It Is the Tide, Act 1

[Blackadder]

'Real' Immaculates. Knowing what Diax did, that was a hoot. But rather than let any sign of the joke slip, he simply flashed a rugged nod to Sun Minh. "Diax. Diax Grey. Traveler of sorts. Sounds like something I can do." The people did deserve some safety from the sound of it, and just maybe, this spirit hunting could make a stand in for all the aggravating corrupt deities that Diax couldn't just clobber a lesson into.


Once, in his early days, he'd done that to one Bureau of Humanity officious paper-pusher for taking bribes to overlook unpleasantries other gods had been committing - of course, he was going to have them turned over, but instead he wound up finding his charges dismissed and himself audited to Hell. Not the reputed Yozi Hells, but the next closest thing. His superiors in the Bureau pleaded his naivete and then chewed him out.


This time though...

 

[hellrazoromega]

River looked around at the scene before her. There had to be more to this and she intended to find out what that was. She moved toward the sound of the empathic voices nearby and stood, arms crossed, with a single inquisitive eyebrow raised. She held her tongue for the moment, perhaps she could learn a bit more about the parties involved thorough observation.

 

[Shining Lotus Sage]

Ki-Lan tears her eyes away from her injured brother and aggressively wipes the tears from her cheek. "The only stockade was next to the barracks. We used the timber that didn't... burn." She looks suitably embarrassed at the probable arson, at least. "There are ruins under the hill, that the soldiers boarded up. He might feel right at home underground," she practically spits. "We have nowhere else, and I won't bind him to a tree. He'd be eaten."


She lets her gaze drift across the battle-torn downslope, shakes her head, and starts to speak again when a middle-aged man's voice tumbles down the hill ahead of him. He wears a thin, undyed shirt over loose pants, and his thick white hair is an absolute mess.


"Ki-Lan! Who are these people? What have they done to the water? The wall? The omens, Ki-Lan!"

 

[Random Word]

Cathak Sun Minh


Sun Minh nods appreciatively to Diax. "Let him be held underground, then, we will depart -" She is interrupted by the cries of the old man, "Who 'we' are is the question of the hour, I think. I am Cathak Sun Minh, and unless they do something monumentally stupid like this one," she gestures with her foot toward Conqua, "I am of a mind to leave them to their own devices. For the good of your body and soul, I suggest you do the same. Dragons only know what this village has done to deserve them."

 

[Grey]

Thousand Screaming Mask





Mask has observed, aloof, in this time. The family squabbling is tedious, the introductions beneath him - though Diax has the look of a worthy opponent. No, Mask is concerned by the omens and the vision on the mountain top. Yes; of course it is she. Misdirection is typical. The omens had been right, and then... let the boy shoulder the blame.


He lights his pipe. Further inquiry is called for.


"He will slit all our throats with hands not his own, nor even his own intent." He flashes a sideways glance at the assembly. "Better he be trusted to walk alongside you than commune with the darkness of any ruin." He pauses.


"Though I expect to see these buried places anyway."

 

[Random Word]

Cathak Sun Minh


Sun Minh rolls her eyes and snorts derisively. "How noble and generous of you to volunteer to supervise his good conduct before his trial, soothsayer. Now if only your portents indicated he would successfully escape and kill us all I know I, for one, would sleep more soundly."

 

[Grey]

Mask grins and pulls on his pipe.


"Perhaps he would benefit from learned instruction."

 

[Blackadder]

"No," Diax mockingly chided Mask, "don't you be teaching him to be a better villain. "

 

[Shining Lotus Sage]

The wild-haired man comes jogging up, nearly out of breath. And what breath he does have, he shouts with.


"What is the meaning of this! Was that demonfire! Who has done this!" Somehow, none of it sounds like a question. He pauses, now completely without breath, and cradles his stout middle as he tries to recover some. Ki-Lan takes that as her cue to step in.


"You leave the defenses to me, Stone! I leave the homes and the praying to you!"


"Yes, entirely! Especially the praying!" He retorts. Conqua chuckles, or grunts in pain, or one then the other. It's an odd noise. The older man turns to glare at him. "I knew he was always too eager for violence. You should never have let him leave, Ki-Lan. He was your responsibility!"


"And I will perform it." she hisses, and begins untying a rope from her waist. "He will be shut in a room in the ruins." This seems to mollify Riverworn Stone, and he gives an exaggerated nod.


"Yes. Yes, and I will be able to judge him once construction is complete." With a final scowl down the hill, he turns his attention to the new guests. "Welcome. Thank you for... Thank you for laying our dead to rest again." He chokes on a piece of sentiment, and takes a moment to compose himself again. "I am Riverworn Stone, the priest of this village. I would show more hospitality, but I must rebury my aunt and mother." Stone-faced, he turns toward the terrace where the nearest bodies lie. From within the baggy garments, he draws out a long string of prayer beads.

 

[Random Word]

Cathak Sun Minh


"I intend to examine the victims, inquire with any surviving witnesses, and examine the creature's approach for tracks or distinguishing features of its trail, that we are better armed with some small amount of information about the nature of this creature before we begin the hunt. If you have business to attend to before we depart, by all means. If you wish to accompany me, you are of course welcome to do so." She turns from Diax, pausing as an afterthought to address Riverworn Stone, "I will speak to you, honoured one, when I return. I have need of your counsel."


She sets about the business of locating the remains of the victims, disinterring them where necessary and permitting Ran Mak, her stolid bear of a surgeon, to perform autopsies wherever they seem likely to yield results. She silences cries of protest and dismay from the locals with cold and disdainful glares.

 

[HeinzByTrade]

Heinz seems to have abandoned all sense of other peoples ownership and claimed the town elephant as his own and seems content to direct his rancheros from atop his magnificent new friend. Although he's toned down the fire and sand storming, he shouts excitedly to his crew "The commotion is over you layabouts! Work begins again on the wall! Javier!" He shouts to what appears to be a member of his band of men that has some seniority and the man jogs briskly to the foot of the elephant.


"See what you can find out about how these damn dead things got into the water supply, and for the sake of the gods get someone to see to cracking open a new well for these people this water is ruined!" HIs men sorted out, he turns back towards the gathered group of outsiders. "Hold on just a second with that prisoner." He calls down from atop Treem. "He has managed to murder some people I have known since I was a boy and I would have words with him." His scowl is barely hidden beneath the bare framework of a forced smile.