Steam Flash

Responding to Zeton's suggestion, Ham surreptitiously pulls out his scanner and starts to fiddle with it under the table.

Just as he's about to engage it, there is a loud, booming Yangae, "Oh, really?" from the direction of the three newcomers. The massive Zentryl stands and dusts off his arms dramatically, then turns and approaches the party. There is a wide smile on his face and fire in his eyes as he levels his gaze on Ham and crosses his arms.

"Ybandya!" he says with saccharine sweetness, leaning toward Ham. "Yany thok-mobar tu-roko tcok-jus-thok-ij tu-gar. Tu-margh-jakijny?"

(I'll e-mail El Tigrez the translation of the Biton.)

"That's right, Bozz," says the Atlan-type humanoid in Yangae with a very wimpy-sounding voice as he moves behind his much-larger companion. "He's up to something! What's he got under the table?"

Plant Goo

Things continue quietly if uneasily. Most of the party, having ordered lightly, get their food and drink fairly soon. Meanwhile, La'Brissa, having gotten another bapf, takes a sketchpad out of her bag, squints in the direction of Bina and Mey'Luskar, and starts scribbling away. (Bina grins modestly and tries not to move too much. Mey'Luskar huffs with irritation.) Her Bolgan companion continues to shift around edgily, even getting up and pacing a couple of times.

The two spacers finally finish up and get ready to leave. The Foldorian spacer gives the party a totally uninterested (or at least unreadably blank) glance as he gathers himself together. The orange and green alien scowls but avoids making any kind of eye contact.

Just at that moment, Uskua comes in with the two dishes of monacta for Bina and Mey'Luskar. Bina oohs with delight and then quickly reassumes her pose for La'Brissa's benefit. Mey'Luskar looks excited and worried at the same time.

The alien spacer perks up and takes note. "What in the world...?" he says in his nasally tongue, his aquiline nose wrinkling.

"Monacta," replies the Foldorian spacer indifferently. "Hergoth food. Are we going or not?"

"I know what monacta is, my friend," retorts the colorful alien. His angular face wrinkles. "How could I not? Rotten plant goo wrapped in leaves?" He makes a strange noise. "At least they say it's plant goo. Did that Bolgan really prepare it, or did he have his wench run over to the park and peel it off an old tree?"

"Watch it!" snarls Uskua.

"Hey!" says Mey'Luskar. "Don't knock it till you try it!"

"Very good!" offers Bina encouragingly.

The alien wrinkles his face and makes a strange noise again. Then he says to his companion, "Too bad you didn't do a better job of civilizing them." He glances at Mey'Luskar. "Now they're even corrupting your own!" With that, he turns to go...just as Zeton comes in. Almost colliding with the tall Lybolt, the alien looks him over and says, "Another victim, I see! Are you with that lot, too? And what's with all the packs? Are you going camping in the park?"

Throwing an almost apologetic glance at the party, the Foldorian spacer continues on his way to the counter. The alien turns to follow him.

Who Dropped In for Dinner

(Carried over from the last comment thread with a little Gamemaster Override. For the record, Wirg has already gone back into his kitchen.)

"I apologize for the strangeness, Uskua," says Mon'Fargret to the anxious waitress just as she is finishing up and preparing to depart, "but if you recall, she wasn't the big talker back when that fellow shot the floor. Oddly, that fellow has an interesting story of his own that I won't go into here."

Uskua's only reply before she skitters off is an anguished look.

"Do tell!" calls someone using an unfamiliar language with a telepathic translator. It's someone of a strange, humanoid race unknown to most of the party (all the player characters not otherwise informed, anyway) who is sitting at a table with a Foldorian man. Both of them look like they are probably spacers. Turning his angular-faced gaze toward the party, the speaker rises from his chair and starts to approach slowly. "Your friends have certainly gone to enough trouble to attract everyone's attention! Why stop now? If you have an interesting story, then I'd be very much interested in hearing it! And if you don't care to talk about this 'fellow' who shoots floors, why not explain to me why the so-colorful waitress was so taken with that one?" He(?) turns abruptly, leveling his eyes on Bina. "Or why she looks so strangely familiar?"

Bina's brows lower. "Have we met?" she asks in a low voice.

"Obviously not," the spacer replies, "since I usually try to avoid Hergoth. But how could anyone arriving at the local aerospace port miss those two holographic priestesses that bow and intone that ridiculous greeting to all that pass through the gate?" His eyes narrow. "I thought so before, and now I'm certain. One of those charming holo-priestesses looks just like you...or would if you were wearing braids and a tiara!"

Several of the other customers in the cafe immediately stop what they were doing and take note.

"Or a brooch?" suggests Bina, tapping the spot on her chest that it would have occupied. "No brooch, no priestess."

"Brooches can be hidden," suggests the spacer. "But the witch powers of a Hergoth priestess? Not likely! So what's your game?"

"Look, do you want something?" hisses Mey'Luskar impatiently.

"Mainly just to sate my curiosity," replies the alien evenly. "But also to make something perfectly clear. If this is indeed a witch of the Temple here in disguise to spy on us, she'd do well to take her mind probes elsewhere!"

Some of the other customers immediately set down whatever they were holding and start gathering themselves together to leave. At one table, a Yangae woman (an artist and an acquaintance of some members of the party) starts trying to urge her companion, a female Bolgan, to leave, but the Bolgan won't budge.

An Afternoon at Wirg's, Take Two

Mon'Fargret, Ham, Nekshi, Granite Spear, and Widjgleeby file on into Wirg's just as a customer, a Hertressk-Yangae, is leaving. The man quickly steps aside to allow the Farbett passage, eying the group warily, and then continues out without a word. There is no one at the front. Sounds can be heard from the kitchen area; Wirg is probably busy in the back. As the group moves on into the dining area, Uskua can be seen hustling about as she takes care of things by herself. The place isn't really all that busy; it's certainly somewhat less crowded than it was yesterday. Still, Uskua has her hands full.

Seeing the party, the Ilfroi stops and heaves a sigh of relief. "Beyond, am I glad to see you!" she says. "Go ahead and sit wherever you like. I'll be with you in a minute!"

There are currently eight customers there. Two of them are sitting alone, while the others are in pairs. Some of them are familiar to members of the party, some aren't.

"Well, I'll be rockin' in the wind!" comes a familiar, gruff voice from the direction of the kitchen. "I was afraid that lot wouldn't be back!" Wirg comes toddling out, a ladle in his paw and the Bolgan equivalent of a smile on his snout. "And here you are here together! Just like when you left yesterday! What, were you looking for that trigger-happy git and his lodge-wench all this time?" He lets out a hearty, Bolgan guffaw. "Did you find 'em?"

Just then the front door can be heard banging open followed by a torrent of feminine complaining in Yangae. The voice is very familiar. Pretty much the entire clientele sits up and takes note.

Uskua sucks air through her teeth and hustles toward the front just as Wirg growls, "What...in...twelve..." There is some muttering, and then Uskua can be seen beckoning someone in anxiously, puzzlement written all over her striped, blue face.

Mey'Luskar comes in looking like she's about ready to start smashing things. Behind her comes Bina, who is calm but worried. Dabid stays way to the rear.

"Why...," growls Wirg as he turns around slowly, "in the twelve levels...are YOU here? What kind of gall...grr...why should I let you in?"

Mey'Luskar stops short and greets the Bolgan with wide eyes. "Well, I...uh..."

"I'll vouch for her," says Bina.

"Where's your lodger, lady?" Wirg goes on. He gestures toward the floor, where a chunk of sheeting covers the spot where Dusker shot it. "You know? The flop who did that? Where is he? Whose gonna pay for...huh?" His jaw drops lax for a moment. Then he shakes his head as if to clear it and stares at Bina. "What did you say?"

"I said I'll vouch for her. We'll take care of the damage."

Wirg approaches Bina, circling around Mey'Luskar as if she were radioactive, and gives the disgraced priestess a looking and sniffing over. Then he says, "You're Hergoth!" as if it were a profound discovery.

"Of course I am!" replies Bina with a shallow grin.

"B-but..." Wirg glances quizzically back at Mey'Luskar and then turns to Bina again. "She's...pure scarlet! She hates...I mean she...uh?" He looks at Mey'Luskar again.

"We forgive," replies Bina, "and reality smiles!"

Wirg looks at her, Mey'Luskar, and Uskua in turn before he gives up trying to figure it out and retires to his kitchen with a snort.

Uskua moves past the Bolgan and gestures for the newcomers to sit, changing the direction of her beckoning when she realizes they're moving to join the party. All along her troubled-looking eyes never leave Bina.

"We all look alike," says Bina in reply to the Ilfroi's thoughts.

Uskua gestures negative curtly before saying, "Let me know when you're ready to order." Then she quickly moves away.

Back to Where It All Started

The group watches as Lirassa leads Zeton to her cute, little car and then drives off in a hail of shrieking tires, once again only just missing the doors of the gate as it opens.

There is a chorus of sighs among the group, and then Ham says, "Now what?"

Mon'Fargret looks at Widjgleeby thoughtfully, stroking his mustache, and then he says, "I think Widjgleeby just might fit in the back of the van. It'll be tight, though."

Widjgleeby snorts irritably and goes on looking out the window.

"The problem is where to put everyone else," Mon'Fargret goes on. "The van is for hauling stuff. It only has one bench seat plus two in the front. We can put four, maybe five of us plus the driver in there."

"There are exactly seven of us here in addition to Widjgleeby," points out Nekshi. "There is also a matter of anatomy. Assuming your vehicle was designed with Yangae and/or Hergoth in mind, Granite Spear would require at least half of the bench seat. As for the other half..." She lifts her gaze to Ham's tall, stocky frame. Then she reaches over and pats Dabid's paunch.

Dabid immediately swats her hand away and brushes his belly off as if it were soiled.

"You must see the problem here," adds Nekshi, cradling her assaulted limb. "Assuming no one is left behind or forced to rely on podiatric transportation..."

"'Podiatric'?" snaps Dabid indignantly. "That's not a word!"

"There is other car," rumbles Widjgleeby.

Nekshi's bushy eyebrows almost merge. "I beg to differ! The Yangae language does in fact allow for the use of classic Sarkish terms with proper declension! For example..."

"She's right, purple," says Mey'Luskar quickly.

"What?" rails Dabid. "Tell me, scarlet, would any civilized Yangae ever say, 'podiatric transportation'?"

"There is other car," repeats Widjgleeby.

"No," replies Mey'Luskar, "but if they had a proper education they'd understand what it meant."

Dabid makes a very interesting (and very caustic-sounding) noise.

"What did you say, Widjgleeby?" asks Bina very deliberately.

Widjgleeby points with four of her hands. "Other car!"

"Now that is improper Yangae," says Mey'Luskar.

Widjgleeby uses one of her remaining hands to make a very unfriendly Yangae gesture.

"Actually, that is also an inaccurate assessment," retorts Nekshi. "In the standard dialect of the Labor and Soil Tender castes it is both common and acceptable to make statements lacking one or more standard grammar cases."

Widjgleeby's remaining hand echoes the gesture.

"Widjgleeby," says Mey'Luskar, "I think you want to say, 'There is another car.'"

Widjgleeby says, "There is another car," in Her-Galad. Then she belches.

"This is important!" says Bina. Then she looks at Mon'Fargret.

"Yes," he says, "I do have another car. It's a little Tuzero."

"Oh, how cute!" coos Mey'Luskar. "Why don't you let me drive it? I'll carry Bina and...one more? Maybe purple, here? You can drive the van with the others!"

A Call from Uskua

Mon'Fargret quickly tells the terminal to kill the video input and then accepts the call. A holo display of Uskua appears in front of him, her blue, tiger-striped face etched with worry.

"Hello Uskua," he says. "Pardon the blank display, I haven't slept much since I saw you last."

Uskua sighs with relief. "Thank whatever's beyond that you're there. Sorry to call you like this. There was no answer at Nekshi's number, and I didn't know who else to turn to."

(This strikes Nekshi as odd; a call to her flat should have been automatically forwarded to her wrister.)

"It's Adulie," continues Uskua. "She didn't show up for work today. Wirg had me call her, but all I got was a message...a private message coded for me."

"What did the message say?" asks Mon'Fargret.

Uskua bites her lip and then replies, "She said...something about there being a 'major event' this morning, or something like that. Then there was something about Zeton maybe not being able to make it. Yes, she really did say that. You know Zeton? The guy who looks kind of like an oversized Hergoth? He was there at Wirg's yesterday, remember? Anyway...she said she was going to go and have a look herself, whatever that means." She sighs anxiously. "She told me to let him know if I found him. I don't have any idea how to do that. Can you tell him, or do you know someone who can?"

Right at about this time, Mey'Luskar suddenly gasps with surprise, releases Bina's hands as if they were hot, and bolts from the room. Bina remains where she is, calmly shifting her gaze to the floating image of Uskua.

The Tale is Pulled

(Massive Gamemaster Override...)

Mey'Luskar starts to leave but stops with a muffled yelp of surprise.

"Don't bother," says Bina darkly from the doorway. "I'm alright."

Her voice sounds a bit slurred.

Nekshi and Granite Spear both react with surprise.

"Where is your circlemate?" asks Nekshi, thoughtfully scratching a lobe. "In fact, where is your priest brooch? On that topic, I might also inquire as to what happened to your clothes!" She wrinkles her nose with disapproval. "Such unseemly, off-the-street Yangae attire would be expected on a self-made miscreant such as Mey'Luskar, but on a trained member of the Hergoth Priesthood...most odd!"

"They don't know," says Mey'Luskar apologetically.

"Why would they?" replies Bina. "They don't know any of it!"

"They probably won't believe any of it," adds Mey'Luskar, trying to inject a tiny not of humor. "I only know half of it, and it's still hard for me!"

Bina gives Nekshi and Granite Spear a forlorn look. "Not long after you two ran off, we got a call from Par'deth the Hero. He said he'd found and caught the ones that caused the...event. The ones that tried to abduct Par'ai." She draws a deep breath. "It was a worldly thing, so the Circle couldn't intervene. Kiel'i and I were...asked...to take the group there so they could help. We used the Gate. They were in an underground room. There were two of them. One was...um..."

"Dusker," puts in Mey'Luskar. "My EX-lodger. Just as I'd suspected all along."

Bina's face looks impassive, but she lets off a small reverse-empathic pulse. It contains both surprise and resentment. "They were under the influence of the Enemy," she goes on.

"Dusker isn't anymore," says Mon'Fargret, looking at Mey'Luskar.

"No," agrees Bina darkly, "he's not."

"He actually helped me," adds Zeton eagerly. "I was trying to upload all the data in their computer to a secure place. It was rigged. If Dusker hadn't given me the password...who knows what would've happened?"

"Were you successful in uploading the data?" asks Nekshi.

Zeton gives Mon'Fargret a wry look. "Just made it," he replies. "That's when the Peace Forcers showed up and said we were all under arrest."

"Not just any Peace Forcers," adds Bina bitterly. "It was Superintendent Br'am, chief of the Ekr'in District force."

Nekshi raises an eyebrow.

"I don't think I heard about this," observes Mey'Luskar. "Why would they arrest you when you had priestesses with you?"

"They...stunned Kiel'i...for no reason," says Bina, and she appears to swoon.

Mey'Luskar throws a confused look at Mon'Fargret.

"It was all wrong," says Mon'Fargret. "They were Hergoth, but...not. They even had Yangae militia backing them up. Night Guard."

Mey'Luskar looks like she's about to swoon, too. "I...I thought they came to fight the Peace Forcers..." She plops herself onto one of the couches.

Mon'Fargret gestures negative. "Not at first. The thing was, some of them were being controlled, and some weren't."

"Br'am and his partners were being controlled, too," moans Bina in a thin voice. Mey'Luskar tries to say something, but Bina cuts her off. "Yes, Hergoth are immune to the Rune. At least I think they are. I was told they were. I can't explain it." She sighs and slumps against the door frame. "I can't explain any of it..."

"Stay with me," says Mey'Luskar encouragingly.

"So Hergoth officials can be corrupted!" says Nekshi. "Interesting!" She switches on her wrister and starts tapping at it. "It is just as I suspected! So anyway, how did you manage your daring escape? Did Par'deth have to lay waste to the whole area, or was collateral damage kept to a reasonable minimum?"

"Par'deth was no help at all at first," replies Mon'Fargret with some disappointment.

"Don't be unfair!" protests Bina with sudden vehemence. "Br'am turned his Hero Oaths against him!"

Nekshi makes another cry of interest and starts tapping at her wrister again. "I'll quote you on that. It's all in the name of public knowledge. And national security. Hero Oaths...can be turned..."

"Betham was probably the real hero there," suggests Zeton.

"Yeah, but not just him," retorts Mon'Fargret. "Some of the Night Guard were really on our branch. Betham showed up and put the light on Br'am's ploy. Then Br'am and his team were given the axe from the top. That freed Par'deth."

"And Dauk and his friends helped you?" asks Mey'Luskar.

"Right," says Mon'Fargret. "It was Yangae against Yangae, Hergoth against Hergoth."

Granite Spear shudders with an unreadable emotion.

"It was us against It," corrects Bina. "And It came."

"I still don't really understand what happened," admits Mon'Fargret. "They tried to show a holo-image of something, I'm guessing the Rune, to control us. Dusker warned us just in time. We stopped it, but then it was like it was possessing different people...like it was moving from body to body among the controlled ones till it got to one it liked. Then..."

"I guess that's when Per'anai brought me there," says Mey'Luskar, recalling the memory with dread.

"Yes," says Bina. "It concentrated its power in one host. It was stronger, more dangerous, but it could also be defeated." She gives Mey'Luskar a very intent look.

Mey'Luskar blushes. "I told it to sod off..."

Zeton raises an eyebrow and grins. "And it did!" He chuckles. "The great Hero and all those priestesses couldn't quite beat it, but one Yangae curse..."

"She say sod off," adds Widjgleeby, "and it sod off good!" She grins, showing her fangs.

"Yeah," agrees Mon'Fargret. "It just went away. All the controlled ones were free."

"So is it gone?" asks Granite Spear.

All eyes turn to Bina, who hesitates before gesturing negative dejectedly.

Mey'Luskar clasps herself and shudders. "Something tells me we kicked it out, but it's still there, just outside, waiting for a chance to come back in. Its doorway is somewhere here in Mul'ein. And now it's angry."

An ominous silence falls over the room.

Then Granite Spear taps away at her talk box, and it says, "NDAU So what's the plan now?"

Two Go Out, Two Come In

Widjgleeby watches as Ham and Lirassa leave the compound and then turns her attention to the grounds. The garden in the middle looks to be in a bit of disrepair.

Too much green stuff, she thinks irritably. Nothing new there. She knows well that both Yangae and Hergoth have a weird obsession with the stuff. It's almost like a shared psychosis, or something like that. All that plant matter everywhere, mucking up perfectly good rocks! Ah, well; four-limbed creatures rarely make sense. To make matters worse, some of the green stuff would be considered valuable, or at least keepable, while others are treated like a disease. "Weeds," they called them. The Her-Galad word for it, "Kel'dae," at least has a nice, aggressive ring, especially with the shortened vowels and that weird glottal aspiration they put on the "l'" sound. It makes it clear that the unwanted plants are just that, unwanted. On the other hand, the Yangae word, "Ywani," sounds almost beautiful, as if even unwanted plants still had desirable qualities.

How ironic that the Hergoth tend to value nature while Yangae seem only too happy to build game courses and factories in it.

Definitely too much green stuff. The garden needs weeding. The trouble is that Widjgleeby isn't quite sure which are the weeds and which aren't. Mon'Fargret probably wouldn't be happy if she made a mistake. Still...maybe just the ones that don't look good...

Actually, NONE of them look good, but maybe...

Widjgleeby's musings (and attempted start at ornamental horticulture) are interrupted by the sound of a vehicle easing up the alley. No emission smell; obviously electromotors with an onboard non-combustive powerplant. Almost no sound, either. Either its "safety noise" generator is shut off or it doesn't have one. The faint wheeltrain sound suggests retractables. There is also a hint of the odor of recently-used repulsorjets.

A VTOL hybrid?

Widjgleeby immediately goes on her guard. She soon relaxes it, though. She can see the Peace Force logo through one of the one-way windowslits next to the gate. And there is no mistaking the smell of that pair!

Nekshi's attempt at singing a Hergoth Song of Calling is quickly interrupted by the Farbett opening the door so exuberantly she almost tears it off its hinges. Granite Spear then reminds Nekshi that Mon'Fargret is Foldorian, and Foldorians don't sing Hergoth greeting songs.

At the Artists' Homestead

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.)

Relocating Again

After a little bit more minor quibbling, the group decides to take Constable Pal'dun up on his offer, and they follow him outside the building.

Considering the less than ideal state of the club, the grounds outside the building look quite nice, if a bit gloomy. It is pretty easy to tell that it is up in the Tuli Hills area overlooking Danstul' Park; beyond the sculpted lawns and gardens there is little to be seen but tree-covered hills and the upper stories of a couple of rather old-looking, Yangae-style towers. The building in which the club is housed is of similar style and age, and it is actually rather stately.

There are a number of vehicles parked in a haphazard fashion. Most of them are Peace Force vans, bikes, and cruisers, but there are also a few more ordinary-looking cars and a microbus. The Geishana ambulances are just now starting to get underway. Tellingly, there is a garage/hangar structure nearby, and its one open door shows only an empty space.

Dauk can be seen getting into a Peace Force cruiser that is obviously preparing to leave. Pru, on the other hand, appears to be walking toward the gate to the estate at a slow pace.

As the group makes its way toward one of the vans, Pal'dun gestures to the nearby officers, and they salute and step aside. Before anyone can board, however, Pal'dun comes to a halt and holds up his hand.

The sound of running, booted feet can be heard. It's Constable Betham. Drawing near to the group, he heaves a heavy sigh and does a little dance of irritation before he says, "You're leaving, are you? Alright then. Just be careful and stay out of trouble, would you? And stay in touch! This isn't over yet."

"You mean we haven't beaten it yet?" says Lirassa sarcastically.

Psy-gifted or not, Betham shows no sign of getting the joke. Glaring, he leans in closer and adds more quietly, "Maybe this is a temporary victory. We still have two very big problems here. One, Mas'Vallaf is still missing, and it looks like he has his top thugs with him. Two, Br'am was right about one point; Par'ai said it was all happening at the Scarlet Revival. This is the Scarlet Revival, and it's not the place we're looking for. As far as evidence is concerned, we've got til'uan droppings. You know we're gonna need a lot more than that to even make a case."

"If I may," says Pal'dun, "there's still the Second Chancer videos. They're coming out in a few days! We can try to delay them, but..."

"But we'd end up knee-deep in political kĕl'wàk," spits Betham. "We've got no case. Curse it, we don't even know who's distributing the damned things! Bottom line, we need anything we can get. Any tidbit of info. You find something, you let me know! And don't try to take any action on your own! We barely got out of this one, right? Best path!" With that, he bows stiffly, turns on his heel, and stomps off.

"Right," says Pal'dun. He gestures toward the van. "Shall we go?"