The Planewalkers' Journies

[Jak Snide]

Zant nodded in response. "I expected such a response and, at this very moment, I do not see reason to persuade you otherwise. I would ask you a few questions, however, and, Waterlord willing, your answers will convince the council that there is no need to forcefully remove you."

[Idran1701]

Automata - Silversmith
Asp & Zant

"Oh? Well, ask away, I suppose."

[Jak Snide]

Zant inclined his head towards her once again. He could tell that the woman was nonplussed, and being polite never hurt.

"My thanks. Firstly, what activities have you been undertaking? Metalworking does not strike me as disruptive to the order of this town."

[Idran1701]

Automata - Silversmith
Asp & Zant

The priestess laughs softly, leaning over to check on her silver while she says, "I'd think not. No, all I've done so far has been to lead faithful in prayer, practice my silverwork, and simply watch the town. Am I not doing enough for the Council's tastes? Is that what this meeting is about?"

[Jak Snide]

Zant smiled and shook his head. "Not at all. The crux of the matter is that your colleagues have proven to be overzealous in their duties and the council wishes to curb their efforts. That would be the intent that I mentioned previously. If what you say is true, however, there is no need for you to depart this place. However, I cannot leave you to your work without first knowing more of your god. Tell me more of Kagutsuchi."

[Besyanteo]

The overweight man had the right look and manner about him for what she was looking for, and she couldn't imagine any of Automata's regulars behaving this way... And his ability to repeatedly leave the bar without entering it sort of stuck out all by itself. He would be teleporting, but once every quarter hour? And this often? No, that wasn't possible. Or else he was much more powerful that she'd been lead to believe.

She'd been told that his specialty was illusions... could he have set up an illusion of himself, repeatedly leaving the tavern? Well, there were a few ways to check on that. The first one that came to mind was to interact with it. Lorraine would move into position by the Lodgehouse door, and wait for the man to exit again. She would try to trip him, and see if he simply passed through her.

[Idran1701]

Automata - Silversmith
Asp & Zant

Keeping her eye more regularly on the silver, she says, "While I certainly appreciate the interest, this isn't exactly a good time for proselytizing, I'm afraid. Perhaps this evening, after I've finished my work for the day? I'd be glad to share my faith with you then, if you have the time."

---

Automata - Streets
Lorraine

Seeing her start off, Aaron returns to settle on her shoulder as she gets herself in position for the next passage. Her results are...mixed. True to her suspicions, the suspect passes through her foot as if she weren't there, to the notice of none. Yet she could feel the passage of air as he passed, and hear the flutter of the parchments in his hands. The priest - or rather, what seems now to be some sort of illusion of the priest - continues down the street, nearing the corner she's seen it turn down time and again without paying any heed to Lorraine or any others.

[Jak Snide]

Zant inclined his head once again, though in agreement this time. "Of course, my apologies for interrupting your work. Where should we convene?"

[Idran1701]

Automata - Silversmith
Asp & Zant

"There's a place just 3 or 4 squares from here, the Sentimer Gardens; perhaps there? I've meant to pay a visit for some time, and I believe it would be the perfect environment for such a discussion." Glancing to the kender, she adds, "Can I assume you'll be joining us, or is this purely an interest of your partner's?"

[Kelne]

"Oh, I'll be along," Asp says cheerfully, leaving aside his perusal of the various pieces of equipment all arranged just so, "I always enjoy hearing about new things."

[Idran1701]

Automata - Silversmith
Asp & Zant

"Well, then I suppose I'll be seeing you both then? But if you'll excuse me, I do have my work to complete here. You're free to stay, of course, though I can't imagine the process would be especially interesting to one watching from the outside."

We'll skip ahead some time here. Jak and Kelne, I'll try and grab you some time online to take care of the meeting, since CI like this goes a lot faster in chat, but I'll be posting the log of the goings-on after the fact. Lorraine's deal's already been done in such a way, and I'll post up both logs simultaneously. Still, though, I'd like you two to post what you're doing until that evening. Christian too, since we're going far enough ahead that Magpie can come back into things.

[Christian]

Alrighty.

Magpie left the large building composing the town center at its usual pace, green eyes now looking around with semi-interest as it began to make its way down the streets. It stopped every now and then to listen to what a vendor had to tell it, but the construct didn't buy anything but merely apologies and continued its walk towards the place where it was supposed to meet the others. Fastened to its chest was a strip of bronze-colored cloth, its name written on it, and although it fluttered a little in the wind, it remained securely fastened.

Once it reached Mona's Provision the large construct looks around outside for any sign of the others in the group. In its hands are similar bands to the one fastened on its chest and it holds them quite gingerly. Finding that no one is remaining outside it steps in through the door, weapons and shields clunking against its metallic hide as it hunches ever so slightly to pass through the door.

[Idran1701]

Automata - Mona's Provisions

Mona watches as the warforged carefully works its way through the doorway, with a hint of amusement on her face. "Funny, you don't look like the type to do much eating. Are you sure you've got the right store?"

[Christian]

Magpie stopped halfway through the door and looked down on Mona, green eyes flaring up somewhat as it was unsure how to respond. After standing still for a short while it stepped outside, looked at the sign of the store and then leaned down again, giving a slight nod.

"I do eat occasionally, but indeed it is not something I must do. I am, however, here for other matters." it looked past Mona's shoulder and then continued, somewhat puzzled tone in its voice; "I was informed that this would be where I would meet my comrades after my task was done. Have you perhaps seen them?"

[Idran1701]

Automata - Mona's Provisions

"Oh, that's right, Lorraine told me you'd be showing up. She was here this morning, in fact. If you stick around, I'm sure one of them will show up sooner or later.

"Well, come on in. I'd say take a seat, but I'm afraid I don't have a chair that'd fit you." Stepping up from behind the counter, she extends a hand to Magpie, smiling pleasantly. "I'd be Mona. And you?"

[Christian]

The construct stepped inside the store and took Mona's hand in its hind, holding it gently as if the hand of the halfling was made out of porcelain. Magpie looked down on it for a second before it gave a little nod and then a polite shake of the head, the green light dimming somewhat.

"I am Magpie. I am glad that they were here." it paused to look at some of the chairs in the store and then added, "do not concern yourself with seating, Mona, I am comfortable standing up." If there was any warmth in the voice of the warforged, it wasn't apparant, but it seemed well-meaning enough.

[Idran1701]

Automata

Lorraine eventually shows up, and informs Magpie on what has happened since their split. Lodging is (assumedly) found by everyone, and the next day, the group meets to discuss their events.

Lorraine has succeeded, if in an unexpected manner, in bringing in her priest, Thomason of Hardby. Bringing in the first contract payment, 2000 gold per person, she distributes the money out to all, in addition to a special gift for Zant: a cloak, very high-quality. Dark purple with gold, vine-ish embroidery, and convenient inner pockets. That hasn't been all, though; she's also taken care of an issue at a local arcane university, in exchange for the fast-tracking of a permit for magical research and use of their facilities. Though she's still waiting on the permit, she's promised it by tomorrow noon.

Magpie's brought in the traveler's passes for the four of them, after a somewhat excruciating-sounding ordeal at the town center. Thankfully, none of the rest have to deal with it, and they now have their legal authorization to remain in Automata beyond a day. The passes are perhaps unexpected in appearance - strips of cloth about two feet long, each a different color, with glittering, metallic thread and runic inscriptions suggesting forgers would have a difficult time of it. Each has their name emblazoned upon it - Magpie is bronze, Zant's and Lorraine's are blue, and Asp's is red.

Zant and Asp had a fairly pleasant conversation with Hoshi, in which the details of the faith of Kagutsuchi was discussed. Though she still refuses to cooperate in leaving the city, things went fairly well otherwise, with enlightenment on the tenets of another faith for Zant, and a better understanding of all their personal histories for each of the three.

The four have just finished an hour or two of conversation and food at a local restaurant, a middling place called the Ticking Talker, and while the decor might be a little clockwork-heavy, the food's not bad. The familiars are keeping their distance from one another (after an awkward standoff over the last breadroll), but for the humanoids, they've spent the time discussing and commenting on their relative happenings, and for some perhaps one another. It's now an hour into evening, dinner's long gone (though dessert might still be on the menu for some), and they have plenty of opportunity to discuss plans for the future.

Okay, I want to know two things from everyone besides your normal post.
1) What you've been doing besides your out-of-thread happenings - you've had plenty of time to do things besides work, after all, and if it's private go ahead and stick it in a spoiler or something like that; you can also feel free to either ask me about or make up the names of places of business, sites in or around the city, or the like - and
2) What your conversation would have been like from your end. What topics you'd have brought up, what you've had avoided, even your reactions to the topics other players mention in their own posts if you'd like. Everyone can assume that the logs of the chat sessions are open to all, as well, as it's assumed they're also among the topics of discussion.

Of course, I also want the current talk too, planning and whatnot, but I figure that's a given. :D

[Besyanteo]

Lorraine, while telling her side of things, would have explained all but a few details of her trip in detail, provided anyone were to prompt her for the information in the first place. However she would leave out that she technically threatened to possibly end her own life along the way, by means of blast disc at point blank range. Aaron had been quite upset enough about that for all concerned. She wouldn't bother glossing over her failed attempt at putting Thomason to sleep, simply because it had caught her so off guard that it had failed. It suggested that he was pretty well above her in terms of prowess, and it wouldn't surprise her to learn that the others were similarly experienced or otherwise powerful.

Prior to coming to the meeting, she would have gone out and done some window shopping. She didn't have time do much more than look around and get an idea of where everything lay, but that would be enough to assist her later when she was getting things for Asp and Magpie. It only felt right after getting Zant a cloak and handing it off to him right in front of the others. At any rate, she wasn't ready to buy them anything without knowing them marginally better: She had at least worked with Zant one time before this, and guessed that he might enjoy the cloak... She also would have picked up some little treat for Aaron. Nothing of consequence, but she could definitely have been seen going around town that day.

(I'll hold off on more than that until I know what Magpie is and isn't going to relate about his time spent getting the sashes.)

[Christian]

Magpie, for its part, didn't really do much in between going to Mona's shop and getting picked up by Lorraine, having found the city somewhat disconcerting despite the similar nature of it to Magpie's own inner workings. It answered anything asked of it, and gladly (as much as a construct can be, I suppose) retold the exact foregoings of the acquisition of the traveler's passes.

Surprising to a few perhaps, Magpie did partake of the food, although despite its bulky size, ate only miniscule amounts of the smallest dishes, eating slowly and carefully, taking nearly an hour to finish off a single serving.

Magpie has shown quite some interest in hearing about how the others have been doing, although just the faintest hint of disappointment is noticeable when they mention how they have already been approaching the priests. The construct seem to have warmed up a little, as it was unusually stiff when they first came to the city, and whenever someone isn't adressing it, it seems busy observing the familiars with a pleasantly dim glow in its eyes.


OOC: Magpie is basically retelling everything as long as someone asks it to. Including that it wrote "Investigating possibility of monetary gains in aiding Clergimen of Chaos to escape Automata." as the purpose of the visit.

[Jak Snide]

Zant thanked Lorraine for the gift after expressing mild surprise when he'd first been presented it, setting it aside for when they left the restaurant. Magpie received similar thanks for his acquisition of their passes. When questioned about his own activities he told the others that he believed that there was no need to remove Hoshi from the city. She had a small flock of seven and her relevant activities were limited to spreading her faith, the lessons she taught promoting freedom rather than chaos itself. The gensai argued that their employers' intent in hiring their group was to ensure the clerics did not disrupt the workings of the city and that it would cause more trouble if they attempt to forcefully remove the priestess than she would if she was left to her own devices. Her faith demanded that she not compromise her desires, for she clearly felt strongly about remaining here, and Zant saw no reason to disturb these tranquil waters.

He would convey what he had learned of Kagutsuchi if asked, expressing some curiosity in a fire deity that did not promote destruction and strife as Kossuth does. As for tales of the few Prime worlds they had discussed he would leave such stories for Asp to tell.

(Zant would have spent his free time about town, mostly observing and learning unless he came across some conflict or disagreement that he felt it was his place to help resolve.)

[Kelne]

Asp had found the underground regions to be more interesting than the surface, and spent some time cheerfully exploring in hopes of running down some of those ghosts Mona was talking about. Such exploration naturally involved finding exits, and hence sticking his nose into random peoples' basements, an interesting activity in and of itself. He was also busily refining a crude map of the underground.

Asp was suitably impressed at Lorraine's triumph through trickery, but reacted with apparent horror to Magpie's tale of standing around doing essentially nothing for hours on end, and resolved to get the construct something nice for sparing him from a fate worse than death. He was happy to back up Zant's view of Hoshi, adding his own details to the account of their encounter, and idly wondering if anyone had yet built a swimming castle (tangents were to be expected with Asp).

[Idran1701]

Lorraine and Zant spend their time around town, in the process at least getting a general idea of the layout. With the sight of a few half-empty blocks near the outskirts, it doesn't take long for the strange arrangement of the city to click for them; it's an odd mixture of planned and natural, with new blocks added as necessary, but only allowing specific types of related establishments (or homes) to be added in each. And yet, the city is walled, with no signs of prior walls having been removed. Strange, but to Lorraine, no stranger than other gate-towns with similar features; in some ways, they almost have lives of their own, such cities. The most interesting asymmetry in the city, the broad walkway from the Clockwork Gate to the city's gateway, is soon explained to the two as well; from what the two of them learn, it's thanks to the Modron March, a regular occurrence of every major cycle (17 rotations of Regulus's 17-year cog) of Mechanus in which thousands of modrons march from the plane, walking each plane in turn across the Great Road over the course of a year or two, the last few dozen to survive finally returning home to their realm of Regulus. For what purpose, none can say, although plenty have their own theories. Some say it's an attempt at grabbing power by leaving a taint of Law in their wake, others claim it's a way of collecting information on the planes, and still others say it's a means of finding and promoting the best and brightest to high ranks through survival of the March. From what those that were around to see the last one a century ago say, it's quite a sight to see.

Asp, however, spends his own time exploring the Underground. Though it does seem to serve as something of a haven for the chaotic sorts, on further investigation, it's far more the seedy underbelly one would expect any city to have. Though not exactly anarchic, its laws are the polar opposite of those above ground, and he finds all sorts of signs of such throughout its tunnels. There's plenty of establishments for the fun and freedom that those above miss, but he runs across more than a few less respectable sorts and spots - vendors of diseases and poisons across the planes, literal flesh-markets selling the parts of creatures both Upper and Lower, fighting pits, slave auctions, all entirely legal and regulated in the realm of the seemingly-poorly-named Council of Anarchy. Likely preferring little more than a brief glance to confirm for his map, Asp's attention is more likely held by the performance theaters. Without the laws pertaining to buskers, the restrictions on acceptable musical or theatrical performance, the underground art scene flourishes in all respects, giving Asp more than a little to be entertained by. He has a number of chances to explore the cellars of those above-ground as well, as many seem to use surprisingly poor locks on their entranceways, and though he finds nothing especially scandalous, there's all sorts of things and whatnot for him to borrow. Dried fruit, old neglected figurines, bottled and preserved insects, old scrolls and books. The only limits are Asp's pockets.

[Idran1701]

Heh, apparently less of a given than I thought.

Okay, people still need to post what they're saying and doing now, now that everyone's been filled in on what they've said and done already.

[Jak Snide]

"Well then," Zant said, looking to each of his fellows, "the matter of the final priest is in need of tending to. Has anyone learned something of his nature or activities beyond what we were told by the Council? The priestess Asp and I conversed with held no interest in the state of her fellows and knew nothing."

[Kelne]

"Nope," Asp says cheerfully, "But we can always go and ask him. It does sound as if he's pretty focused, judging from his success rate with the bureacrats, though. Do you think he's using actual or manufactured corruption to do it?"

If it's actual corruption, well, he may have a point with his activities, depending on how serious the corruption is. Manufactured corruption, on the other hand, strikes Asp as cheating. You'd wind up with a fair few angry bureaucrats, and a climate of fear among the remainder, who would surely be wondering who the Dread Hand of Technicalities would strike down next.

[Besyanteo]

Lorraine was still a bit in shock having listened to the stories of the others, particularly Magpie's. It hadn't helped that it seemed no one else had reacted to this little revelation. Crushing the tiny but rising voice in panic in her mind, she asked nervously:

"I'm sorry... Am I the only one concerned that Magpie has essentially told the local government precisely why we came here?"

Surely they'd pause and consider it now. They must have just not thought about it very hard the first time through... This was a smuggling operation, more or less at any rate, for a reason!

[Christian]

(OOC: >:3 That's what you get for trusting a machine to do a man's work!)

Magpie's perfectly round orbs of light turned to look at Lorraine and with a tone of puzzlement in its voice it said: "Is there a problem? I was under the impression that it was my duty to secure passes for our group."

It didn't seem to have realized the extent of what it had done... or perhaps it simply did not consider it worth worrying about.

[Kelne]

"... Huh. I guess it hasn't occurred to them that they might want to stop us. Now if Magpie had said we were smuggling chaos priests into the city..." Asp shrugs. Looked at from a certain point of view, their activities are actually increasing the lawflness quotient of the city. Which doesn't necessarily mean the people in charge will be happy if they start asking questions. People in charge are funny like that.

"I say we keep at it. If it turns out they have problems, well, they can't say we lied to them."

[Besyanteo]

Lorraine bit her lip, not looking happy but also not disagreeing with Asp. He was right, but somehow she couldn't imagine the authorities taking the same view of things. That certainly didn't mean that they couldn't, but it would surprise her very much if they did.

"I... guess so, Asp. I don't have your confidence, but we can wait and see."

She took a moment to pause and gather her thoughts again. Zant had asked.... Ah, yes.

"As for the last priest, I haven't learned anything. I got very caught up in dealing with Thomason and sort of forgot about everything else for a while. ... I take it you're adamant about not further pestering the priestess? I agree with you about her not being particularly harmful, but eight thousand gold is a whole lot of money."

She was inwardly curious to see if Zant was really committed to his beliefs about the woman. If so, no amount of money would move him, and she could respect that. If not... well, he could handle the lady and Lorraine would happily take her share of the profits from that.

[Jak Snide]

Zant had appeared unphased by the news of Magpie's brutal honesty. His thinking was in line with Asp's; he did not see why the authorities would object to their activities as long as they did not resort to violence.

"The priestess is adamant about her desire to remain within the city. If you wish to attempt to persuade her that her interests are better served by leaving this place then you are free to offer my portion of that sum to her as compensation, though I do not entertain any belief that it will provide enough of an incentive. I would also advise caution should you pursue this path, given her beliefs with regard to those who try to force their will upon others."

[Besyanteo]

So, Zant was firm on this. Lorraine didn't particularly feel that she, a stranger, would be particularly effective at removing the priestess. It's not that she didn't have her own unique ways of trying to convince the lady, means Asp and Zant didn't have at their disposal; Anyone could provide that, for better or for worse. It was simply that the woman sounded very touchy on that subject, and meeting a third new person with lots of questions and ideas that she didn't like was probably going to lead to trouble. She could almost see it in her minds eye; This woman a hornet's nest, and herself poking it repeatedly with a stick. She could be as soft as she liked while she poked, but in the end she would still get stung.

"Well, then I guess we're all going together to meet the final priest. We've gotten on pretty well with the previous two, and that's great, but nothing says that this one won't be less pleasant."

While she didn't voice it, she also held some concern that this fellow was probably going to be at least moderately powerful, like Tom proved to be. A violent and powerful person would be bad news for any two of them... Four could hold their own.

[Jak Snide]

Zant simply inclined his in agreement and waited for the others to finish their meals so that they might depart.

[Idran1701]

Automata

Finishing their meal, the four head out from the establishment, beginning their search for the final priest. Heading to the tavern square, they begin their observation and inquiries - some more subtly than others. Magpie's blunt and straightforward approach doesn't serve at all to convince any of the sorts that might be otherwise willing to inform on Öringr, while Zant simply doesn't seem to have any luck speaking to the right people. Lorraine is more successful, tumbling to the fact that he stops by every couple of nights or so, and he hasn't been seen in a while, so he's likely to show up soon. Asp gets lucky himself, and manages to ingratiate himself to someone that happens to know just who he's working.

Last time he was by, it sounds like he spilt a bit too much to one of the local bartenders - a woman by the name of Mia; a tiefling that didn't care much for his attitude, but didn't bother taking the poor drunkard seriously enough to bother reporting anything. From what Asp learns, the dwarf told her that he was working an especially big score. Seems he's been slowly worming his way into the good graces of Pelnis the Clockmaker, a fellow he encountered on his way out of the Inspector's Office after a quite successful career-destroying scandal of a minor clerk. And from what Öringr slurred out to her, it sounds that he's learned quite the juicy tidbit, though what exactly that tidbit was he at least had enough sense about him at the time to hold back on.

With a bit more asking about town, the four learn that not only is good Pelnis one of the premier artisans in Automata, he just so happens to be one of the three heads of the Council of Order. If Öringr is to be believed, this could be very bad. If not, they could throw him to the wolves and lose out on the 8,000 gold, but the guard finding out about the priests was specifically what they were warned about avoiding. And either way, it's likely going to be especially hard to talk him out of town, if he thinks it's as big an opportunity as he made it sound to Mia. They're going to have their work cut out on them on this one...and from when he usually stops by the tavern, they only have three hours to work out a plan.

Given that there's a time limit in-game, you all are going to have a time limit out of game too. Though I'll be a little more lenient than three hours. You all have about 36 hours from after this post to post what it is they're going to do. Whatever the plan is at that point, in whatever form it's in, it's what I'll be going with. And no posting will be taken to mean let him go ahead on his own scheme and let the cards fall where they may. Have fun. :D

[Kelne]

"Well," Asp says brightly, "Reason's unlikely to work. Barfights are pretty traditional, but not really reliable. You'd be amazed how easy it is to slip away during a good brawl. I think what we want is a challenge. No servant of a trickster god can pass up an opportunity to make a formal challenger look silly. What do you think, rival god? Random nutter? Ooh, I know! Friend of a disgraced bureaucrat. You should always include references to the target's recent activities," he continues sagely, "Adds to the plausibility."

[Jak Snide]

"What manner of challenge would the priest be receptive to, and how would we ensure that he would keep his word should he loose? It strikes me that a trickster priest would not be one to keep a promise, even one sworn in the name of his god. His patron might well approve of pretending that such an oath is binding."

[Christian]

"How likely is it that this priest would accept the challenge not to reveal this information?" Magpie, apparantly unfazed by its lack of success during the day, asked out aloud, "If he is the servant of a trickster god, who revels in surprise and deceit, would it not serve our cause if we informed this Pelnis about the priest's knowledge? If he then expected Öringr to reveal his secret, then the priest would be forced to do the opposite. Of course, if we are expecting him to do this, he may indeed go forward with the secret..."

The construct seemed to be musing out loud, consciously or not, and the light in its eyes was rather sharper than usual, "perhaps it could be conceivable that we promote some manner of discord between this man and the priestess you encountered, Zant?" it turned its eyes towards their own priest, "or perhaps a duel of wits? I have once heard mention of games of riddles to decide the fate of nations themselves."

[Jak Snide]

"A battle of wits might suffice, though perhaps our best option would be to trick a trickster, obscuring either the nature of the competition or the penalty for loosing. It would surely be a difficult task, but perhaps it is the best course of action to take. A victory won by such means is more likely to be respected than one won by any other."

[Kelne]

Asp snaps his fingers abruptly, "Lockpicking," he says, "There are some neat locks and wardings on those vaults we came in past. If we each rent one and the other tries to break into it, that'd be a pretty good contest. And while we're doing that, someone should probably warn Pelnis, you know, just in case. As for something to wager, do you think he'd go for a doomsday device? I have the plans for one here somewhere..." Asp starts rummaging in one of his pouches.

[Jak Snide]

Zant looked slightly alarmed as the wizard began to rummage around for that plan.

"Excuse me?"

[Besyanteo]

Lorraine wasn't particularly interested in commenting on Asp's doomsday related suggestion, instead trying to think of ways the suggested plans could go wrong. Better to get any detrimental ideas out of the way quickly. She tried to imagine herself in Pelnis' position. Out of the blue, one to four individuals approach her, and inform her that someone would, in the near future, reveal something about me, some damning piece of information, without knowing what this piece of information was or precisely when it would happen. She reflected on this scenario for a moment... and shook her head. She would have a hard time taking it seriously. She'd experienced many, many things in her life time, and made plenty of mistakes, even before joining the Planewalkers guild.

"I'm not sure that warning Pelnis will help greatly. We know almost nothing about what's going to happen, and we're not certain it will happen at the time in question. We should focus our efforts on dealing with the priest, and decide now if we want to get violent if all our other plans fail."