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Droskar drives his blade into the minotaur's chest, shoving him to the ground. Grotts convulses on the floor before going mostly still, a pool of blood spreading as only his chest heaves accompanied by wet, sucking sounds with each breath. Aurica's arrow strikes off a horn as the minotaur falls, as Austru manages to claw the frightened human thief. Maleghk and Lailani move forward, the dwarf blocking the man into the cage, just after a shard of ice whips through, narrowly missing the thief.
In response to all these events, the man drops his blade, pulls his other dagger and throws it to the ground and drops to his knees, hands up in front of him, then says "Don't kill me! I give up, I GIVE UP!"
"Arrest this man. We will hold him for questioning," Lailani commands, pointing at the bandit. She moves to the back of the car, and looks around to make sure there are no more bandits on the train. What were they after? Do they know why we're here? Is this involved with our mission somehow?
Aurica nods at Lailani's orders, moving in to help secure the bandit-- and to check on her bird. Austru is worked up from the fighting and shrieks at the proximity of Maleghk and the others, but Aurica rushes to calm the bird and get him to relax, with the aid of some strips of dried meat from her pack.
"I think they were goin' for what's in the strongbox-- did he say gold?" she says, getting rope out of her pack to securely tie the surviving thief. "Is everyone okay? Nobody's bad hurt?"
Maleghk nods approvingly at Austru and says something in Celestial as he binds the thief after checking him for weapons. As his battle rage fades he reverts to common. "Aurica, I believe I'm going to enjoy having your friend on our side." Maleghk says with a grin.
Droskar glares out of the side of the car after the escaping bandit. He scowls and returns to the group, sheathing his blade as he does so.
"One got away."
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As Aurica ties the thief, she notices the yellowish glint of gold through the very slightly ajar top of one of the chests in the small, cage-like room. What remains of the bandit ranks has fled, their mission a failure.
A small number of other bandits were captured by others on the train, including a few near the front of the train captured by Phaerine and Octavius.
"A couple of us should keep an eye on these chests until order is restored and new guards are available."
"I will stay," Lailani replies. She looks to the centaur, "Droskar, will you stay with me?"
Droskar looks first to Aurica, then back to Lailani and nods.
"Aurica, would you and Austru like to come with me? We should check to see if the rest of the train is clear."
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The bandits dealt with, Phaerine leads the group back to the luxury car, which is still in a pristine state, a jarring transition from the blood soaked, singed, and otherwise ransacked cars behind it. She puts on a pot of tea and sits in the same chair she occupied before the bandits so rudely interrupted you.
"You handled yourselves well," she says, smiling. "I'll have to mention this to Markaas. Now rest up, we'll pull into the GMT station in Zephyria in the morning."
Aurica reluctantly follows back to the luxury car, once more leaving Austru behind-- though this time, Austru insists on perching on the rooftop of one of the cars. Aurica tells him to go inside if he is in trouble of getting blown off the roof by the train's velocity.
She ducks her head at Phaerine's compliment. "Thank you ma'am. Glad to be of service."
Lailani maintains her composure as always. She sits back down as well, her back ramrod straight. She waits for the tea to brew, and then begins quietly sipping it with formal motions. Indeed, the contractors fight well. Perhaps I was too hasty to judge them earlier. Where we're going I may very well have need of a few rough hands.
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The next morning dawns in much the same way as the last few have: the klack-klack of wheels on rails, and a well made breakfast delivered by the staff of the rail line. A few hours after dawn, the grey cliffs appear on the horizon and the group spots their first airship, zooming past them, heading westward. Phaerine points out the floating disc that is Upper Zephyria, still barely more than a speck in the sky at this distance.
Another hour later, the train is running alongside the cliffs, and airship sightings are becoming more and more common by the minute. The train makes stops at a few smaller cities and towns, on its path to Zephyria, at one point stopping a half hour to exchange the half-burnt, hole-riddled cargo car for another of the same model, this one also bearing the blue-on-bronze KAESCo logo on the side. As you continue on the towns and cities grow closer and closer together until, excepting signs posted alongside the railway, there is no longer any way to tell when you've left the boundaries of one and entered another. Dwellings and other buildings begin to appear on top of and built directly into the cliffs, growing more frequent as you continue east, until they too seem to have no end.
Shortly before noon, the train rounds a long curve and the cliffs sweep back to the south revealing Zephyria in all its soot-stained splendor. Your position on a rise descending into the city gives you an excellent view. The three miles between the cliffs and Lake Zephyr are completely covered by the city. To the south, innumerable circular platforms jut out from the top of the cliffs, connected by long steel walkways and supported by massive steel girders that reach a quarter of the way down the cliffside. Airships of varying sizes, shapes, and purpose take off and land on these platforms continually, a carefully coordinated chaos. The entire cliffside is covered in openings to businesses and houses, a latticework of ramps and platforms connecting them to one another. One can even spot a train moving into the cliff near the railyard ahead of you.
Further ahead of you to the east, the River Castrium bisects the city, spanned by only three bridges. A dizzying array of watercraft, from small barges and ferries transporting people and goods across the river, to luxury yachts, to larger merchant vessels transporting goods to other cities on the shores of the lake. Five islands sit in the widest part of river near the opening in the cliff that the river comes from.
To the north lies the warm waters of Lake Zephyr, technically a giant hot spring, and the reason behind the warm climate this far north. On its shores stands the old city, covering just over a square mile. It's walls still stand to this day, though the gates are never closed anymore, and the outside of the walls seem to be stained with soot. Much of the western half of the old city seems to have been converted to warehouses to service the nearly endless array of docks that cover the coast.
Smoke rises into the air from factories across the city, the only notable exceptions being the old city and Riverside Park, on the eastern bank of the Castrium. The smoke is most densely concentrated outside the western and southwestern walls of the old city, the entire district a haze. Strangely, you can spot only two lines of rail inside the city proper, one crossing through the middle of city and over the Castrium on one of the three bridges, and another leading to a large dockyard outside the western walls.
For all that the lower city of the valley and middle city of the cliffs draw the eye, neither holds a candle to the burnished steel disc that floats above the city, nearly twice as large as the walled old city. Jets of steam erupt from the disc, and a half dozen cables connect the floating city with the cliffs, other cables, or perhaps pipes, hang loosely from the nearly taut main cables. The fact that you can see the cables from this distance speaks to their thickness. Airships of various shapes and sizes land and take off from platforms much like those on cliff, and all the while the upper city hangs motionless.
Shortly thereafter, the train pulls into a large railyard and train station. GMT logos (brown letters on a green elipse, within a red elipse) decorate most of the large surfaces, and many of the smaller ones. You disembark from the train onto a private section of the platform, led by Octavius and Phaerine. The woman turns, and after you're all on the platform she says, "Feel free to explore the city today, Lailani will be accompanying you to make sure you don't get yourselves lost or killed. We'll need you to be at the KAESCo skydock tomorrow by noon. Good day." She gives you all a nod, then makes a gesture to Octavius and strides away, the rangan man following.
Droskar covers his mouth with the bend of his arm as he leaves the accursed train. His legs were shaky from the transition to normal land again, but he was relieved to be off of the damned thing.
"This place," he says, "it is an abomination. The air is stale and thick with poison. I can feel it burning my lungs. How do people survive here?"
He looks around with a disgusted expression as he takes in the vast, unnatural landscape he finds himself surrounded by.
"Yes, I'm sure it must be alarming for one such as yourself. Perhaps you would like to visit a park?" Lailani asks Droskar in her cold way.
Maleghk asks, "Are there any healers of note in this city? I would like to visit them if possible.
Aurica openly gawks and gapes. She hadn't known the world HAD so many people in one place-- or so many buildings, or roads. She's not as horrified as Droskar is, but she does feel overwhelmed, and stares up at the numerous airships like a little child, her face pressed to the window's glass.
Aurica's still looking around her, every inch the tourist, when she follows after the others onto the platform. Austru shrieks and settles beside her, clearly unnerved by all the noises, smells, and other unusual things. Aurica pats at the bird's feathered flank, trying to calm him down.
"Are there... are there maps of the city?" she asks a little weakly. Otherwise she will get lost so quickly. "How do we get to the KAES sky-dock?"
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Lailani leads the group onto one of the passenger cars at another platform, bypassing any fees by flashing her KAESCo identification card to the security staff. After a very brief ride, the group makes their way off the train after passing over the Castrium. The bridge over the Castrium here is called the 'Rail Bridge' as it is the only crossing point of the Castrium for trains. Here on the eastern bank, a large yard is used to transfer goods between Arcadian Rail and GMT cars, since the two companies use different gauges of track. A few entire cars are lifted by crane between the tracks, specially designed to fit into an undercarriage that bears the wheels of the car.
Passengers, like the group, can reach the river bank by going down long ramps that stretch to the north and south. Lailani leads the group to the south, along the riverbank, toward a long belt of green visible from the top of the ramp. It seems to be mostly free of the smoke that pervades the rest of the city. Small bridges lead out to a pair of small islands, that also seem to be part of the park.
The air in the park is much fresher. Groves of many kinds of trees dot the rolling plain of the park, and a cool breeze blows off the river. In the distance to the south you can see a enormous hollow in the rock over half a mile deep, carved by the river over millenia, and resulting in the huge waterfall known as Castrium falls.
Aurica continues to gawk and stare around the city. The massive crane makes her goggle for a good thirty seconds before jogging to catch up with Lailani.
The sight of the green swath of park makes her breath out in unconscious relaxation. Good ol' natural green... well, it's awful trimmed and tamed, not like a real forest or anything, but... it's more familiar than the ground being made of little stones laid together, anyway.
She whistles at the sight of that mighty waterfall. "Would you look at that! Don't know as my ma and pa ever knew there was that big a fall in the whole wide world. Makes me wonder what sorta things we're gonna see on a whole new land."
"It is a beautiful thing. I had hoped you two would enjoy this place. It is the most natural I could think of in the city, though it is a far cry from any real wilds."
Lailani takes a moment to enjoy the falls herself. She can feel all the water's power through her aquakineticism, and the effect is staggering. If only I could channel such flows, I would be queen of everything I see.
"It's all-- neat," Aurica says with a laugh that makes her sound quite young. "Like someone laid it out as clean as sewing. Trees don't wanna be in rows, they just wanna reach up high for the sky. But it's still pretty. I think I'd get awful sick of gray, I had to live in a place like this all the time. Least there's that waterfall, though-- I'd never get tired of lookin' at that."
Austru is obviously eager to take to the sky above the city, but Aurica keeps a firm hand clutched at his pinfeathers. Last thing she needs is for someone to figure her bird is wild and a threat, and start taking potshots at the baby roc.
Droskar looks at this "park" with nearly as much disgust as the initial train stop. "This isn't nature. It is a mockery of it. Broken, bent to the will of others. The only thing that makes it more comfortable than the rest of this place is that the air is at least a bit cleaner here. How long must we wait in this...this place?"
"It is a truly magnificent waterfall!", Maleghk says. I would comment on the power available if it could be harnessed but Droskar is offended enough by the changes wrought here.
"Well, if you've seen all you'd like of the park, we can continue on to our lodgings?" Lailani asks the group. If they are ready, she will lead them to wherever KAESco is putting them up.
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Lailani leads the group back across the river, this time walking across one of the broad pathways on either side of the Rail Bridge. Another three-quarters of an hour later they come upon a six story building in one of the nicer districts in town. Inside, wide hallways contain a series of doors on each side, and a stairway at the end of the hall.
As you enter the building, a gemmil woman approaches you and says, "'Ey dere queenie," she looks over the group and continues, "Must be tha provincials ya takin' ta Vashalle wit' ya." She walks to a small counter against the wall and grabs a list, looking over it. After perusing it for a few moments, she says, "Ponyboy gets 13, n' the shorties got 26 n' 29."
Aurica shoots Droskar a sympathetic look at his disgust with the park-- for herself, it's a novelty, a strange one, but not fundamentally offensive-- but she can understand how strange it seems to him, anyway. She nods to Lailani's question of their being ready to move on, and devotes her attention to trying to coax the skittish and restless Austru along.
**
At the building, it's more of the same-- the bird hates hallways and anywhere enclosed, and Aurica knows it will only get worse as the roc continues to grow. But for now Austru consents to hop along the stairs after them at her leading. Soon they stand before a gemmil woman; Aurica stands respectfully, one hand on the bird's wing soothingly.
"...twenty-nine what?" she blurts, curiously, not seeming too offended at being called a shortie.
"Guess that means I'll take room 26 if you want 29 Aurica."
"That is correct, Mrs. Kregas," Lailani says. She takes the keys from the genmil woman. "29 is your room number, Aurica. Every room in this building has a number, it helps to find people when delivering messages and visiting." Lailani hands the keys to 26 and 29 to the dwarves to sort out, and gives Droskar the key to room 13. "I'm going to have some rest after the journey. If you need me, I'll be in room 7."
Droskar takes the key and walks toward his designated cell. He detested how his hooves echoed in this confined place. It was very much like a cave, but entirely unnatural.
When he reached the door numbered 13, he slides the key into the lock and opens the door, taking in the site of his "quarters."
Aurica blinks in bemusement as the reason for the odd numbers is explained.
"Hang on, there's... twenty-nine rooms in this place? How do they have room for them all?" she asks naively. Shaking her head in wonder at how there's so MUCH of everything in the city, Aurica simply agrees with Maleghk's proposal of who takes what room. She takes the key, turning it over in her hands, and then goes to see "her room". What a strange thing!
Now will they let Austru stay with her, or force him into a stable, the way the train had insisted he stay in the cargo car, she wonders...
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"Don' get lost dwarfies." Kregas says as you depart, her tone mocking. "Just waddle on up tha stairs ta fine ya room." She smirks and returns to sitting at the small desk beside the entrance.
No one stops Aurica from taking Austru into her room, which happens to be up two flights of spiraling stairs, the first more like ascending platforms, intended to accomodate gemmil who are bunking on the first floor up, the second much more narrow. Each floor has ten apartments, save the gemmil floor which has only six, and the ground floor which has only eight. A stairwell rests at one end of the long hallway that runs through each floor, and doors to each apartment sit along the hall at regular intervals. At the far end of each hall an open doorway leads into a communal latrine, complete with small curtained stalls. The latrines lack any gendered segmentation. The ground floor has a bathing pool, open to all inhabitants of the apartment building. KAESCo has installed running water in the building, for both waste disposal and bathing purposes.
The small, spartan apartments consist of three rooms each, a bedroom, sitting room, and kitchen. The kitchen is stocked with a small amount of non-perishable foods, such as vegetables and fruits sealed in glass jars with metal tops. (Think Ball brand glass jars for example) The sitting room has a couch and a pair of wooden chairs arranged around a low rectangular table, a small bookcase with a selection of popular books rests in the corner of each. The bedroom consists of a single bed and a chest of drawers. The things in Aurica and Maleghk's rooms are slightly too large for them, sized for humans and elves, but workable. The things in Droskar's room are larger, sized for gemmil and generally at the proper size for him, though the bed is esentially useless to him, as it is designed for one that is humanoid in shape. Lailani's room is like the others, though it has been decorated as she sees fit.
Lailani's room is totally spartan. She hasn't altered a single thing since she moved into it, other than to keep it spotlessly clean and stocked with non perishable food.
Droskar ambled about the room slowly, taking in the chamber with an equal amount of disdain as he has everything else in the city so far. He tinkers with the strange contraptions that spout water, and scowls at it.
They even bind the water. These city dwellers may not enslave people, but they enslave the world around them happily. It is just as disgusting as any other kind of slavery...
He then moves a thin out from beneath a table and into the middle of the room, as well as the blanket from the bed. He carefully descends to his side as he curls his legs beneath him and pulls the blanket up and around his shoulders, and he tries to get some sleep to prepare himself for whatever horrors he would bear witness to with the dawn.
Maleghk enters his rooms and makes a quick inspection. He goes to the stable to check that Strider has been properly taken care of and then returns to his room for some much needed sleep. After setting his longhammer to brace against the door he retires, taking his waraxe with him. He mutters a prayer for Alaya and falls asleep.
Aurica, meanwhile, can't stop fiddling with the faucet. Imagine if you didn't have to go to the well or the stream every time you wanted a sip of somethin'! Or you didn't need to haul buckets for the tub! She spends a good hour or so poking around the room, marveling at the contraptions whose purpose she can figure out, and being bemused by those she can't.
"Austru, I don't reckon we're in the forest anymore," she says, shaking her head.
Eventually Aurica strips off her armor and traveling gear. She washes up with handfuls of the water from the spout, and then approaches the bed with a bit of glee: this ain't like the bed her father and mother built, with stuffed straw sacking for a mattress; this is a city bed. Like what a high-born lady uses. (Aurica is entirely ignorant just how far the utilitarian KAESCO bed is from a 'high-born lady's bed.)
She sleeps soundly and well, Austru resting on the floor nearby, occasionally giving a plaintive chirp through the night.
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The next morning dawns and Lailani, an early riser, rounds up the rest of the group. You leave the apartment building in the predawn light, columns of smoke still perpetually rising over the city. After a brisk hour's walk, the five of you (counting Austru) reach an opening in the cliffs, and Lailani expertly leads you up a series of tunnels, spiraling ever upward, eventually emerging atop the cliffs. From here the entire city is laid out before you, a sea of stone, wood, metal, and people extending from the cliffs to Lake Zephyr. Lailani leads you on, heading toward one of the compounds on the top of the cliff, one of KAESCo's airship foundries, this one specializing in custom work.
The sun is fully above the horizon as Lailani flashes her identification to the guards, who then allow you pass through the gates and into the yard. The pearl elf leads the group across the yard, avoiding areas where airships are being assembled, to a small (compared to the hangars around the yard) building marked 'Main Office'. The inside of the building is well appointed in a utilitarian manner, all the wood a fine grain, the floors umblemished granite tiles. A young copper elf man nods to Lailani and says "Lady de Celeste will see you in her office." He gestures down the hallway, an action of habit, as he is quite aware that Lailani knows where Phaerine's office is. Lailani leads you to the room, an unassuming and unmarked door in the middle of a long hallway bearing many such doors. The kineticist knocks which is immediately followed by a feminine voice calling "Enter," from within the room behind the door.
Upon stepping through the doorway you see that unlike the rest of the building, the furniture in Phaerine's office is lavish. Deep brown upholstery, with touches of golden thread, and gold threaded buttons covers the two chairs and the short couch arranged in front of her desk. The desk itself is reddish stained cherry wood, its top covered in carefully arranged papers, trays, and a large crystal pedestal bowl holding chocolates that sits in one corner. A number of paintings decorate the walls, some are landscapes, depicting Lake Zephyr, Zephyria, and the last a place unfamiliar to all of you. Another is a hunting scene, two men on horseback follwing a group of dogs chasing a strange looking stag-like creature. The final two are portraits, one of a middle aged man and woman in noble finery, the other of a young boy playing with a child's toy on a lawn. All the other accoutrements in the office are as fine as the rest, from the heavy drapes on the window, down to the gold pen in Phaerine's hand.
The woman herself fits the office she sits in. She wears a crimson dress slashed with white, a bit of golden embroidery decorating the neckline and sleeves. Her short-cropped brown hair bears a golden barrette and she wears a bit of makeup to enhance her natural beauty. As the four of you enter the room she rises, bringing her golden hilted sword and ivory handled revolver into view. What appeared to be a dress while she sat is not really a dress at all, but instead she wears close fitting crimson trousers and a gold-embroidered white half-skirt that covers only her right leg. The white slashing of the top seamlessly transitions into the half-skirt, and is altogether a rather dashing look.
"Prompt as always, Lailani," the human woman says in her strange accent, smiling. "We were going to send you over to Vashalle tomorrow, but an issue's come up, and I want you all to handle it." A frown crosses her face, followed by a look of deep concern. "While the city has a government that nominally rules it, in reality the major corporations pull all the strings via bribes, or straight out intimidation. Obviously, different corporations have different goals, and each is vying for the power of the city government. Markaas doesn't like this shadow war, but is forced to play along in self defense, since he nearly lost the company when he tried to stay out of it. Anyhow, the point at hand is that a couple of members of the security force under Octavius' command have been captured and are being held in one of ARAL's warehouses in the warehouse district of the old city. They're probably being tortured for information that ARAL can use against us. We want you to get them out." Phaerine retrieves a folder from the top-left drawer of her desk and hands it to Lailani. "That folder contains dossiers on the two captured agents as well as the location of the warehouse and a sketch of the inside of the building. Don't ask how I got the sketch. Read it all, memorize it, and burn it. There's simply too many people around the warehouse district both day and night to do this quietly, though I still recommend night time, so this will be a smash and grab type of operation. Do it quickly and get out. The last piece of paper in the file is where you need to take the operatives once you've freed them. Any questions?"
Aurica stands at stiff attention in the office, trying not to look as out of place as she feels in all the finery.
"Yes'm," she says dutifully, and takes out her cheap tourist's map she bought the day before . She stares at the maze of streets, trying to get a sense in the city of where they are; when Lailani eventually hands over the documents in the folder to be seen by the others, she'll dutifully mentally mark those places as well, the warehouse and the rescue spot.
Looking at Droskar, her lips twitch a bit. "You don't exactly sneak in places, Dros," she says with her eyes dancing. "Maybe we ought to throw the fellas on your back from a window and have you run off with 'em..."
Droskar scoffs at Aurica's suggestion. "As if I were one of these common horses, with broken spirit and lack of free will! I am no beast of burden!"
Looking over the others, he quickly relaxes somewhat as he realizes that he is likely to be the only one fit enough to carry them away should the captives be unable to move of their own volition. He sighs and adds, "However, if, AND ONLY IF, they are unable to flee on their own, I suppose I can carry them away."
"If the opportunity presents itself would you like a hostage from their faction?", Maleghk asks.
"That seems straight forward, m'am. We can handle it," Lailani responds cooly. She takes the information, reading and memorizing it. Then she hands it to Aurica.
"I am trained in the arts of stealth, but my night vision is not as good as that of you dwarves. Are any of you particularly quiet and agile? If so perhaps one of you could case the place, and locate the best window or door for us to breach. Then we "smash and grab" as Phaerine says."
Aurica tries to hide her grin at Droskar's indignance, instead nodding quasi-solemnly along with his earnest words.
She dutifully starts looking through the dossier when Lailani hands it over, tongue peeping out her lips in concentration. Aurica is not one of the world's great readers, and some of these words are like ten or eleven letters, okay.
"I'm kinda quiet," she says carefully. She looks over at Maleghk and Droskar. "....'m probably more quiet than them, anyhow."
"Would you feel comfortable checking it out with the rest of us at a distance?" Lailani asks the dwarf. The pearl elf looks at Aurica with and expressionless face while awaiting her answer.
Aurica's eyes widen. "Uuhm... I can try," she says with a throat clearing. "I mean. Yes, ma'am."
"Excellent," Lailani says, as if that settles it. "Do the rest of you need to make any preparations?"
Droskar shakes his head no.
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After listening to your conversation a while, Phaerine speaks up again, "If you can accomplish this with stealth, it would certainly impress me, however, if that fails, speed will be of the essence. It will be easy to bribe the Zephyrian Guard to stop investigating as long as you aren't in their custody." A grimace comes over her face as she continues, "If you fall into ARAL's hands, however, they will likely kill you and the other operatives, as their location has been compromised."
"One last thing," she says, drawing a small bag from one of her desk drawers, "this is 500 zephyrs, use it to get anything you need for this mission. Now, may the gods be with you, good luck, and all speed."
Aurica's eyes widen at the sight of all that coin in one place at one time. She nods dutifully to Phaerine and salutes.