Isaac holds up the statue head of Ares and talks out the side of his mouth in a high-pitched puppet voice, bobbing the head as if its speaking.
"And don't I know it! My neck hurts so much... OH POWERS ABOVE, WHERE'S THE REST OF ME?!! I'VE BEEN RENT ASUNDER BY YOUR BRUTALITY, ISAAC!"
"Oh, pike it, mate. Look on the bright side: you got a new incarnation ahead of you as a paperweight! So much more sodding useful than a gaudy statue!"
"IF I HAD LEGS, ISAAC, I'D KICK YOUR SODDING ARSE!"
"Well, I reckon I had better stow you back in the sack, lest your bonebox keep running and you give me a screed you'll really regret..."
Isaac holds up the statue head of Ares and talks out the side of his mouth in a high-pitched puppet voice, bobbing the head as if its speaking.
"And don't I know it! My neck hurts so much... OH POWERS ABOVE, WHERE'S THE REST OF ME?!! I'VE BEEN RENT ASUNDER BY YOUR BRUTALITY, ISAAC!"
"Oh, pike it, mate. Look on the bright side: you got a new incarnation ahead of you as a paperweight! So much more sodding useful than a gaudy statue!"
"IF I HAD LEGS, ISAAC, I'D KICK YOUR SODDING ARSE!"
"Well, I reckon I had better stow you back in the sack, lest your bonebox keep running and you give me a screed you'll really regret..."
Nari hides a silent giggle behind her hand, but her shaking shoulders give her away.
Nari hides a silent giggle behind her hand, but her shaking shoulders give her away.Isaac holds up the statue head of Ares and talks out the side of his mouth in a high-pitched puppet voice, bobbing the head as if its speaking.
"And don't I know it! My neck hurts so much... OH POWERS ABOVE, WHERE'S THE REST OF ME?!! I'VE BEEN RENT ASUNDER BY YOUR BRUTALITY, ISAAC!"
"Oh, pike it, mate. Look on the bright side: you got a new incarnation ahead of you as a paperweight! So much more sodding useful than a gaudy statue!"
"IF I HAD LEGS, ISAAC, I'D KICK YOUR SODDING ARSE!"
"Well, I reckon I had better stow you back in the sack, lest your bonebox keep running and you give me a screed you'll really regret..."
Isaac winks to the head.
"Ah ha! A small miracle! Sure sign that I'm on the road to Ascension, ain't it just!"He kisses the head on the forehead, though Ares has a few things to say about that...
"I knew you was sly! As soon as I saw them lacy undergarments in yer pack..."
"Oi! Berk! I told you, that's strictly a comfort thing! Time for you to hit the sack..."
Isaac stows the head away.
Ekuur rests his trikal on his shoulder, and looking at Isaac, just shakes his head a bit. It's not that he doesn't have a sense of humor (although compared to most folks in the Cage, Athasians don't), it was that he still could understood very little of his speech.
"I catch only about half of your witty remarks," he tells Isaac. "Does this make you a half-wit?" His stoney face is broken by a chuckle a second later to show he's only joking ...
Justin laughs with the others at Isaac's antics.
At Ekuur's comment, Justin snorts with an ill-concealed attempt at hiding his amusement.
"Come along Isaac,..." Justin says sweetly, as if speaking to a child. A simple child. "It's time to join the rest of your, 'barmy', friends!" He smiles.
Nari winces a little at Justin's 'joke'. Somehow she doubted she'd ever find that sort of humor terribly funny. She turned away quickly to hide her reaction. She knew Justin meant well, and she didn't want to offend him by being overly sensitive.
After a late lunch, the group decides it's time to check out the Butcher's Block and Shadowknave. Renkar takes the box for Karrin and promises to put it away in the office until such time as its contents can be identified.
The group sets out into the foggy Afterpeak streets of the Market Ward. The weather is fairly nice for the Cage, a golden diffuse light with light fog. The smell of a million coal, wood and razorvine fires pepper this golden fog as the group heads out to Copperman Way.
Copperman Way is crowded with drovers and carraiges at this time of day. Couriers and touts weave their way through the pedestrians that throng the elveated sidewalk, carrying boxes and bags of all shapes and sizes. The party sidesteps a party of Githyanki, their green-grey skin and beaded hair remind them uncomfortably of Imogen.
Copperman Way ends at the Great Bazaar. This enormous open-air souk is thronged, as usual no matter what time of day or night. Vendors holler at the group as they travel through the riot of stalls.
"Dr. Nervecius' slaking powder! If you've got scales, you need this powder!"
"Combs, brushes! Hair, antennae, moustache, wingfeathers! whatever you groom we have the tool!"
"Nostrums, unguents and potions from around the Great Wheel! Guaranteed effective! Why pay hundreds of Ladies when you can pay a tenth the price for the same power?"
'Greddlye's Professional tour service! Here now, cutters, don't worry yerself finding yer way around the city! Let a Cager born an' bred show you the lesser-walked paths! I'll show you sights you never saw on the Prime!"
The party manages to skirt the vendors and their attendant mountebanks, jinkskirts and jongelurs as they walk through. The exit onto Duskgate Road, leaving the frantic mercantilism behind. The Guildhall Ward opens before them, its many small esoteric neighborhoods crammed with odd archetecture and unreadable signs. Beings of every odd shape and size hop, pad and slither along the grimy cobbles. A brace of Neogi, astride their Umber Hulk slaves walk by. Their fur is dyed a riot of colors, as are the carapaces of their insectile brutish mounts.
Passing deeper into the ward, they come across the Great Gymnasium. This monument to the Cipher creed is surrounded by neighborhoods dedicated to mind and body synergy. The party walks through without incident, the throngs here intent on their own place in the Cosmos.
Finally departing the Guildhall Ward, the party takes Tickson's Trail over the border into the Clerks' Ward. The Worker's District opens up before them, the large multi-story buildings alive with the families of the many low-level city functionaries that handle the day-to-day running of the Cage. Children of a half-dozen races scream and run pel-mel down the cobbles; a drow child tossing a ball to a human who laterals it to his orcish comrade down the road.
Down towards the end of the Workers' District is Hull Road and the Festhall District. Karrin frowns as they pass the small alleyway called Hell Road. At some point she is going to have to visit Veria at her evil little shop...
The Civic Festhall looms immense before them. A thousand feet high, the cylindrical behemoth is wrapped in fog. The area surround this mammoth building is aswarm with Sensates. The tone is a little less sybaratic than it would be during Antipeak, but not much. A scantily-clad elven maid bumps into Swire and kisses him deeply before running off laughing.
Taking a turn onto Crystal Dew Lane, the group skirts the Sandstone District and heads for the Hall of Records District instead. Karrin sees the leather shop where Eir and Ffethpaar had portaljacked Nurkrak and Norgins. They skirt the bizarre pile of Lazz's School of Vivid Unpleasantness, the university neighborhoods quiet as students stay inside for afterpeak classes.
The group comes into the Hall of Records District next. Groups of Takers, many in administrator's robes walk by, chatting and laughing. Most have a scribe or three panting behind them, carrying sheaves of scrolls and/or massive codexes. The party doesn't linger, rather heads out to Stump Street, the entrance to Darkwell Court. They pass Grundelthrum's Automatic Scribing print shop, famous to Cagers like Swire or Issac for its magical wall that takes orders for printed documents and delivers them in a most rapid fashion. The five speaking grills each have a line leading up to them that starts out in the street.
Darkwell Court is a nebulous realm, half Clerk's Ward, half Hive. The lower end of the working class Takers make this district their home, as do many of the ghostly theives' guilds that lurk within the Fated's broad shadow. Housewives gossip by the fountains and string laundry on long lines between the crumbling tenements.
Passing Darkwell Court, the group heads deeper into the Hive, heading onto Whisper Way. At the intersection of Two Lamp Lane, Whisper Way and Laughing Cat Alley is their destination: The Butcher's Block. A few blocks from the tavern is Nari's first refuge in the Cage,Allesha's Pantry.
The Butcher's Block is a disreputable place, a squat ugly brick building bracketed by empty lots filled with a fetid squatter jungle. Hivers, barmies and bubbers all sprawl along the dirty road, drinking potato peel mash and arguing amongst themselves. This is the same place that some of the party had tracked down Eliath's attacker. A set of creaky batwing doors guard the entrance. Loud laughter and the sounds of glasses crashing come from inside. Several of the gutter rats look up and start to head towards the group, moaning and crying out:
"Spare a Green for a wretched soul, mate!"
Swire pushes past the beggar and enters the bar, a smile on his face.
Swire:
Nari and Merle begin dispensing Greens. Suddenly, the group is surrounded by bubbers and barmies, all with a hand out.
"Mercy, mistress! I lost my arm in the Blood War!"
"I haven't had any food for days, missus."
"Me little sister needs a physik. She's awful sick."
There are a lot of ragged folks hereabouts, and the fact that someone is giving out cash has galvanized them. A wave of indigents spill onto the roadway, plaintively wailing for alms.
GM:
Swire places a silver piece on the counter. "Evening, cutter." He pauses for a moment. "You happen to see a spiv called the Shadowknave around here lately? We've got a little buusiness proposition to discuss."
Swire:
"Yew ain' the firs' lookin' fer him this Peak. Jes' had a lot of folks come through with that name on their tongue. Yew have biznes with him, 'fraid biznes gonna be closed up. 'E's givven the Cage the laugh."
Without making it too obvious, Ekuur reaches in and grabs a handful of his copper pieces (all 10, in fact), and tosses them into one of the nearby empty lots. His hope is to get the group of beggars distracted by the coins long enough to push Merle and Nari into the tavern before the beggars come back.
If his distraction works, he mutters as they get into the tavern, "And I thought I was the naive one ..."
"And I thought I was the naive one ..."
The verdigrised copper pieces spin through the air, ringing out as they hit the filthy cobbles. The swarm of beggars is momentarily distracted, and a scrum develops as they try and retreive the Greens.
Ekuur gets Nari and Merle in the door. Once inside they see Mr. Swire chatting up an immense ancient scarred ogre who is bartending.
Nari:
Bethany lands next to the others on the doorstep and sneers down her nose at the beggers aftrer Nari & Merle decide to give them money. She unfurls her wings around her and uses them as a buffer to keep the beggars off her as she pushes her way inside the pub and steps off to the side, watching Swire as he approaches the massive barkeep. She takes a glance around the tavern, as she waits for the others to enter.
Perception Check:
Isaac refrains from commenting on the fifteen beggar pile-up but nods to Ekuur's distraction technique before walking into the bubhouse, keeping his eyes and ears open while Swire rattles his bonebox.
Perception: 1d20+16
Issac:
Drazek shakes his head at the two bleeding hearts produce coins. He glares at the rapidly increasing mob.
"Back off!" Unfortunately at that moment he thinks of Isaacs antics with the hed and can't help the laugh.
Intimidate 1d20+8
A skinny poxy bawd comes up to Drazek and shakes her protruding hip bones at him
"Two Greens and yeh can have whatever you wish, spookyman!" She purrs in a tobacco-and-gin-roughened voice.
Bethany lands next to the others on the doorstep and sneers down her nose at the beggers aftrer Nari & Merle decide to give them money. She unfurls her wings around her and uses them as a buffer to keep the beggars off her as she pushes her way inside the pub and steps off to the side, watching Swire as he approaches the massive barkeep. She takes a glance around the tavern, as she waits for the others to enter.
Perception Check: 1d20
Bethany:
Justin, his hands firmly protective of his pocket's valuable contents, snickers as Drazek enters the bub-house.
"Sorry, but you ain't offerin' what he likes sister." He says. 'No feathers,...' he thinks to himself with another snicker.
"But if you see my buddy Clawboy, he's a soft touch, always glad to share a few greens with those in need." He tosses with a toothy grin as he hastily follows Drazek and the others inside.
Inside the doors, the sudden shift from light to dark, various noxious fumes from better-unidentified burning substances, and the reek of of the fine establishments cleanliness policy are immediately overwhelming to his sensitive eyes and nose. The resulting tears and cough pretty much guarantee that he won't see squat!
Isaac strides up to Swire at the bar.
"What's the chant, cutter? Our man in?"
As Issac strides up the massive barkeep swivels his heavily scarred phiz over Issac's way. A golden torc pierces his immense oft-broken nose, twinkling in the dim firelight of the common room.
"'E's long gone. You lot going to buy drinks or are yeh just here to root around fer me old boarder?"
Isaac strides up to Swire at the bar.
"What's the chant, cutter? Our man in?"
As Issac strides up the massive barkeep swivels his heavily scarred phiz over Issac's way. A golden torc pierces his immense oft-broken nose, twinkling in the dim firelight of the common room.
"'E's long gone. You lot going to buy drinks or are yeh just here to root around fer me old boarder?"
"Grog me," Karrin says sliding up to the bar, "we're hear for a little of both actually, we're more curious at this point as to who's already been pokin' around actually. We think the deadites are after him, probably the chaos-men, but anyone else?"
"Grog me," Karrin says sliding up to the bar, "we're here for a little of both actually, we're more curious at this point as to who's already been pokin' around actually. We think the deadites are after him, probably the chaos-men, but anyone else?"
The ogre slides a chipped clay mug over the scarred bar top to Karrin
"Thass a Green lass." He grunts.
The large giantkin snaps the verdgrised coin out of the air and smiles at Karrin. She can see why he's called 'Three Teeth'. In fact, that's being rather generous. He leans down and motions Karrin to him. A strong miasma of garlic, gingivitis and stale homebrew washes over her.
"Oi loiks yer moxie, cutter. Yer hittin' close to bullseye wif your palaver too. Both the Xaosboys and the Deadites been 'round to call on ol' Shadowknave. 'E's a roight pop'lar soul, 'E is."
The ogre's rheumy yellow bloodshot eyes take in the folks at the bar.
"Shadowknave 'ad a room up on me third floor. 'E 'ad it for quoit some toime afore this very Peak. Oi'd let yeh take a look if mayhap yeh lot 'ad more than Greens in yer pocket for ol' Trunfeld."
Karrin only keeps ten gold on her (her emergency snack fund) after being robbed a few weeks earlier. The rest is hidden where she's sure no one will find it: under her mattress.
Still Karrin pulls out all ten coins.
"You know sooner or later someone's going to come by and toss the place," Karrin says, "might be the sort that wants to rough people up as well. We're not in that sort of business, but there's plenty in the cage that are, and the more people that find out about this the more likely bad news is to come calling. You let us up there and then you can point to us."
Karrin puts the coin on the bar.
Karrin puts the coin on the bar.
The ogre makes the ten golden coins vanish as if by magic. He rummages under the bar and comes up with a rusty key
"'E dropped this off wif me this Before Peak. Third floor, last room down the 'allway. Don't break nuffin'."
The ogre chuckles, a sound like rocks rubbing together.
Isaac consults Karrin and Swire in a low tone.
"Some fine jabber-jawin', Karrin. I'll pay you back the jink when we give this sodhouse the laugh. Let's take a gander upstairs real quick. The bubbers in here don't seem like they're aimin' fer a dust up, but I seen a lot o' loosened pigstickers, you ken it? Like as not our old mate's left a surprise or two in his kip fer us; Swire an' I should take the lead."
"Help yourself boys," Karrin says as she hands off the key, "I'll stay down here. I don't exactly feel like sorting through someone's kip anyways."
Karrin takes a sip of her grog.
"Personally I just don't like the dirty work," Karrin says as if in confidence to the ogre bartender, "the people with the shinny glowing axes don't muck about shifting furniture and looking for loose floor boards if you know what I mean. Say mr Teeth, I couldn't help but hear you call the shadowknave 'E', is that short for something?"