(Griever) No Charn No Foul Part 6

Log Info

• Title: No Charn No Foul, Part 6
• Emitter: Whirlpool
• Characters: Jinks, Aryia, Seyardu
• Place: Hextus, Charn
• Time: November 13th
• Summary: The Charn infiltration team, after being brought to the adventuring house, learns of how boring it is to wait to be called upon. They wait, and wait and wait. And learn its a weaponized waiting. Weeding out the weak, only for the truly serious, or desperate. Finally, the clerk calls them forth after they note a group of sith-makar in the building. Odd. The speak with the clerk, doing their best to not slip up on any information, but nerves get the better of Aryia, and she almost spills some telling information. Affording a moment to get out of there (and Jinks providing an... ample distraction), Aryia and Jinks get out of there as Seyardu is behind. Jinks pulls Aryia aside to get her a pep talk as Seyardu slows to try and encourage the Makari they saw to get out of there subtly. The little bit of suspicion they garnered flares to a major one, and they all have the sense they need to get out of there. Now. With what information they've gleamed.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=  Appearing, in Order  =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Aryia        0s      4'8"     110 Lb     Shadow Elf        Female    A heavily scarred mul with a resolved look about her.
Jinks        57s     3'4"     39 Lb      Gnome             Male      A gnomish fellow in fancy garb and jewelry.    
Seyardu      7m      5'6"     150 Lb     Sith-Makar        Female    A friendly silver sith-makar with a perpetual squint.                                  
-=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=  As the GM  =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Whirlpool  
-=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=

Well, Aryia was playing a part.

And to play that part, she had to pretend she couldn't read the paperwork. Who gets to do the paperwork? That's right, the owner does.

Infernal or mundane, devils love their contracts. Jinks sniffs and leans his head back, taking in another room no-doubt built from a tallman's perspective. The gnome knows the paperwork is waiting but detours past the job's board, first, and finds a stool to climb for an easier time reading. Forging a few documents won't be a problem, ultimately, the ledger domain is not immune to legerdemain.

GAME: Jinks rolls Perception: (15)+7: 22

Seyardu watches everything unfold, and then sighs when she sees the paperwork. If there was one thing she had learned, softskins were very thorough when it came to protocol around payment for services.

"And before we sign anything, just what are we signing up for? It is unwise to write into some binding contract without much thought, especially in Charn."

Your contact, such as he is, is hanging back. He's waving you on. "Enjoy yourselves," he adds, more than amused.

He'll step out.

You're expected to take a seat and wait to be seen, it seems.

It could be a while!

Jinks sucks at his teeth as he eyes the paperwork, his head tilting. "'Junior Supreme Executor of Underwriting?' 'Second Grade Aether Transfer Engineer?' ... 'Chief Gastronomical Hygiene Technician?'" Jinks actually laughs and points at one, "'Grandmaster of Underlings and Domestic Technicians.'"

The gnome shakes his head, turning to look at the chief paperpusher. "Does your cousin own a stamp shop? Is this some variety an absurd nepotism?"

Aryia is there with her stack of paperwork in hand, needing be filled out. She idly thumbs through the pages, not lingering too long on each one. They felt familiar, like she's seen these before. Before she relearned how to read and write.

Only a brief glance is taken towards Jinks at the mention of the titles, her doing her best to suppress the slight smile that came to her lips. With mixed results, her just keeping her head bowed to hide it.

"They don't pay us by the word, if that's what you're wondering," says a clerk to Jinks.

"Please have a seat. You all know trade, right?" A hopeful look at the group. One never knows. In fact, one get the sense that common isn't as common as people would commonly think it is in some parts of the world!

"Please wait to be called, " he repeats, "We'll get to you soon."

There is a ... line. Some people are already giving up. Who knows how long they've been here.

Jinks looses his bow and balances it on a shoulder, leaving the papers behind and finding a seat. He balances the lowest part of the recurve on the ground, holding the higher portion with both hands and leaning against it-- not unlike a staff. He hums to himself, revisiting the sea chanty, and considers the various peoples milling about the room. Maybe there's an interesting conversation to be overheard.

"Yes, this one knows trade, and will translate and speak for the one next to me if necessary." Seyardu replies, gesturing to the mute ex-slave turned fake-slave. "It sounds like there are a lot of people who think highly of themselves, yes. Either this is not a small organization, or they have grand plans for the work done here."

Seyardu takes one of the seats, and spins it around. She highly doubted there were any concerns for the comfort of makari in the area.

Aryia gives a soft sigh, her stealing a glance up to Seyardu and holding out the stack of paperwork towards her. Guess they were going to tackle this together. She does keep her ears peeled through for anything. Either here, or behind the desk.

GAME: Aryia rolls will: (16)+8: 24
GAME: Seyardu rolls will+2: (4)+10+2: 16
GAME: Jinks rolls Will: (17)+5: 22

It's boring.

It's *so* boring.

In fact, it isn't *just* boring, you realize. It is, in fact, *weaponized* boredom. The entire point, after a time, is to disincentivize your staying aroumd. The entire point is to ensure that those who stay are the ones most comitted to the job. That is, to say, the most desperate.

By the time the clerk finally waves you over for the interview of your little group, all of you are feeling deeply agirtated and restless, though thankfully bot to the point of saying anything stupid.

Jinks is a scamp at his core and, naturally, used to sleeping wherever he might find a place to do so. When the wait begins to carry overlong he simply rests his forehead against his folded hands and dozes. For all the world it looks as if he's waiting patiently and not sleeping-- a skill mastered to keep the watch from harassing you about being a vagrant. He even looks up occasionally, scanning the room and making sure that the Charnese army hasn't arrived to arrest them for espionage.

"Yes, of course this one can help you to fill out your forms." Seyardu nods, taking the papers and looking them over. But there is so much busy work, most of her time is spent poring over notes and cross referencing everything to make sure that they were not being snuck into anything questionable. And all of their stories had to match up. By the time she was finished, she did not want to see another line asking for her signature for some time.

Aryia is used to, somewhat, sitting around, doing nothing of note. Be there, behave, don't cause a scene. But, at least her recent endeavors gave her something to do. She takes a seat next to Jinks, as expected, but she closes her eyes, and just breathes.

In. Out.

Damn it's been a while since she's had the time to do this.

Still though, all the centuries in the world couldn't fortify one for the annoyance of wasting time. Glad she was for Seyardu to deal with all of that busy work.

Ah. They're being waved over. Thank goodness...

GAME: Jinks rolls Perform/Sing: (16)+18: 34 (Sense Motive)

Jinks just seems to be idling for the most part until they're all standing and moving to answer the call. He does suck at his teeth to get the attention of the ladies, casually canting his head once, nodding subtly twice as they walk towards the liaison. A handful of sith move through the offices. They don't have the look of slave caste about them, dressed and armed as they are. Their backs aren't bent and their faces lack that broken, defeated expression. Maybe he noticed other things, too, but that will have to wait.

Aryia's meditations are broken by a deep inhale, her looking to Jinks. She gives one last pass over the room, raising a brow at the group of makari before nodding her head slowly and following after him.

GAME: Seyardu rolls perception: (8)+5: 13
GAME: Seyardu rolls sense motive: (13)+8: 21

Seyardu follows along, and she stops to look at some of the sith-makar they pass by. She frowns, and squints some, before continuing on after shaking her head several times. "Something is, off. While in normal circumstances, it would be good to be so welcome, it should not be this way in Charn? I can not say for certain. It is all, very confusing. Yet they are working openly here."

Nothing is wrong at all. You spend some time talking to the clerk. A considerable amount of time talking to the clerk.

He asks you a lot of probing questions about you, your pasts. He's quite good at his job, actually, and you find yourselves sharing more information than you'd like ...

GAME: Aryia rolls will: (7)+8: 15 (19 if enchantment)
GAME: Jinks rolls Will: (20)+5: 25 (CRITICAL SUCCESS)
GAME: Seyardu rolls will +2: (12)+10+2: 24
GAME: Jinks rolls Spellcraft: (3)+7: 10
GAME: Seyardu rolls spellcraft: (9)+5: 14 (Inspired to 19)
GAME: Jinks casts Gallant Inspiration. Caster Level: 7 DC: 17 (Sey's check is now 19)
GAME: Jinks rolls 2d4: (5): 5
GAME: Aryia rolls perception: (15)+23: 38
GAME: Jinks rolls PErception: (18)+7: 25
GAME: Seyardu rolls perception: (4)+5: 9

You star ttalking to the clerk. He's very genial, very kind. Starts asking about mercenaries you've worked with, any one you'd reccomend, what your experiences were, what you've done, what kind of jobs you've done. Feeding him lines is easy, but he's skilled enough at his job that you have to keep repeating yourself as he checks for distortions and fabrications. So far so good, though, you haven't given anything away, right?

Everyone sticks to their story ...

... for a while. Things start to unravel, bit by bit, and at first you don't even notice. It just feels okay talking to him. Aryia is the first to say something that makes an eyebrow raise. It's nothing big, but he clearly understands handspeech...

Aryia is answering as best she can in the questions, using what the previous answers were to base her responses. Odd owner here, back breaking slave labor there, and "I can hold my own if the master tells me to fight. I've even fought in the -" The signing pauses, and Aryia's face pales to almost snow elf levels. The stress, the anxiety is just too much for her, and then she briskly bows deeply to the clerk, then to Jinks. "Please forgive me master, I don't think I'm ready for this... I'll be back in the stables..." she shakily gestures. She rights herself, then briskly walks out of the building. <Handspeech>

GAME: Jinks rolls Sleight of Hand: (14)+11: 25

Jinks' eyebrows bob subtly. He's keyed to it but there's a game to be played. He watches the mul and frowns, allowing her actions to draw the attention of their interviewer as he turns to check his pack-- and sneak his right index finger into the back of his throat. He gags, shoulders heaving as he turns back towards their host to ruin his shoes. There's that pub food making a special cameo appearance.

He reaches out for Seyardu, coughing and groaning. He grabs onto her wrist and squeezes as best as his little gnome hands can. "Attend to me... now. I need fresh air," he coughs the last bit. "Vile tavern swill..."

GAME: Seyardu rolls bluff: (18)+1: 19 GAME: Jinks rolls Perform/Sing: (9)+18: 27 (Bluff)

Well, that hasn't happened before. The kindly Charnish clerk stares a long moment before turning away and you're able to get out the door after Aryia....

... but probably not for long.

Seyardu sighs when Jinks managed to upset his stomach on the Clerks shoes. It was another sense of some strange happenings that weren't quite right that made her more confused. "Yes, of course, there has been much waiting in here. Fresh air would do us all good." She agrees, already leading out the gnome in Aryia's wake. "I was not expecting the clerk to be so enchanting. Almost magically so." She adds when out of earshot.

She squints at some of the Sith-makar from before, perhaps gauging if they could use some fresh air themselves.

More than likely they could, but of course, trying to help them leave would be ... noticable.

Very.

Aryia isn't far, her just walking away from the building hugging herself.

Jinks sticks with Seyardu as far as the door, then he spits and finds Aryia shuffling off. He hustles over and reaches up, grabbing her by the elbow and pulling her low. Up comes the hand, flicking her on the forehead. Reciprocation from a quiet, calm, and peaceful time at the library. His onyx-black eyes stare at her as he holds her low. When he speaks it's another reminder of her very recent, very real growth as a person.

"You're on the job, Aryia. We're in trouble and we need to go. Seyardu and Lysos are in trouble. I can't imagine how bad this is for you but that person you used to be isn't here right now." His breath is absolutely awful. "No more. Fucking. Masters." <kulthian>

There's an audible yelp as the elf is easily pulled to a knee and flicked, her grimacing hard from the motion. Her frame trembles, her other knee joining the ground as she bites her lip. A faint nod, a shuddering sigh that almost threatens a sob. And she leans in really, really close to his ear.

Softer than a drop of a pin, stuttering, shaky, sub-whispered winds reach him. "I-I'm sorry Jinks, I'm really really sorry. I-I'm trying s-so hard. I hate this p-place so much, it brings back so much bad stuff... I-I promise I'll... I'll keep trying... I'll keep trying..." Her face wavers, holding back a dam of emotions as she tries to keep her breathing even. <Kulthian>

Jinks ' jaw tightens and he narrows his eyes, he swallows and flares his nostrils. "End of Rhaltaas I chartered and airship and went back home. To Clockwork Point. I planned to try and see my folks. See if I could fix things; appeal my banishment. I couldn't even work up the nerve to leave the tavern at the port. Just got drunk and slept the whole week." He offers a bittersweet smile, "You've got me beat by a few leagues, I figure."

The gnome leans back and looks up and down the street and then nods. "We're leaving." He decides, letting go of Aryia's elbow and squeezing her shoulder instead. "Between the tavern and the hall I have useful information to relay. We can spend some time in Tashraan on the way back and see if we can get anything else."

"Another close call and Coyote's laugh won't save our hides." He cants his head back the way they came. "Let's go..." <kulthian>

Jinks is moving along just fine, and Seyardu is left behind as she was pondering the situation. There was a few sith-makar in there, and she could not help but feel they may have been forced to be in there. So she stops to pat a couple of them on the shoulders.

"Peace on your nests, and please excuse this one. But my colleague is ill, and this one was wondering if they could speak to you while they are tended to? Things have been going slow today, and it would be good to speak with kin."

GAME: Seyardu rolls diplomacy: (16)+13: 29
GAME: Seyardu rolls bluff: (7)+1: 8

... Seyardu just gets some blank stares. The words didn't fall on deaf ears, but it may take t hem some time to sink in.

If they do.

It's a good question, isn't it? Unfortunately, it's been noticed. Very noticed.

...and now you've *really* got to move.

-End Scene-