Trog's Tavern: Roman Numerals Are Dumb

[Earl of Purple]

"I'm not just a ghost, am I?" Most of Ser Persyval is, but he's inadvertently melded with a tsukumogami which manifested within his armour. "Oh, here she comes! She wasn't in the pub. I thought she was." Which is one thing that shaped his suggestions, though Earl also didn't catch that Lia wasn't inside when Sandals asked him what was holding Lia up.

[Hraithre]

Sandels turns to look at Lia, still holding Persyval's helmet in hand. "Bunny, huh? No wonder it took you this long. Why'd you bother?" He put the helmets back on the horse, then goes and grabs the handles of the wheelbarrow. Having no intention to linger now that he has what he needs, he begins pushing it down the street. "Bring Ser Persyval, will you?" The last bit is meant for the horse. It snorts and begins following the bandaged man.

[quillpleasant]

"The detective was working with Bunny, and I thought she might be able to shed some more light on your mysterious past. Thing is, she was... reticent, and kind of jealous." Lia follows Sandels along the street, falling into step beside him. "She likes you a lot. Wants things to go back to how they were, apparently." She studies his reaction, not that he's the easiest man to read.

"Oh, and where are we off to now? Is there a special place for the ritual?"

[Earl of Purple]

"So she met one of your old flames. I did not see that one coming." There's a moment of silence, and then Ser Persyval quickly adds "Although I should have! A chap like you I'm sure has plenty of old flames left smouldering in your wake, you know? Plenty, absolutely." The ghost nods, floating along behind the horse. He isn't walking, or even touching the ground; invisible and intangible and mostly not there, tethered to his armour by many delicate chains which pull him along easily.

[Hraithre]

"We're going to find a forge", Sandels answers Lia, "or some other place for me to work my craft."

The comments about Bunny make him grimace. "My old assistant", he corrects, "she may have developed some unprofessional towards me, but that doesn't mean there was anything there on my part." Something about it bothers him. "I suppose that would explain why she's suddenly so reluctant to do her job. How silly of her. I'll just have to do without her help."

[quillpleasant]

Since Lia can't see Ser Persyval, she's a little confused by Sandel's wording, but the message seems welcome.

"Ah. Good to know." The faint ghost of a smile flits across her face before drifting into regret. "She did seem a little confused. I fear I was a bit too harsh with her..." she trails off, lost in thought.

Finally, she shrugs, and smiles a little more genuinely. "Well, you have me to help you now, at least." For once, Lia holds in her other questions, content to follow Sandels to their next destination.

[Earl of Purple]

"There might not have been anything, but... was there the potential for something to be there? If your taste is sausage and not salad, that's fine. She may still be an old flame, just not one you deliberately lit, especially if she doesn't know you prefer gentlemen." Ser Persyval is not willing to accept that Bunny isn't an old flame, it seems.

[Hraithre]

Sandels gives Lia a skeptical look. "Do I now?" Ser Persyval's comments make him blink. "That... really wouldn't even matter. I've just not had the heart for romance in years." That might confuse Lia something fierce, but maybe it's better she didn't hear the first half of this tangent.

[quillpleasant]

Lia does indeed treat Sandels to a look of shock, blinking rapidly. Without Persyval's context, his statement takes on a very different meaning.

"I didn't say anything about romance! I'm helping you because you're my friend and I want to, not because I'm looking for anything in return. Well, not anything of that nature, at least. Not that I'd necessarily be opposed to... I'm going to shut up now." She dips her mushroom cap low over her face to hide her expression, lapsing into silence.

[Shadowcaller]

A masked figure carrying a spear enters trog's.
They stop in the middle of the tavern and scratches the chin of their mask thoughtfully.

Then they call out.

"DOES ANYONE HAVE A PAYING JOB?!"

[Earl of Purple]

"See? Lighting flames is easy to do accidentally, even if you don't have the heart for romance." The ghost-knight nods sagely, and gestures to Lia as he speaks.

Inside, a woman will answer Raheeda's question. "If ye're lookin', I've got a job for you! Me beloved Tumo's flown away and gotten lost. If you could help me find her, I have money to pay with." She's an old woman, wearing a green dress and sat at a table with a walking-stick leaning against it. She's also got an eyepatch over her left eye. She'll hold up a small silver coin as proof of the money she's got.

[Shadowcaller]

The masked figure brings up crude wooden clipboard and a pen. "Uh, and what is 'Tumo'? A bird of some kind?"

Finding someone's pet bird was certainly a good act but it seemed pretty minor on the grand scale of things.

[Earl of Purple]

"Oh, she's a lovely old thing. An iguana-parrot, she is, green scales and red feathers on her wings, crest and tail. She's my most treasured possession, an' the last of me old crew left. The rest are in the ground, or fled t' the winds." The old woman smiles faintly, reminiscing on a life of adventure, plunder, and occasional wholesale slaughter.

[Shadowcaller]

"Ohh!"

A beat.

"...so you're a pirate then. Or was." Another pause. "But, uh, what was your name again? And the one of the bird and where she disappeared." Looks like she's getting ready to write all this down.

[Ironsmith]

Those walking in to Trog's today will find a new customer among the clientele; an old man and a quartet of headless suits of armor, collectively holding an entire table to themselves. The armored suits don't seem to be moving, but a quick conference with the people who were here when the old man arrived confirms that they are, in fact, animate... just not really doing anything right now. Each of them is also armed, with an arming sword and hatchet strapped to their right hip.

The old man himself, meanwhile, seems rather preoccupied with a smooth black stone on a pedestal on the table in front of him, alternating between staring into it intently and startling to attention, glancing around anxiously for the source of some unseen disturbance before resuming his vigil. He has a half-empty glass of red wine next to him, which he hasn't touched in the past fifteen minutes, at least.

[Shadowcaller]

"What'cha looking for?" A voice suddenly inquires, having somehow managed to move up uncomfortably close to the old man as she too is staring transfixed at the black stone pedestal on the table. "Is it a quest? Or at least quest-related?"

[Ironsmith]

"Gah!" The old man starts, hand flying to his chest.

The four headless armors stand up abruptly, going straight for their weapons.

"No, no, it's all right." The old man quickly reassures them. "Simmer down. She isn't a threat."

As the suits of armor reclaim their seats, returning to their original positions, the old man turns his attention back to Raheeda. "...Sorry about that." He says, retreating into his seat. "My bodyguards get a bit jumpy around strangers. Particularly strangers who get within throat-slittimg distance." He pauses, looking at her intensely, before nodding to himself and returning his attention to his stone. "...But if you still wish to help, Raheeda... I'm looking for my wife. She's here in the Nexus, somewhere... but I can't seem to get a bead on where..."

[Shadowcaller]

The four suits of armor all moving to possibly apprehend or worse her doesn't seem to make the young woman, Raheeda, nervous.
She looks from side to side as to determine if they're a threat or not but as the old man reassures them her gaze goes back to the orb.
"Oh it happens to a lot of people when I turn up, don't worry about it." That mask of hers is a bit spooky.
"Besides, you can't slit a throat with a spear. That would just be silly." She holds up said spear as to show that she indeed didn't carry a weapon that could do just that.

As he pauses and stares at her she stares back intently. Though whatever is going on inside his mind is probably not going on in her's as her eyes never blink during that entire time. Though did she really blink at all?

"Oh!" She glances back at the orb. "Did you see my name in there?" Her gaze goes back to him. "Or is it written on me somewhere?" She now looks herself over as if expecting to spot her own name written in ink.
Then she pause. "Sorry, never mind. I'll ask about that later. You were talking about your missing wife? Since I'm pretty good at tracking stuff. Wives included Not that I really tried before. Shouldn't be different from anything else though, right?"

[Earl of Purple]

"I was not a pirate! I had a letter of marque! That made me a privateer!" Then the old woman sighs, the indignation going out of her voice. "Not that Ozai's goons saw it that way. They always had the best loot, anyway. My name is Kya Kyo, the iguana-parrot is Tulsa, and she was on my shoulder as I went through Harmony Park, before she flew off and didn't come back when I called. Oh, I hope she's OK. The parks can be dangerous, for those that aren't able to defend themselves." Harmony Park usually isn't so bad, though. Not for little old retired privateer captains, at least.

[Ironsmith]

"I saw it in your shadow." The old man explains patiently. "Or your spirit, if you prefer. I am what you would likely call a seer... though I expect my seeing-stone has already made that obvious." He manages a small, halting chuckle, nervously acknowledging the joke before he continues.

The old man wraps his fingers around the black stone and stares at it for a moment, before letting out a little sigh. "...I do not see a future where hiring you helps me find my wife." He says simply, lowering his hands. "...But then, I haven't seen a future where I find her at all. Perhaps I should... hm..."

[Shadowcaller]

Raheeda looks at her shadow, which just so happens to be right underneath her, and then back at the old man. "But my shadow is over there." She points out with a gesture and then strokes the chin of her mask. "...spooky."

"But, uh, tell me where you last saw your wife then. Did she get kidnapped? Lost?"

*****

Back in the past, Raheeda nods. "Right, you turned from a pirate to private." Which she assumed was like a upgraded pirate.
On her note she writes:

Kya-Kyo - superpirate
looking for bird-lizard Tulsa in harmoy park

"So what did Tulsa look like? You got a painting?" A lot of people seemed have paintings around here.

[Ironsmith]

"I do not know. I simply woke up one day and she wasn't there." The old man explains. "Nobody saw her leave. There was no sign that she had been abducted. There weren't even signs that she had gone to the spirit realm. She was just... gone."

"...She must have crossed over at some time, though. As my visions have brought me to the Nexus. I do not know if this was her original destination or if she has simply come to stay here. But here is where she is, that much I know."

[Shadowcaller]

Raheeda nods and takes up her clipboard and a pen.

"Okay, so what's your wife's name and what's this 'nexus' she went to?" Perhaps not the most reassuring questions.

[Ironsmith]

The old man pauses, looking at Raheeda with a mix of disbelief and resignation. "...Jubi. Jubi Domini." He says finally. He decides to leave the question about the Nexus unanswered; if Raheeda didn't know by now, he isn't going to be the one to explain it to her.

[Shadowcaller]

Missing wife - Judi Domini
Nexus - ?

Raheeda writes down.
Pauses, giving what she just wrote a moment of consideration.

And then adds two additional question marks to 'nexus'.

Nexus - ???

This turned out to be quite a difficult case. No leads besides a name?
"So you have no other clue where she is? I mean, how did that ball of yours tell you she was in this 'nexus' exactly? Like, give me some idea of how it works."

[Ironsmith]

"Well." The old man clears his throat and splays his fingers on the ball. "To be completely transparent, the ball does nothing. It is just a focus for Geomancy; so long as I have a stone, I can use it to see the threads of fate." The old man smiles fondly and caresses the black orb gently. "But it is difficult to not get attached to one in particular. Especially if it has sentimental value beyond simply being large and semiprecious..."

The old man shakes his head slightly, snapping back to the present. "Regardless. A Geomancer can use a stone, such as this, to see Prospeity lying ahead. To glimpse for themselves, or others, the rewards of staying their present course. I scattered my attentions across the multiverse and used my Geomancy to determine which route would bring me to my wife. Jubi hasn't turned up yet... but my sister-in-law, Tara, has. We are fated to meet again four days from now, and she will have already met with Jubi by then. The only rational conclusion is that Jubi is already here, and it is only a matter of finding her."

[Shadowcaller]

"Oh. So it's kinda like a spear?" Raheeda observes as she watches the old man moves his fingers across the ball. "Since there are many but I like speary in particular." Which was presumably what she called the spear she was towing around inside a tavern.

"But..." Raheed taps the chin of her mask, giving what he just told her some consideration. "Sounds like you just need to wait for four days and then ask Tara? Or are you afraid that she won't be aware that she met your wife?" Or was there another reason to why he couldn't wait for four more days?

[Ironsmith]

"I already know from my visions that Tara will not divulge Jubi's location. More specifically, because she will not actually know." The old man sighs. "Their meeting was incidental, but it is still the best lead I have at present."

[Shadowcaller]

Raheeda crosses her arms over her chest as she gives this information some thought. Fate was tricky. The only way you could beat it was playing into it as much as possible. "Okay... question then, do you know if she has already met her or will at some point during these four days? Since if you won't meet Tara until four days have passed then maybe I could track her down and... actually, you got a painting of her? Tara I mean."

[Ironsmith]

"Not as such." The old man shakes his head. "But Tara shouldn't be hard to identify. She's a trash witch, you see. There aren't very many walking conglomerations of garbage out here, and very few of them have the rough appearance of a fifteen-year-old girl. She's much older than that, of course- close to my age- but that's how she appears. As for whether they've met... sadly, I do not have that information from the context of my visions."