
Dabid only tosses his head in reply.
"Alright then," says Pal'dun, and he unseals the doors. "I guess I'm leaving all of you here. What you do from here on is up to you, but let us know if anything happens...and please try to stay out of trouble!"
(UPDATE: For the record, now that the graphic is up, the party entered the compound through the gate from the alley at lower right, behind the house.)
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Widjgleebe gives Pal'dun a big toothy Farbett grin as she heaves herself out of the back hatch and hoists out Mey's scooter. She sets it gently on the pavement and gives it a quick wipe down with a towel from her bag before she even realizes what she's doing.
"Do we all want to go to Wirg's together, or would some of you prefer to remain behind?"
Zeton thinks for a moment, mulling over their next course of action. "Once we meet up with Nekshi and Granite, maybe we should invite Adulie back here to break the bad news to her in a more private setting. How does that sound?"
Suddenly an unexpected wave of dismay shoots through the party. Bina gasps quietly at exactly the same moment. Remembering herself, she quickly pulls her aura in and shields it.
"What is it?" asks Lirassa.
Bina only looks away and gestures negative, scratching her forehead dejectedly.
"Has something happened to Adulie?" presses Lirassa.
"I don't know !" cries Bina.
"Easy," says Mey'Luskar, pulling herself away from her scooter and moving closer to the disgraced priestess. "What did you sense?"
Bina sighs hard. "Fear," she says. "Or shock. I don't know! I don't have the circle to help me now!"
Mon'Fargret thanks Pal'dun for the ride and advice and exits the van. Even with the current situation, he is glad to be back in a more familiar setting. He decides to refrain from participating in the latest dialog thinking instead about what may lie ahead.
He was going to suggest that everyone freshen up when the wave of emotion falls over everyone.
He instinctively reaches for his sidearm and becomes alert.
He asks Dabid to keep and eye out and prepares his mind to assist Bina and Mey if he can.
The wave of emotion has already passed, and it doesn't look like Bina wants to say anything more on the matter.
Just up the street, the triask slows her pace and glances over her shoulder. Then she continues on her way, singing as she goes.
"We're safe," says Bina quietly. "For the moment."
Sensing trouble, Constable Pal'dun stays put for a minute, but then he feels reassured enough to depart. The group is left in the narrow street behind Mon'Fargret's house.
"We were away for one full day," observes Dabid as he starts to unlock the back gate. "Why does it seem like a year or more?"
"Dabid, I couldn't have said it better myself."
Zeton subtlety shifts his tone to be as understanding and reassuring as possible as he turns to Bina and continues, "Bina, I do not want to put any undue stress on you, and I can see you don't want to discuss what just happened, but any idea of how long we are safe? I ask because if we need to get to Adulie, Nekshi and Granite
sooner, rather than later, I think we should act now."
Zeton pauses, to scan the area, catches himself and decides he needs to learn to trust Bina and her instincts.
"I'm sorry Bina, I'm being rude. You've experience a lot in the last couple of hours and I'm asking you questions you probably don't have answers to, please forgive me and forget I asked."
"Mon'Fargret, maybe I should go and get Adulie, Nekshi and Granit now. Lirassa and Ham, would one, or both, of you please tag along? I'm not as skilled at fighting as you two and quite frankly, I'd feel safer with one of you around. Besides, since we did leave the club alive, I believe I owe Lirassa a Âbr'eĕn, right?" Zeton's smile tries to convey a sense of humor, but everyone can tell he's still a bit on edge from their last experience in the club.
Bina doesn't look at Zeton when she replies (in Her-galad), "I don't sense any harmful intent toward us here. That's all I can tell you."
"Something tells me leaving right now won't make any difference," says Mey'Luskar (in Yangae).
"Besides," says Lirassa, "I'm not going anywhere without freshening up first!"
Mon'Fargret replies, "I think we all need some recoup time, even it is only for a couple of hours. I am finding it hard to stay sharp at this point. Please come in. Dabid and I will see what we can come up with for comfortable places for everyone. I'll get some water going for tea. Perhaps Ham and Zeton can take the first watch and keep on eye on the streets?"
Dabid opens the gate, moves aside, and makes the proper gesture of welcoming. He then quickly jumps aside as Widjgleeby goes galumphing impatiently through, completely ignoring him.
Bina presses her palms together and intones a quiet Hergoth Song of Entrance before stepping through behind Widjgleeby.
Lirassa, who was intent on going in next, makes a face and quickly moves away.
Zeton moves over to Mon'Fargret and watches as people begin to enter his house.
"Standing watch is probably a good idea. Ham is skilled with his scanner, so maybe he can look for things the naked eye might miss from inside while I keep a watchful eye from down here, or would I just be out of place?"
"In any event, I told Nekshi we would meet her and Granite in about an hour at Wirg's. They are probably already there, waiting for us. I'll send Nekshi an encrypted message explaining what's going on and suggest they bring Aduile to us here. Sound good?"
As Zeton waits for Mon'Fargret's reply, he brings out his pocket computer and quickly types in the commands to activate Little Brother and to access the special encryption codes he and Nekshi use to communicate in private.
Widjgleebe heads for the kitchen. "Anybody want sandwiches? Widjgleebe make good sandwiches!"
Ham acknowledges and finds a comfortable spot which also gives a good view of the entrance outside from the doors. He brings the scanner up in a passive mode at first and studies any oddities. He does check the load in his weapons beforehand.
The weight of the cutlass pommel in his clothing is reassuring feel to it.
"Widj, if your making sandwiches, please make one for me!"
[Of course, that should have been, "you're", not "your". Another late night slip up!]
Mon'Fargret replies to Zeton, "That would be fine. Let me know if they can't make it or if it is a bad idea and we will head to Wirg's. I now have access to my old military issue equipment, so we may fare a bit better."
With that, he heads up to heat the water.
"Mon'Fargret...if you think its time to go heavy on equipment I will bring my assets in as well." Ham says soberly.
[Just for the sake of reference, Mon'Fargret's estate consists of his shop/studio, which is a one-story building, a connected storage building (two stories in height though it's really one story with a loft), a detached storage shed/greenhouse/workshop, and a separate house which has three floors. With the exception of the shop, which opens directly onto one of the main streets of the Artists' Square area, the entire compound is walled. The courtyard in the center includes a garden with a pond. There are also several trees, most of which are fairly small.]
(A layout graphic is in the works and will be posted soon.)
Hearing Ham's remark, Lirassa says, "Now you're talking!"
No sooner does the group get into the house and enter the main sitting room (I'll add an interior map later) than Mey'Luskar lets out an outraged gasp.
"WHAT IS THIS??" she rails, looking around with a face that displays a fetching mixture of shock, disbelief, and pure disgust.
"It's called a bachelor pad," replies Lirassa knowingly. Then she glances at Dabid and adds, "Double that."
Mey'Luskar moans with revulsion and immediately sets to work gathering up snack food wrappers, dirty dishware and half-empty bapf cups. "Bina!" she cries commandingly, nodding toward a table piled with assorted clutter. As Bina moves to comply, Mey'Lusker asks Dabid, "Don't you even try to keep this place in order, blue?"
"It IS in order!" protests the Annuitis. "We know exactly where everything is...or did anyway."
"Valetbot?" asks Mey'Luskar, examining some odd bit of who-knows-what as if it were potentially dangerous.
"In the closet," replies Dabid sternly, "switched off." When Mey'Luskar gives him a look that would ignite crystal, he adds, "It kept losing things!"
Bina manages a smile.
"There is a reason," snarls Mey'Luskar as she starts sorting and stacking printout, "why women in Yangae civilization are the ones that usually own and keep property! Men don't know how!"
While setting up the call to Nekshi, Zeton casually wanders in when he hears Mey's outburst.
"The universe is made up of Filers and Pilers and you two", Zeton pauses long enough to gesture to MF and David, "are classic examples of Pilers!"
Zeton barely tries to hide is amusement at Mey's disgust at the situation. "The great Information Architect Irrep Esirap said Pilers are often more organized than Filers, because they know exactly where each piece of information is located in each pile and can retrieve it faster and with more authority than Filers do with their systems. However, should anything happen to the Piler, so others are forced to search for items, piles generally become black holes where great swaths of information are permanently lost. As far as the rest of the clutter, well, it's just information that's reached the end of its life cycle waiting to be disposed of, right?"
Realizing that no one really cares about Irrep Esirap, or the life cycle of information, Zeton finishes setting up the call with Nekshi and wanders back out side and acts as if he's admiring the garden while he waits for Nekshi to answer, all the while trying to keep an eye out for anything that might be out of place.
"Well, you know," says Lirassa, "If men were able to keep house, they'd think we were only good for...oh! Here we are!" She strides over to the little bar and starts examining bottles.
"Woah!" she says, scrutinizing a ceramic bottle with an interesting shape. "Edzra ? You can't be serious! How'd you get this?"
After she finishes tidying up her part of the room, Bina sighs, looks at Dabid and asks pensively, "Does this house have a bath? I mean one that one can soak it?"
Dabid almost manages a grin. Straightening up self-importantly, he replies, "We have both a Yangae-style shower and a Hergoth-style bath!"
"Well, would you mind if I..." starts Bina, but she is cut short by Lirassa's whoop of delight. The bottle of Edzra clatters against its neighbors as the Amazon bolts out of the room into the hallway shouting, "Where is it?!?"
Mon'Fargret continues his tea preparation and says pointedly without looking up, "Bina called it first. Considering our numbers, let's say [this planet's equivalent of] ten minutes per person. Enough to get clean but not enough to enjoy. My apologies. Careful with the drinks, we could be attacked at any time and people who aren't sharp die."
Lirassa either doesn't hear or doesn't pay any attention. It isn't long before her cry of delight can be heard from out in the hallway.
"It's alright," says Bina, heading out the door at an easy pace. "Maybe there's room for both of us."
It isn't long before a muffled argument can be heard. It doesn't seem to last very long.
Mon'Fargret shakes his head and places an ample number of cups for everyone and places 2 clay containers of tea (Her'goth and Yangae style) on stone pads on the dining table.
"Tea is ready. I will be back shortly," he announces.
Mey'Luskar pauses in her tidying long enough to give Dabid a condescending look.
Dabid scowls and says, "I believe the tea is ready. Everyone, help yourself!" With that, he strides very purposefully toward the stairs.
Mey'Luskar mutters something under her breath and heads for the tea.
Widjgleebe mutters " . . fussing over bath, huh." as she uses her never fail method of checking the freshness of ingredients. If a slice of meat sticks to the wall, it's good.
After Mon'Fargret is by himself, he farts. His bifurcated Foldorian anus splits the ejected air into two tenor pitched notes one-half step apart in tone.
Anyway, as the various bathing, drinking of tea, making/eating of sandwiches, odd chatter and low-key differences, dissonant bodily noises, etc., goes on, gradually exhaustion begins to take its toll.
Dabid never returns from upstairs.
Bina apparently leaves the bath but wanders off somewhere alone.
Lirassa returns from the bath looking both refreshed and irritated at the same time, promptly winds up in an argument with Mey'Luskar, and drifts off to sleep mid course. With a huff, Mey'Luskar asks if there is a suitable place for her to bed down.
Mon'Fargret is feeling very tired and cranky (and flatulent?).
Ham finds it increasingly hard to keep his attention on his scanner.
Only Zeton and Widjgleeby feel totally awake and alert.
In the end, Mon'Fargret continues puttering around for a while, apparently looking for things. Ham fights off his drowsiness and maintains his vigil. Everyone else finds a convenient spot and dozes.
Mon'Fargret returns with a rucksack full of, well, something. He is also wearing a vest with lots of pockets full of several unknown knick-knacks.
He looks around to see if anyone is keeping watch. He notices that Ham seems distracted. He approaches and speaks quietly so as not to disturb the others, "Anything coming up on that scanner of yours?"
He checks outside as he does so.
"Anything?" retorts Ham gruffly. "Oh, lots!" He frowns. "None of it useful." With an impatient sigh he switches to a different mode and has another look.
Mon'Fargret steps outside onto the patio that encircles the house. Everything seems to be quiet within the walls of the property. Nevertheless, Mon'Fargret has an edgy feeling like something isn't quite right.
Turning to go back in, Mon'Fargret is intercepted at the door by Dabid. The Annuitis looks grim.
"It may be nothing, my lord," he says quietly, "but our de-brooched priestess friend seems to have disappeared."
Mon'Fargret reaches out with his mind to see if she is still near.
Make a d20 roll against WIL.
Rolled 7, WIL is 15.
Mon'Fargret senses that Bina is over in the gallery/store.
She reads oddly, even for a junior priestess. Mon'Fargret's experience with Hergoth tells him that she's probably in a grief trance.
Ham mulls over the time it would take to get his own "camping equipment" out of its hidey hole. Beats the hell out of waiting.
Goes over to Lirassa, and gives her a nudge. (Times like these ... the simple pleasures in life are to be treasured).
"Wake up warrior .. you need to be awake...Im going to collect my party favors".
Ham only just dodges in time as Lirassa's fighting instincts wake up faster than her wits. Fortunately, only a coffee table suffers her unconscious wrath.
Mey'Luskar wakes up with a start.
Snapping out of it, Lirassa stretches indulgently. "Party favors?" she yawns. "Good idea! Maybe I should get mine, too!"
"I...just...cleaned...this...up...," moans Mey'Luskar, gesturing toward the upset coffee table and the various scattered and/or spilled items around it.
"So clean it up again!" replies Lirassa, patting her head. "It'll keep you from getting bored!"
Once the food is all put away and the kitchen is clean, Widjy goes outside to have a good smell and to feel earth beneath her feet. Inside just stinks, like soap and she doesn't understand why people get so funny about "messes". Food prep areas needed to be clean, but living areas were better when the items you might want were in easy reach.
And so half of the crowd makes its way outdoors into the late spring afternoon. (Yes, it's still late spring in Mul'ein.)
The wind has picked up a bit, and the sky is looking a bit iffy. There are some ugly-looking clowds coming in from the direction of the bay. There could be showers if not a bit of thunder later.
Widjgleeby grumbles to herself and begins thinking longingly of nice, dark tunnels.
"Just what we need," mutters Lirassa as she and Ham make their way out of the complex and head off down the street. (For the record, Ham's flat is only a couple of blocks away, just over a hundred meters. Lirassa's is a bit further, maybe a little more than a quarter mile away around the Square.
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