View source for Slavers in the Streets

Yelrona is sitting at an outdoor table at a local cafe. The table itself is covered with pieces of paper weighed down with rocks to keep them from flying away in the breeze, and she is eating a baked dough product of some sort as she reviews them.

The entry of a shadow elf - particularly one so obviously flaunting that heritage - causes a slight stir in the cafe. Nothing so large as people running or anything, but a few murmurs and glances. It isn't just that he is a Mil'niessa either, it was how much he stands out here. A wealthy man in a district better known for those who worked the docks in one way or another. He orders at the front and lets his crimson gaze slide around the cafe. It was very busy, but he recognizes Yelrona right away. Taking his order himself, Daechir walks toward her table. "Yelrona yes?" His voice is smooth and low.

Yelrona noticed the Mul when he entered -- not so much because of his own presence, but because of the wave of whispers and chair-shifting and silence that followed it. So she takes the opportunity now to wave a cheerful greeting and call Daechir over. "Yes, that's right. Daechir? We met at Elian's cousin's cookout, I think, yes? Have a seat!" she invites, perhaps a bit louder than strictly necessary. "Sorry for the mess," she explains as she pulls a second table over, "I'm trying to work out some shipping routes." 

About half of the papers on the table are city maps, with various buildings labelled with Sil letters. The other half are shipping manifests, and one large paper is just filled with scrawls, arrows, circles, and obscure notes.

Gracefully Daed accepts the seat, looking over her notes as he carefully sets his drink on the table she pulls over for the purpose. "You seem to be in the middle of something, am I intruding?"

Yelrona shrugs and waves the question away. "I am always in the middle of something. If that were a reason not to socialize, I would never talk to anyone." She looks Daed's clothes over curiously, looks around the neighborhood pointedly, and asks "Are you _trying_ to get mugged?"

"It seems that way, doesn't it?" Aya comments from behind Daechir while glancing him and his attire over from her new vantage point. A point she was not present at a moment ago.

Daechir startles, turning in his chair to get a glance at Aya. "I do not believe we have met." He stands up politely and offers her a nod. "You may call me Daed, and... I appreciate both of your concern, but I can defend myself it if comes to that."

Yelrona startles at Aya's sudden appearance, then shakes her head. "You keep _doing_ that," she observes. "Daechir, Aya, Aya, Daed, and, hey, I didn't say I was concerned, I was just curious as to your motives. Heck, I probably know half the guys who would come after you in that outfit, and you killing them would be inconvenient."

"Killing them here, in their own city, would be unwise," Aya notes, "even in self-defense. A fact that many are liable to inconveniently overlook." She then dips her chin to the other mul before rolling one shoulder to Yelrona. "Yes?"

Daechir lifts his eyebrows and settles back down into his seat. "Who said anything about killing? I find a globe of darkness, or even a flicker of faerie fire is enough to disway most thieves." He looks a bit amused. "Properly used of course."

Yelrona chuckles. "Fair point. Scaring the scat out of them, _that_ they totally deserve." She takes a sip of her drink before continuing, "Sorry to jump to conclusions... I keep having to explain to a certain half-oruch warrior of my acquaintance that there are certain... business relationships... that can't be readily resolved through straight-up violence, and I guess I'm just primed for it."

One corner of Aya's mouth lifts. "Oruch blood will do that, or so I've heard." Her eyes return to Daechir and the other corner lifts, as well. "It's nice to hear that I'm not the only one who appreciates the utility of the dark."

"I can not say that I have met very many Oruch, but I do prefer to find an alternative to violence if I can - in most cases." Daed offers Aya a small smile in return to hers. "It is good to see kin here. I was beginning to think with my welcome thus far that Mil'niessa were very rare indeed here."

Yelrona turns a hand palm-up and gives a lopsided smile. "Well... I mean, you are," she says. "I'm not sure of the numbers, but I can probably count the number of Mul'niessa I've met here without taking my boots off." She shrugs. "Still, your welcome here is probably better than where I grew up," she admits.

Aya rolls her other shoulder. "The welcome here is perhaps worse than others due to recent events, but probably still better than some. Those some are best avoided."

Daechir winces, mostly in his eyes and smiles albeit sadly. "I spent half my childhood in Llyranost, so yes... I can safely say there are places where Mil'niessa are far less welcome."

Yelrona nods. "I'm sorry. I'm afraid you'd have gotten little better reception from my home town, either. Of course, there are places where you'd be far more welcome than here, admittedly... though those aren't the best places to be living either. Oh, which reminds me!" she says, pulling out a notebook with an artist's sketch of a well-dressed Mul man in it, "Not to suggest that all Mul in Alexandria know each other, but do either of you happen to know this man?"

Aya's eyes lower to the sketch and a brow arches. "He looks to be wealthy, or intentionally overdresses to look that way. If that is his usual wear, I'm sure I'd recognize him if I knew anything of him."
Daechir shakes his head, clearly not recognizing the individual either. "I have just recently come to Alexandria." He memorizes the picture just the same, looking it over carefully. "May I ask why you are looking for him?"

Yelrona laughs appreciatively at Aya's response. "Have I ever mentioned how much I admire your ability to respond amiably to a question without actually answering it? It's a rare and valuable skill." To Daed she explains "He may be involved with the Charneth slave trade and operating in Alexandria. If he is, I want to do something about that."

Aya lifts one corner of her mouth, intentionally quite unevenly, to Yelrona. "It was meant that no, he is not familiar to me."

As the two women continue to converse Daed's eyes narrow on the picture. Tension has spilled over the shadow elf, and after a moment he finally breaks in. "There is a slave trade operating in Alexandria?" His voice is clipped and unhappy.

"Well, not where we can help it," Rona replies. "But Alexandria is a big city. Pretty much _everything_ is operating in Alexandria, in one form or another."

"I've no idea, but it's possible. Anywhere there are customers, the slavers will sell their wares," Aya rolls one shoulder. "So to speak. I'd expect it to be rather uncommon here."

"Uncommon is not an acceptable term when it comes to slavery." If a gaze could kill a piece of paper, Daed's would have murdered the image that Yelrona held already. He looks away from it an shakes his head as if to clear it of his own anger, and he looks at Yelrona seriously. "If you need any help to find this person, or stop this trade. I will do what I can to aid you.

Yelrona nods seriously to Daed. "I appreciate that, and can use the help. I will catch you up on details later," she promises. "If you don't mind telling me... what sort of help are you most comfortable providing?"

Aya dips her chin to Daed. "Perhaps, though neither is non-existent a term that will ever apply to anything profitable enough to counter the risk." She subsequently falls quiet to listened to his list of potential contributions.

The man grinned, flashing his white teeth. It wasn't a wholly pleasant smile. It was the sort of expression one wore when they were thinking of a fight. "What do you need? Financial aid? Magical? Perhaps something a little more... physical?" Daed’s tone left it clear - this was something he would not abide.

A gobber maiden in a high-society private school uniform walks into a nearby warehouse carrying a closed book in one hand and an unlit stick of TNT in the other.

"Well, at the moment, we mostly need intelligence, I think. But I ask more to have a sense of what resources..." Rona trails off at the sight of the explosive-wielding gobber "...we have... er... did anyone else see that girl?"

Daechir blinks and looks away from Yelrona. There she was... walking into a warehouse. "Yes... Does that seem suspicious to anyone else?"

Aya rolls one shoulder. "For a gobber? Not at all. They tend to carry strange devices or unstable objects wherever they go, and explosions arise in their wake."

Yelrona stays where she is for a moment, watching the warehouse entrance skeptically. Then she gets up and nods to Aya. "Absolutely," she agrees, but she moves towards the warehouse rather than away from it.

Uncertainly Daed rises to his feet as well, following in Yelrona's wake.

A giant-born man now walks toward the same warehouse wearing wizard's robes. He walks with a ginormous gnarled staff in one hand, and a bundle of scroll cases their straps firmly grasped in his other hand. Coiled about his shoulders is an enormous boa constrictor. As he notices that the warehouse seems to have attracted some attention, he ducks into an alleyway.

While walking about with explosives seems utterly commonplace for a gobber, a wizard (giant or otherwise) darting into an alleyway is far more suspicious in Aya's determination. A wizard, period, is suspicious more often than not, in her view. A brow arches even as she ceases to exist in her current location, only to promptly return to existence at a better vantage point; on a roof edge adjoining and looking down into the alley in question.

Yelrona makes no attempt at stealth. Rather, she walks toward the warehouse with the confident manner of someone invited and, unless stopped, walks right in.

The door seems locked.

Although Daed follows Yelrona to the warehouse, making little effort himself to hide in the broad daylight, he pauses long enough by the alleyway where the giantborn had ducked into to check and see if the mage is still there.

He's not. Indeed, there is no trace that he ever was.

Yelrona attempts to open the door, fails, thinks about that for a moment, and finally knocks on the door.

 GAME: Daechir rolls perception: (5)+3: 8
 GAME: Yelrona rolls perception: (1)+20: 21 (EPIC FAIL)

Aya scowls. Another example of a magi misusing their ill-gotten "gifts." She relocates to the roof of the warehouse, itself, and (with the hope that it will not attempt to explode) lays hands upon it in attempt to view within.

GAME: Aya rolls perception: (20)+22: 42

Yelrona knocks harder.

 GAME: Ga'Elian rolls 1d100: (38): 38
 GAME: Yelrona rolls 1d100: (57): 57

Daechir slips into the alleyway and glances around for anyone who might be looking. Then with a snap of his fingers he casts a simple cantrip to allow himself to see any magic around them.

Yelrona starts walking around the perimeter of the warehouse, listening carefully and looking through windows, trying to get a sense of what's going on inside.

As the others circle about the building following the grinding of heavy gears, Aya crouches to stare at the roof beneath her feet. It is then beneath her hands as she places palms on the roof and splays fingers. Between forefingers and thumbs, the magic of her fingerless gloves attempts to render the material temporarily transparent and trans..audible?

Daed discovers remarkably few windows, and all very high up, but as he reaches the back of the alley, his touch tells him that the wall stops leaving emptiness that his hand visually vanishes into. By visual appearances, Daed's hand is stuck through solid wall.

Rona finds the front of the building obscured by shrubbery and a chain-link fence blocks access to the back from that direction.

Yelrona shrugs and turns around, checking out the building's perimeter from the other direction.

Aya finds something interesting in her study of the roof (and more), as she ceases to exist on the roof and appears within the warehouse, near an exterior door which Yelrona recently attempted to open (or Aya's best estimate of that door). Should Yelrona return to it, it will be easier to use if Aya can open it from the inside.

Astaren is offering a yawn as he walks along and glances to the warehouse and notices Yelrona, offering her a wave.

The shadow elf startles a little bit, more surprised that his vision hadn't warned him that something untoward was going on with the wall. However he is pushes his arm into the wall, and then with a surge, and assuming that there is no wall there at all - Daed tries to go all the way through.

Yelrona returns the blue-robed mage's wave. "Are you here for the Suspicious Activities Convention?"

By a not entirely remarkable coincidence, she's right in front of the door she started with when she does this.

By no coincidence, the door behind Yelrona unlatchs and opens, as quietly as Aya is able to do so.

It's pretty quiet. The door doesn't creak.

 GAME: Yelrona rolls perception: (15)+20: 35

Astaren blinks a moment, "The what?" clearly confused by Yelrona, and then he tilts his head, 'so this warehouse is some kind of game to investigate?"

Daechir considers the scene for a long moment, not daring to move lest the sound of his steps draw attention. After a moment he casts another spell as quietly as he can, causing the sound of footsteps to occur across the room from himself. Then, using that distraction he slips further into the room itself.

 GAME: Yelrona rolls survival: (5)+13: 18

A dwarf woman riding a bicycle with a parrot on her shoulder approaches the very door that Yelrona is entering. She asks the Llyranesi, "Oh, are you new here?" She looks at Astaren then and says, "Hey. Have you been interviewed yet?

Astaren sighs, and reaches up to his head to face palm. Then nods, 'Sure why not, should be a interesting distraction at the very least." moving to follow after Yelrona.

Astaren blinks to the woman, "No, I have not."

Yelrona holds the door open for the dwarf. "Yeah, this is my first time," she says. "Where are we supposed to go, again?"

The floor isn't really in such a condition that tracks are noticeable, but there really is only one way to go. There is a light glowing from a doorway in front of you.

The voice of the gobber maiden calls out loudly, "Rawf, we have company!"

The voice of the gobber maiden calls out loudly, "Rawf, we have company!"

"The gobber and a giant-blooded mage are that way," Aya gestures, "and the latter descended into..." Well, now their locations may be far more self-explanatory.

The dwarf woman says, "It's just me, and a couple new folks."

Daechir shrugs, hands out. "It was worth a try. Now... would you kindly explain what you are /doing/ in here?"

Yelrona gives the dwarf a polite bow and gestures towards the door from which the light is glowing. "Please, after you."

Astaren is only getting more confused as he walks along, and staying quiet the man is speechless.

Once all are gathered together in the lit room at the back, the gobber schoolgirl is standing by a control panel, her book and glass globe of alchemist's fire resting securely upon it. There is a huge metal door, slightly corroded that opens upward from the floor. Rising up at the top of a flight of utilitarian metal stairs that lead from the opening into some basement is a thuggish hobgoblin. Daechir is standing off to the side.

The gobber girl and the dwarf woman now shapechange before everyone's eyes into a pair of thuggish arvek's too. All male, BTW.

Yelrona leans against a nearby wall, doing a pretty good job of looking like she understands perfectly well what is going on and she absolutely belongs here, neither of which is remotely true.

The one that was the gobber tells the one that was the dwarf, "You dolt! We haven't hired anybody new lately!"

Astaren is not even going to try to pretend he belongs here, or what is going on. Glancing around he blinks a moment, 'so... something about an interview?"

"As far as _you_ know," Rona amends calmly.

Daechir watches all of them shapeshift with a slightly impressed look on his face. "Yes." He looks at the 'schoolgirl', "you were going to explain some things?"

FormerGobber responds. "I'd know. Da boss always brings me into his interviews." Then he looks at Daed and answers, "No, I wasn't. What are you all doing following us into here anyway. You all are treapassin' where it ain't noneno' yer bidness!" The FormerWizard and the FormerDwarf flank her and start smacking their fists into their palms.

Astaren holds up a finger and asks in a very calm voice, 'So... there is no interview?' his other hand pulling out a rod from his haversack.

FormerGobber says, "Nuh-uh. Now you all high-tail it afore I trip the alarm. A sound comes up from the basement. It sounds like the muffled yells of a gagged crowd.

Aya arches a brow and glances to the others. "Perhaps we're in the wrong warehouse, then?" She looks back to the Arvek formerly known as ...other things. "Which warehouse IS this, by the by? It's possible we're in the correct one..." Her eyes shift to the opened metal door in the floor and back. "It sounds like you have guests. Why not a few more?"

Astaren raises his eyebrows a bit more as he considers, "Actually please do trip that alarm. I would like to bring the city guard here." Tapping his rod against thigh thoughtfully, "Where is that alarm, I can hit it for you if you want?" looking around and heading straight for the door the muffled sounds are coming from.

Daechir casually leans forward and seems to consider this. "I think I would rather not." He lifts his fingers, and admittedly he strikes a dramatic pose. A dark figure in a dark room with glowing red eyes. His teeth flash white and he stalks forward a step. "I think I will join your other guests." He too is walking toward the sound of muffled voices.

FormerGobber gulps and says, "Um, okay, sir. Why don't you all head down there then. Um. Don't let is stop you." His wingmen just look confused (ie stupid).

Aya gestures to the opening for her compatriots. "Feel free. I'll ensure that the door doesn't malfunction." She returns her attention to the group of Arvek, eyeing them intently despite the size and numeric differences.

As first Daed then Astaren then Yelrona start to descend, FormerWizard and FormerDwarf step forward attempting to assault Aya. Meanwhile FormerGobber pushes a button and tries to skedaddle away out the hallucinatory warehouse wall that Daed entered by. He trips, however, and smacks his face on a wooden crate.

Meanwhile, as the door starts to creakiky lower again, the trio down the stairs see about twenty cages containing. variety of people all bound and gagged.

The basement also has a corridor leading off into darkness easily big enough to slide these cages along a rail in the flooring.

Astaren sighs and holds a hand to his head, "Trafficing it seems... how deplorable. He glances to Yelrona and then to Daechir. Then turns to head back up stairs and glances around. "Ok... you have two options here. Well, three actually. First one is you can surrender and wait for us to call the guard and enjoy our lovely jails. I hear it has rates, good for protean. Second option, you can fight and we can soundly whip your asses, or at least watch Aya whip your asses while I enjoy it wishing I had popcorn. Third option, you can attempt to run. At which case we again get to watch Aya stalk you down, and whip your ass. Oh did I mention options two and three have chance of death, but will if you live end up in jail anyways? I hear the rates are ediable, well maybe. Do any of you have delicate digestions?"

Daechir doesn't hesitate, heading to the cages though he knows they're surely locked. Astaren heads up the stairs but Daed only half follows after reassuring the people that they will be set free. If the place is going to be locked... he is going to be locked inside with the prisoners. From his place on the steps he glares at the people who had been holding all these people hostage. "I like option two." He looks it.

Yelrona busies herself with unlocking cages and ungagging and unbinding people.

Aya relocates herself from the target of threatening goons to the recently vacated control panel. With any good fortune, she can at least halt the closing process if not fully re-open the doors.

Even though SmackFace had tried to shut the door before fleeing, he apparently forgot to summon the rest of the thugs. The alarm was not tripped. Aya easily reverses the door control back to the 'open' position. Meanwhile her two goons knock each other out-with their faces. FormerGobher surrenders.

...and mutters, "Mommie."

Astaren is clearly surprised, "Option one, that is rare, very rare. Very well, we will treat you well until the guard gets here. Now... a question." his eyes narrowing, "You clearly are not the masterminds behind this. You’re nothing more then hired goons. So, why not some direction on who the real boss is and how we can find them? If we get that information, we can appeal to the guard to be nice in sentencing."

With the door open, and Yelrona freeing the prisoners, Daechir is free to listen to Astaren's interrogation. Until he hears the information he has been waiting for. "I will go check it out." He heads back down the stairs to make sure everyone is freed and then down the corridor that he's been directed toward.

-End-

[[Category:Logs|Slavers in the Streets]]