This is for the meeting which took place on Tuesday, October 25th. This plot, though taking place in the same world, has some of the same characters, and theme as the other game but has no relations to the plot of the game on Saturdays.
NEW CHARACTERS!
Ezekeal Ramhor
Ezekeal is an ex-authority (the authority are the major police force and military force for the Hepian Empire)and a mercenary. He was on the fast track in the authority until his person morals changed and made him believe that people should not be living under such an oppressive system. Now he helps fight for freedom and helps the cause of anyone who is trying to change society.
Ezekeal can be most identified by how tall he is. Also, he is well dressed and has an ever present smile on his face. Despite not being in the authority anymore, he holds himself with a commanding demeanor which only those who have been royal bodyguards, authority, or soldiers could emit.
"John"
Most people know him by John, those who know his real name are either dead or missing. A seemingly ordinary guy, John is nothing but ordinary. He is one of the several Special Elite Authority which roam freely between all the regions of the Hepian Empire assuring the civil unrest and general empire toppling chaos is averted quietly.
John is not really identifiable, and likes it that way. He tends to blend in the crowd.
Nariko Romanov
Nariko is a half Ciznec and half Chiban from Rale, Conwest. She spent most of her childhood amongst the Cizinec picking up much of their culture, behavior styles, and job skills. She also has a large extended family on both sides, more specifically a large Ciznec extended family is and easily recognized by her "family" members.
GAME PLAY!
It is night in the southern part of Fura, North Crow. The little neighborhood by the docks which most people call, "Coin Alley," a place known for shady crooks, cheap prostitutes, and gambling. The area is in a state of constant movement, the docks along the mouth of the Grijalo River ferrying passengers from all around the Hepain Empire. Taxis and Autos constantly chug through the streets as up right citizens try to bet back home from the maddening streets. While on the sides of the street the shouting of "working women," try to flag down potential costumers. The Authority do not have much of a presence, but as long as the women do what they're paid for it is legal.
A building which harbors both bar and rooms for these women to work in is called The Friendly Night. A beaten building that had long since seen its' glory days. The elegant wood work or maidens holding up the now gaudily painted sign are weather worn and look more distressed than rested and elegant. The bar is scuffed from wears of drinks being pounded and woman's shoes dancing on it. The Mirrors which use to align behind the bar is scratched and dulled by time. The chairs and tables all have seen their share of brawls, card games, and dinning which take their toll on them through their steadiness.
In one room, one intentionally kept for those who spend nights at the hotel, a man inspects his belongings and looks out of the window. The view is of the city, since he is in the second level. Smoke stacks of nearby factories' chimney smolder, lights blink, Airships fly in the sky, and autos drive along the street. He feels safe in this hotel since he knows the escape routes, and he feels more secure.
The man, John, has been given orders by the top government officials to protect a man in the town who is in Fura. A wealthy man named Baron Calimtof is displaying jewels which are supposedly lost artifacts from a mountain country called Tobin. There has been lots of controversy about these jewels, especially by the Ciznec who believe that the founders of the Tobin were one of the four founding families which the Cizinec can trace their roots back to. Since there has been such an uproar in both the scholarly community and the Cizinec community, the officials sent John to seek out and stop by any means necessary anyone who plans to assassinate Baron Calimtof. Baron Calimtof will remain in Fura for the next two days, until the opening of the Museum Exhibit.
John doesn't have much more information, so he goes to his informant. A young lady which he has been using for a number of years who goes by the pseudonym of Miss Moneypenny. Like most of her cohorts, she wears a short skit, stripped tights, a low cut and tight corset, large feathers in her hair, and he neck and wrists dangle with jewelery. Her shoes are pointed with thin stiletto heels which make her seem a little taller than she actually is. Everything which isn't shiny, is colorful and has patterns on it making her look like some exotic animal.
Miss Moneypenny and the man only known as John go into the bar. John slips the bartender some money and they go into a backroom which is used for "private and quick jobs." John tries to start off with some witty banter, but fails to impress her.
"Let's get to business." She says as she sits down on an old rickety chair and crossing her legs. "So, you probably heard about the jewels being displayed in the museum?"
"Yeah," John responds back.
"Well, there was a guy in here a few nights ago flapping his mouth around," She sighs and gives a slight look a disgust. "He was yelling about how he was going to steal all the jewels in the museum and how unprotected they are. I gave him a few more drinks to keep him talking and he went into this elaborate plan about how he was going to drive up to the front doors and smash through the front doors."
"Okay," John said simply as he noted it in his mind. "Anything else?"
"There were some men who stopped in the bar a week ago. They were dressed up a little too nice for a quick job and a bad pint. They stuck out like sore thumbs. They spoke for a while in an odd, must have been foreign, language and then got up and all went their separate ways."
"Okay, got it," John said with his interests finally peaking, "Do you have any descriptions?"
She thinks for a few moments, "I remember one guy he was very tall, had a mustache, and had a scar on his face. He was dressed very nicely, top hat, long lovely frock coat, a nice cane with a silver handle but I swore I saw tattoos on his knuckles and on his neck."
"Anyone else?"
"Also this skinnier man who had a long black coat with multiple buckles on it. It looked like an older antique military coat..."
"One of the member of the Black Coat gang." John raised his eyebrow and started to think. "And that last man?"
"The third man was much shorter than the other two. He looked pretty plain in his clothes though they were nicely tailored." She smiles ignorantly and gives a shrug, "I really wish I could give you a better description on him."
John starts to formulate a plan in his mind of what to do. He leaves the room after paying Miss Moneypenny for her time and talks to the bartender. He uses the vast network of bartenders and their time honored tradition to find mercenaries and bounty hunters to do job. First John places a contract to rough up and to follow the man who was mouthing off int he bar.
John though wants to tackle the three strangers himself. He knows that at least two out of the three of them sound rather fishy. He starts to ask around, and begins with Miss Monkeypenny again, but she has already given him all the information which she knows. John, who is not surprised but not deterred, goes to the bartender to ask about the three men.
The man behind the bar, Simon Bigs, is a very large man both in girth and in stature. Mr. Bigs either wanted to live up to his name or changed his name to live up to. He is bald, covered in tattoos, and rather grim looking. Despite his tough exterior, Simon is very bright and intelligent. Mr. Bigs is very friendly toward John, because John comes in to the Friendly Night whenever he is in town and Simon likes the boys. For some reason, he likes John a little bit more than most of the other men who come through the door.
John comes up to the bartender in a friendly manner and leans against the bar. John smiles and winks at Mr. Bigs, Mr Bigs of course comes toward John happily. His face blooms from a stone cold growl to a heart-filled smile and he starts to giggle.
"You are so cute," Mr. Bigs smiles and giggles at John and swats the air toward him. "I always like you, John. John where have you been for the last couple months? I always missed your company."
"I am here on business, sorry." John says quickly as he steps back from what could be arms reach of Simon. "So, what do you know about the three men who looked out of place from last week?"
Mr Big thinks, "Well, the foreign guy was really butch and he was speaking this really weird language. I know I heard it before." Simon thinks for a moment as he proceeds to put his tongue over the front of his top teeth and producing a strange sucking snapping noise. "I know, John, I think it might have been Teresing."
"Did they say something you recognized? Maybe a location?" John says.
"I remember that foreign guy handing out invitations, or was it business cards?" Mr. Bigs thinks for a moment, "And on them were some kind of crest, like a family crest. And I think I did pick up the words Sea View Hotel. I am not sure if they were just mentioning in passing or were going there. Since it wasn't in a language I understood, I didn't pay too much attention. But their body language spoke that they really didn't like each other. Especially the small ordinary looking man."
John thanks Simon and gets a water. He sits down in the crowd and listens for something about the strangers from the week before.
After sometime sitting around at his table, a shorter guy who looked nothing out of the ordinary comes and orders and drink meekly and sits down. His clothes are nice and pressed, and it is clear that he is not from this side of town. He is also showing signs of balding. The man looks down into his glass nervously and stares at the drink as if it was some large dark abyss that is going to swallow him hole if he looks away. He starts to tap his glass nervously.
The mouth of the Grijalo provides a different perspective of the city than what a window view of the Friendly Night Inn. Though, it is given that both perspectives are only miles from each other, one can see the many towering smoke stacks of the city stretching out toward the night skies as if one could attach nets to the ends of them to catch stars. Though, with the invention of electricity and cheap, manageable, sturdy Compact Illuminating Tubes it seems the stars now have all fallen into the city.
Ezekeal watches from the boat, and goes on land when it docks. He knows if he is to stay in town long enough he needs to find a job, and he knows where to go. He heads toward the northeast toward Coin-Alley to go to the Friendly Night Inn.
He arrives there after a brief walk from the ports on the mouth of the Grijalo. He steps inside and looks to see who is there. No one seems to stick out, except for one nervous nicely dressed man. Ezekeal, though decides to order some ale first to quinch his thirst since he has been stuck on a boat for the better half of a day.
Ezekeal strolls up to the bar and asks for the ale. The eternally charismatic Mr. Bigs winks at him and discovers where he normally keeps the bottles of ale is empty. With a playful exclamation, Simon decides to draw Ezekeal's attention as he bends over to get the other bottles of Ale from a lower shelf. After getting the bottles of Ale, he prances back and gives Ezekeal the drink.
After the display, Ezekeal starts to drink and gets to bussiness, "So where's Miss Moneypenny?"
Mr. Bigs looks at him and sighs, "Why do you want to see that old hag when you can have me?"
He prances off in a small dramatic huff and he heads toward the back room. He comes back with Miss Moneypenny. As Miss Moneypenny readjusts some of her clothing, Ezekeal can deduce that she's recently been with a "client." Ezekeal and her go to a backroom.
Without notice, John also goes toward the back and listens from the outside of the door. He can tell by Ezekeal and how he holds himself that Ezekeal is just not another man looking for a trick.
"What have you been up to?" Ezekeal says with a smirk on his face for he knows what has just happened.
"Oh, you know the usual." She says with a small sigh.
"Do you have anytime for me tonight?" He says as he sits down in a chair and takes a drink.
"Professional time?" She says with a smile and sits down as well, "Or other time?"
"Oh, a little of both."
"You know that will it cost you."
"Oh I know it," He says with another swig from his cup.
"So what do you want first?"
"Let's do something professional first, then we can have some "special" time."
She smiles, "Well what do you want to know? One thing I can think of is that a man just put out a a contract to watch and harass this one drunken moron who was talking about killing this foreign Baron who is town."
"What has this Baron done to deserve this treatment?"
"He's found some jewels," she tries to think about the baron and what she's heard. "Or he obtained some jewels somehow. Apparently he wants to show them in a museum."
"That sounds so horrible," Ezekeal says with a grin.
"Another thing that has happened is a leader or some heavy from the Black Coat gain was meeting up with two different guys. They were all speaking foreign languages."
"Do you know what kind of Foreign Language they were speaking?"
"Nope," She says with a shake of her head, "I have no idea."
"Do you know anyone who may know this foreign language?"
"Well there use to be this one costumer who started dating me. He was a booky type. When I knew him, he knew lots of things about languages."
"Where would I be able to find him?"
"The University, duh." She says as if it was obvious where all "booky" types hang out.
Ezekeal nods and thinks for a moment, "Do you have anything on the guy who posted the contract to harass the drunk?"
"Not much," She says as she shakes her head. "He might be kind of dangerous. He seems to ask most of the same questions you do. So, I am thinking he might be trouble."
She gives a description of the man only known as John and admits that last place she say him was in the bar at a table. At this, the ease-dropping John runs back the bar. He proceeds to flirt with Mr. Bigs as Ezekeal and Miss Moneypenny comes out from the back hallway.
Ezekeal looks at John, who seems to be more busy flirting with Mr. Bigs then who is coming out from the back rooms.
"So, I hear you need some help," Ezekeal says as he leans against the bar next to John.
John looks up and collects his thought of what help Ezekeal could mean, "Uh, Yes."
"Concerning what?"
"What do you know about these jewels and the situation they are creating with the political tension?"
"I know a bit of recent political climate. But I don't know much of what is happening with these jewels."
"The job that I have is more on principals then anything else. I don't think he has any intention of harming anyone but I just want to teach him a lesson. So, no killing him. I also find that sometimes when people who have loose lips that they can be very helpful. I just want his paranoia to build."
"How much does this cost?"
"If you are willing to do this there will be more jobs done the road."
"But what of the money?"
"It's easy money, I'll pay you 100 now and then 100 when you finish it."
"I think this job opening will be good for at least laughs." Ezekeal says with a smirk as he finishes the last of his drink.
"Good, then we can meet up tomorrow in the bar at this time of night."
From the air the city looks a lot different. This is a conclusion Nariko gets as she slowly drops into the city from an Airship. The city has a different layout then what she is use to on Conwest, but she knows that her home is everywhere as long as there are Cizinec prowling.
Nariko gets off the Airship at the airfield. As she looks around, she can tell she is in a better part of town. The capital buildings and the North Crow Regional Authority Headquarters hang in the background as their flags for both the Hepain Empire and the country of Tobin wave in a slight breeze. They are eerily clear as lights shine on them for everyone within range can see them. Some of the larger buildings, especially the large telescope station for the university also looms in the background. But closer is the transit station stands proudly as the hustle and bustle of life goes through its' doors.
Nariko shakes the scenery out of her head and remembers why she is there. Her Cousin, more specifically mother's aunt's sister-in-law's daughter named Carmiline, is having a wedding within the next day. Most people in Nariko's immediate family dislike Carmiline and all drew straws of who would travel out and represent the family. Unfortunately, Nariko drew the shortest stick.
Carmiline is supposedly marrying what would be Nariko's father's father's aunt's daughter's son, named Hugo. They somehow conned their way to having a large fancy wedding at a water view chapel. Nariko, probably through her hatred of Carmiline, suspects that Carmiline and her tendency to sleep around had something to do with this miraculous wedding.
Nariko decides that her first night in the big city would be best spent with "family". So she heads north toward the university district where more ethnic life thrives. A place she knows where she can find the Cizinec is a place the locals called Outskirt Square. Once upon a time it was a meeting place for merchants which was on the outskirts of town, but as the town grew it became a town center.
As she goes down the road, many shops are just closing for the day, but the night life in the bars and pubs are starting. As she passes by the usual scenes which most pubs offer, one strikes particular interest as there is a live Ciznec band playing. It is gamed packed with the usual bar crawling Hepians but also many Cizinec. She closely listen's to the music, and she recognizes the type of song which is being played. It is a song which only the northern families play when they are going off and fighting for their honor soon.
Nariko decides to walk into the bar and look around. Through the crowd of people she can see six of the northern Ciznec playing. All of them with different instruments and they move along with the fast moving music. There is at least on man singing and another woman dancing in the music.
She looks around and sees near the door, furthest from the band who are watching the crowd but trying to mind their own business mostly. They are enjoying the music, because they know that in fact the northern Cizinec are not feuding with any other Ciznec clan.
Nariko's Mother's Uncle's Brother-In-Law is sitting there with a few of his brothers. They do not recognized her at first.
"Hello Cousins," She says as she gives a small polite bow.
He gives a queer smile and raises his drink, "We're all cousins here!" He swings his glass merrily and starts to sing something which sounds slower and off key to the music in the background.
"What is going on here?" She asks the group of men, as she hopes there is one at least sober enough to tell her what is happening.
"The Northern Clan aren't happy," says one of Her Mother's Uncle's Brother-In-Law's Brother. "They're trying to unit all the clan in the Hepian Empire to kill that damn Baron."
"As in ALL the Cizinec clans?" She says with some surprise.
"Naw," he says with a gruff laugh, "just all the ones in town."
"Good luck," she says with a sneer on her face as she laughs.
"Better watch out, they're doing a good job so far."
"Ouch, what is happening to make them all unhappy with the Baron?"
"Let's just say the Baron isn't too friendly to the Cizinec in his country. And those jewels don't belong to this Baron or that royal family he represents."
"Then, do they belong to US?"
There's a slight pause as all the brothers look at each other as if this was old news, "Yes..."
"So what are they planning on doing?"
"We're not sure what they are exactly doing."
"Well, they seem to be playing a war path song over there. Don't they usually play that when they are going head-long into battle?"
They all laugh a shrug and take another drink.
"So what are you guys going to do?" She asks with interest.
"Well, if we didn't have to go to a wedding that day, we would probably join the mayhem."
"So they are going to start something on the day of the wedding?" She says with some concern, but it isn't for the ruin of a wedding day.
"Perhaps."
"I guess I should you all at the wedding." She says as she gives another small bow.
They all raise their glass and give her a traditional farewell.
She enters the area of Outskirt Square. The traditional caravans of the Ciznec are present with tents of the Negustor. Everyone is closing up for the night and the tourists are leaving the area. To the east, there are a few shops which sell herbal goods and a bar. To the North, there is a large building which looks like an apartment building but has many Negustor and Ciznec symbols hanging from windowsills. To the west, there are more shops which look like they are mainly for tourists.
She goes up to the caravans with symbols which include her family. As she approached Nariko's Aunt's Sister-in-law's Daughter's Son. Even though time between family gatherings has been long, Liranko (Nariko's cousin) still recognizes her. The whole brood from the caravan shout her name and they run toward her. They pummel her with hugs.
"So what are you doing in town, so far away from home?" Asks Liranko.
"The Wedding," Nariko says grudgingly.
"Oh, so you are representing your family."
"Unfortunately, yes."
"Do you have a place to stay?"
"No."
"Then come with us." They grab her hand and start leading her down the street.
