The Euphemian Game-Carver arrives at the scene of the avian murder, angrily muttering at first, then going on to shout out varied threats to “those d__n sadists, killed my best bird! Oh, Alexander, what will I do without you? What will happen to the agents? All because of those murderers! Arsonists, the lot of them! Mindless savages!”.
When the mourner hears the loud noises emanating from the Goat demon, they turn and see the Boastful Captain, and shout out with a profound and passionate “YOU!” before grabbing the black knife laying near Alexander, the now-dead raven and, with rather impressive accuracy, throws it at the running captain.
This must be the "associate" the Professor mentioned earlier. The poor fellow’s out of his mind and just as bloodthirsty as her ilk. The fellow is good with knives; Morkan will give him at least that. Sense, not so much. At least he definitely saw the knife coming with so many threats beforehand.
"It’s not me, you idiot! Do your frame job or getta out of my way!" He yells, halfway through the stranger’s rant and ducks under the goat demon. He judges correctly; the demon lunges and takes the knife for him with its back. It roars in pain and turn around to look at the Game-Carver. Morkan takes the opportunity to pull out his rifle and shove it in the goat’s open wound.
"Stop moving or I will shot!"
Finding the name they were looking for in the documents, noting the details associated with it, the Curious Captain’s job is done. Sensing things spiraling out of control they open the door and enter the main offices. Spying a Devil they disdainfully declare, "I do not find this amount of chaos reassuring. If my principle chooses to continue your association they shall send another agent. I wash my hands of this affair, your documents are in the office."
They stride out the front door.
Outside they are confronted with chaos. The effects of explosions of sound, literal explosions, people dueling, Estelle and her cohorts, and what appears to be an innocent young lady unconscious in distress – possibly wounded. Their decision is instantaneous.
The Curious Captain strides straight towards Estelle and her cohort, "Estelle, shame on you, I know this must be your doing. If you wish my vote for the Widow you must convince me you will help her by being good for London." He bends down to examine Zoe deGeest, "Thank my Gods she seems unhurt." The Captain picks up the unconscious girl in their arms and strides away up Wolfstack Docks – they entirely ignore Estelle, the Combatants, and any distraction.
They vanish into the crowds. As they walk towards an ancient zee-faring family’s home they order a passing longshoreman, "Ho, Blind Tom, run to my ship, and send my Surgeon to Warwick House. Now away with you smartly." The longshoreman, missing an eye, pulls his forelock and dashes off.
"You, boy, race ahead to Warwick House, tell Elspeth I am coming and to prepare for a visitor, she will pay you." An urchin races off through the crowd, dodging and weaving between people, legs, the wheels of a moving cart – he moves far more quickly than the Captain.
By the time the Captain reaches Warwick House, a massive stone townhouse opposite the slip on the Docks that the Warwicks hold, a crowd of rough-looking union thugs, informers, thieves, and vicious zailors has massed round them, clearly an accomplished gang of hoodlums. They sweep crowds away from before them, and no one approaches near the woman and the person carrying her if they are not known.
The door to Warwick House opens, an Alluring Accomplice waits within, alongside her is a Ruthless Henchman. "Thank you Elspeth," the Captain says to the woman. "Roj, no one comes in who is not my friend." The Ruthless Henchman draws a wicked looking knife, and gathers troops.
"As you zay Cap’n."
An older woman, a ship’s surgeon by the look of things, trots over from the vessel tied up opposite the house. She is from the Elder Continent, and she carries herself like a Veteran Campaigner. If anyone is capable of handling a distressed, possibly wounded, young lady it is she – there is an aura of ‘I’ve seen everything and been everywhere, and you’ll be Just Fine’ about her that can not be denied.
The door to Warwick House closes, it is thick oak, like the belts of armor on ships from the Age of Sail – and bound in bronze.
{edit because words}
edited by absimiliard on 6/11/2016
The Game-Carver’s hand reaches for a scabbard, too short for a sword and too long for a normal knife, neatly attached to their side, partially revealing a rather simplistic blade, before noticing the Curious Captain, and returning the weapon to it’s usual position. With an annoyed shout of “I hope you can handle him, George. We are done here.”, receiving a particularly caprine answer from the Goat-demon, they quickly scoop up the ravenous remains of their spymaster and leave the vicinity of the warehouse, heading in the direction reminiscent of the one used by the Black Rose.
The door to Warwick House opens and the Captain steps out, their friend Dawon – a Tiger – and several human rough characters step out after them. Absimiliard has changed into savage hob-nailed boots suited for combat and spiderchitin gauntlets cut open at the fingers to reveal they’ve trimmed their nails to claws. They still wear the same irrigo gown that is nearly black.
The men spread out, up and down the dock. At anchor nearby a ship puts out springlines and begins to turn it’s bow towards the Docks, the stacks begin to belch black smoke as the "Brazen Hussy" readies her boilers.
To anyone approaching Absimiliard will challenge, "Hold there. Until my Doctor comes out to tell me the girl is well no one is getting close enough to harm her."
[OOC: Just want to be sure Zoe can get back in the story from a safe space, at her own pace.]
{edited: bad personal pronoun, no biscuit}
edited by absimiliard on 6/12/2016
Inside the office. Illyria, "slave-clerk" on loan (she loved the cover, and gave a rant about bestial depravity earlier), has just went back from a "honey dream". A "productive" dream, of "barbecue" with "delicious fruits" and "paper-thin kindles" in the basement. The fire will soon spread to several explosives and an strange device she planted with the Boastful Captain earlier; the warehouse will be blown to high heavens, then the fire will spread. This is the backup plan the Chief Constable gave them, but he was evasive about the unknown device. They can’t avoid detection, so the next step is distraction and framing.
She sneaks back to the office and screams "Fire! Fires everywhere! Everyone get out!!!" She runs out the door and sees the other agent, the Boastful Captain, in a standoff. She makes an exaggerated salute to the "sky" and screams "Hail Wyrm! The Great Wyrm no longer needs Hell!", then hit the goatdemon with her umbrella. When that doesn’t work, she quickly back off and gets on a nearby velocipede. She winks at the Captain furiously, then rides for Concord Square alone.
“Isn’t that an interesting tidbit?” Dirae Erinyes muses to her phantom driver. “Why don’t we keep up with that velocipede? Ask them a few questions when they stop for breath.”
Morkan’s eyes widen in shock. He haven’t expected the man to be in league with the goat-demon. "Sons of a marsh-wolf!" He shove the rifle deeper in out of anger, but the goat only winces a little. He gulps, since the gun is actually empty.
Thwack! Illyria come up from behind and hit it with an umbrella. The goat demon immediately shove aside the gun and reach for Illyria, and it is just the distraction the Captain needed. He pull out a bottle of rosewater and spray it at the goat demon, which fall limps immediately. He kneels down in exhaustion as well.
"Gugh! Now I smell like roses too." He mumbles and barely caught sight of Illyria speeding away and finally notices two things: the warehouse is burning merrily and Zoe is gone! Someone must have made off with her when he was distracted! He did hear people rushing away -
"ZOE!" Morkan looks around but does not see her. There is the delicate and respectable lady from earlier, still obediently facing away from the business. He runs up to her and grab her shoulders. On an ordinary day Morkan would stammers at her, but now… "Please, miss," he bend down a little, since he is much taller than her. "Have yer seen Zoe… the girl who fainted earlier? Did you see who took her? I…" He notice his hands on her shoulders and take them away with a start. "Sorry! But please… if yer see anything, anything at all!"
The Euphemain Game-Carver strolls across the street (quite merrily, I must add), before turning to the inevitable sound of burning and a trail of smoke exuding from the warehouse. At first, they stand in place and consider returning to the blazing building. “They might leave their documents unguarded for a moment. Not the usual soul-contracts, the good stuff!” Before deciding that nothing of value remains “Yes, someone would already pocket them. I guess that’s that.” Before, ultimately, remembering their mission and that Koldun, “Founder of the Hourglass Association and, more importantly, the owner of the Mirror-Council, is still there! WITH THE CARGO! Now this is a matter that I cannot afford to abandon!” and once again rushing to the flame-besieged warehouse.
Illyria isn’t much of a rider, and has to focus hard to navigate the street. She is, luckily, athletic. She rides into a crowd of Dauntless Temperance Campaigners on Velocipedes and become drowned out among them.
It is not difficult for Morkan to find what happened to Zoe. He knows Absimiliard, the Curious Captain is known up and down the Stolen River. He also knows of Warwick House and it’s long history.
As he approaches Absimiliard calls out, “Kassington, good to see you. If you’re done wasting your time with demons I’ve need of a good right hand to help me keep a certain young lady safe while my ship’s Surgeon cares for her – my Surgeon has been nearly everywhere, she will have no trouble with a young lady unless there is more here than meets the eye.”
The Captain’s eyes narrow, “I should like to know what you saw, what Estelle did. I’m sure she meant no harm, but she is thoughtless and careless. I love her dearly, but for all her respectability she can be a brat.”
'What do you think is the best way to flush her out?"
“Continue to follow the campaigners and watch which ones break away.”
“Or we could use the horn.”
“But, why?”
“She’s picked a fight with the devils. She would certainly break away if she thought they were here.”
“You just want to use this horn, don’t you?”
“What’s the point of stealing a horn from the Infernal Hunt if I never get to use it?”
“You just want to cause trouble today, don’t you?”
Dirae Erinyes gives a grin. “I have my reasons.”
An echoing hunting horn will explode out through the square, causing panic.
Evensong watches the bicyclist with careful eyes.
(Abby you are cool but don’t take so much action for somebody else active!)
Standing still so long is really boring! First some a lady came crashing down from the sky and gave her a good knock on the head, then Fluke-Bore and Rubbery spent a good deal of time disentangling themselves from each other. Finally, they undid their own tentacle knohts on her.
There was also the pleasing grunts of man-on-goat wrestling, a stampede, some screams and the smell of roasted birds and smoke. Naturally, she dozed off on her feet.
"Huh!?" Estelle was shaken awake by two grubby, gloved hands on her shoulders. There was a pungent scent of rose, which only served to made it dreamier. She looks up to see a fair-headed prince! A blonde bear! No, wait, she is still dozy. It is… a golden beard! With a man attached. He seems to be asking about the woman from the sky earlier.
"Well, uncle, I think I heard Abby Bladder-Rose trying to lecture me earlier while my head is wrapped in tentacles," she says. "They are the type to scoop off an unconscious girl off the street to a doctor. Perhaps you heard of them? Warwick House. At least, I heard of you pretty well." She did hear about him last time she was at the Blind Helmsman - the older dockers were busy patting her on the head and holding bets about the Boastful Captain’s womanizing ways.
She grins, bend down and retrieve a brass key from her shoes. "Key to their house. Even the other passages above or under. And if you don’t find anything, try their boat. It’s called the Brazen Hus-"
"Wow," she mutters, transfixed at the sight. The lost colours of the Surface! The green-and-yellow of Honeydew! The meek orange of, er, orange flower! The dull pink of sausages! "Did you do this? You did come out from the warehouse." She looks up at him hopefully.
Behind her, a warehouse burns. Fluke-Bore and Rubbery walks around the perimeter of it, trying to locate if anyone’s still inside.
The weasel takes the treat and swallow it in a gulp. It spent a bit of time wrapped around Strix’s neck, waiting for the time when she will finally fall asleep so it can rifle through her pockets. Although the smell of roasted bird is awfully tempting.
As she ponders what to do next without alerting the devils of her presence, the Professor hears a known shriek. It’s her biggest bat, a scarred female she calls ‘Donna’.
"What are you doing here? I was worried. Are your ears better?"
Bat eyes are little beady things, and yet the woman is sure that Donna rolled hers. She then pokes the weasel at the Professor’s neck and makes a questioning noise.
"Oh, the weasel? It is not Linda, of course. It appeared out of nowhere. You know how salt weasels are. D is recovering properly in my pocket, I will send him in a search soon. And no, you cannot have his spot while he is inside." A noise from her coat second that. "Now tell, me, what happened down there? Is everyone safe?"
The bat glares at the weasel innocently resting, and then chitters for a while, reporting what she has seen in the warehouse. The Inescapable Professor massages her temples. "So many loud things happening at the same time, it is pure luck that we do not see all the constables here at the moment. I wonder if the others could do any useful investigation there or…"
Fireworks explode over the warehouse.
The Professor lets a Dutch word out. It may or may not be some curse word.
"You know what, Donna, I have half a mind to buy some Rubbery Lumps and resell them to the crowd. At this point, why not?"
The bat lets out a squeak that can only be described as a sarcastic "indeed".
[quote=Estelle Knoht]
"Wow," she mutters, transfixed at the sight. The lost colours of the Surface! The green-and-yellow of Honeydew! The meek orange of, er, orange flower! The dull pink of sausages! "Did you do this? You did come out from the warehouse." She looks up at him hopefully.[/quote]
"I, um, ergh…" Morkan stammers and avoid the lady’s hopeful gaze. For one, Zoe awaits rescue, and for two, he can’t brag right now, when Wyrm’s men could be watching. For three, Illyria and the Chief Constable awaits at Concord Square. The lady here is very pretty, but now’s not the time. She is also very bewildering and very helpful. Helpful. Yes. He did promise to help. Morkan grab the key, putting a business card in its place and then bows to her.
"You have my deepest gratitude, my lady. The name’s Morkan. I have to go, but I will be back if you wish. Stay safe!"
As he rides to Warwick House on a velocipede, the Captain wonders about the idea to leave the girl alone. But she has company and no one at the accursed warehouse look inclined to harm her.
[quote=Absimiliard the Bladder Rose]It is not difficult for Morkan to find what happened to Zoe. He knows Absimiliard, the Curious Captain is known up and down the Stolen River. He also knows of Warwick House and it’s long history.
As he approaches Absimiliard calls out, "Kassington, good to see you. If you’re done wasting your time with demons I’ve need of a good right hand to help me keep a certain young lady safe while my ship’s Surgeon cares for her – my Surgeon has been nearly everywhere, she will have no trouble with a young lady unless there is more here than meets the eye."
The Captain’s eyes narrow, "I should like to know what you saw, what Estelle did. I’m sure she meant no harm, but she is thoughtless and careless. I love her dearly, but for all her respectability she can be a brat."[/quote]
Morkan was thinking about entry routes when he spots Abby Bladder-Rose…, Absimiliard the Black Rose, standing in front of the house with henchmen waiting. He does know about the Curious Captain, and their words are reasonable. But are them with that suspicious man earlier? Or the bloodthristy Professor? They are also armed heavily. Morkan hasn’t seen them armed as such before.
"I believe you meant well for Zoe, Black-Rose. I will take good care of her, and when yer Surgeon’s done I need to take her to Concord. But answer me this. Are you in league with that infernal man with his exploding birds? I don’t trust him one bit and if you are working with them they might be playing you like a fiddle."
The Boastful Captain pointedly ignore what the Curious Captain said about Estelle. He doesn’t like what he hears.
edited by Morkan Kassington on 6/16/2016
Zoe wakes up, but she is very alarmed at her situation. Could this be a trap? Did Morkan sent her there? Was she just taken? She knows little about unionists. Absimiliard? Or is that Morkan’s other name? And these women…?
She check herself. There was some bruises from earlier, but she is not injured. She looks around wildly and isn’t very reassured by the two women inside the mansion, but lost and alone her best course of action is to stay polite and ask questions. But she is otherwise fine. [check your PM Absimiliard]
The Doctor responds to Zoe’s questions [PM] simply saying, “I am a doctor. I was told you were found unconscious in the streets. I don’t know any of the rest of your answers, let us ask the Captain.” She will take you to the front door and let you out.
Absimiliard answers Kassington, “Once we were friends, yes, but Vavakx is become a Snake, and presents a terribly grave threat to London. I should not say we are working together, perhaps that I have gravely erred in wasting my time on the trivialities of saving tens of lives – or hundreds – when I should have been doing my job,” they tap at their Cosmogone spectacles, “and focussing more on them instead.”
Seeing the door open Absimiliard will turn, “Oh good, she wakes. Then my work here is done.”
Turning the Captain prepares to go inside.
Morkan doesn’t know what to make of the Black-Rose’s mysterious reply, or their gesture at the spectacles. He does feel oddly sorry for the Captain, though. He runs up to Absimiliard as they turn and enter the house, and is relieved when he sees Zoe safe and sound.
"Come, lass," he help Zoe to stand. "It is all right now. I am going to Concord Square to make a report and I think it is safer for you to stay with me there. Can you walk?"
He turns to Absimiliard and says, "You have my thanks for this, Captain. Can you tell me anymore about - this business, this man Vavakx?" He leans closer to whisper, "And are you all right? You don’t look well, not…" Morkan hesitates as he try to phrase it. "…not in fine spirits, not in heart."
“I am well enough, nothing more than guilt over past sins. It is better not to speak of some things in public, I fear I have probably said too much already. I apologize for that. Just . . . You’re a zailor Morkan, just observe the rites for Salt, Stone, and Storm . … and avoid mirrors.”
With that Absimiliard will go into their house. They stride into a study, and immediately begin to set down on paper all the details they found in the records of the Devils.
When things have calmed they will return to the Hourglass Association and leave the sheet of evidence on the table. Alongside it, a letter, “I fear events are running away from me. I apologize, but I must attend to saving a dear friend from a grievous sin of my own making. I hope the information I have put down is useful.”
The sheet is indeed filled with names, dates, places, numbers – all kinds of useful things.
The Euphemian Game-Carver approaches the warehouse, not at the incredible speed their movement begun at, but still a respectable momentum. Near the entrance and exit to the burning building, they quickly hail Estelle, calling for cooperation in the matter of saving the Founder, and marvel at the fireworks for a bit, before beginning to advance into the blazing wreck of the warehouse.
edited by Vavakx Nonexus on 6/18/2016